Vintage DD turntables. Are we living dangerously?

Glad Chris helped you Downunder.....😀
His ingenuity, understanding and competence in all things audio are unequalled in my experience...
I took back my TT-101 to have him adjust the variable resistors for the platter brake system.
As I discovered....Victor added this feature to allow for the differing weights of various mats...and as I changed to only a thin Victor pigskin mat directly placed on the aluminium platter.....the brake system didn't perform as required. It took Chris precisely 20 minutes to adjust them ( one for 33.3rpm and one for 45rpm). No charge...😘 and they work perfectly..

I would waste no time in having him replace all the electrolytics in your P3.
Since my TT-101 had its done....the speeds are consistently perfect 😜

This guy Chris must be a gem, for sure. And by all means, Downunder, DO replace all the electrolytics in your P3. Like Albert says, you may save yourself a much thornier dilemma at some point in the future, if leaky caps eventually kill off an unobtainable IC. (But maybe there are no ICs in a P3 to worry about.) Now, onto the subject of "IC"s. It seems to me that they are not all created equal. There are some enormously complex and highly specific ICs at work in both DD turntables and in CDPs. Some of them have 16 to 24 "legs", and there are not even solder guns available to remove them from a PCB. That's why the common mode of repair is to throw the whole PCB away and replace it with a new one. Then there are ICs that self-contain a very simple circuit; I have to assume it was one of that type that Chris was able to replicate.

Hi Lewm

Yes, I believe you are correct. Chris said he replicated the IC with 7 components? That is about how technical I got or understood.
He did mention the Pioneer circuit board was the simplier of the three dd tables he has worked on.. The JVC and Demon were crowded and complex relatively speaking.

Yes Henry, excellent work from Chris indeed and thoroughly recommend him to anybody. Thanks.😇

And yes gents, I will have Chris take a look and replace all the caps for safety. 35 years service is pretty good and they may last another 35, but as you said if they fail due to age it will be good to safeguard it not have it happen.

I have asked my mate from Japan first to see if he has a Exclusive P3 Japanese service manual, but I doubt he has one, especially since Pioneer still service all Exclusive products in Japan.

Cheers and happy listening to all with their timeless Japanese DD tables 😁

Just completed a complete refurbishing / rebuilding of a Micro Seiki DDX1500 for a customer. These old machines are truly excellent. Did a speed check with the time line, over an entire album side the dot did not move from 23 feet across the room !

A nice little upgrade I did to was having the inside of the platter sprayed with Polyureah (Truck Bedliner), this silenced the bell like character of the platter nicely.

PBN / Micro Seiki DDX1500

Good Listening

Peter

As Halcro and I know, there is NOTHING in turntable land quite as complex as a Victor TT101. I haven't seen a P3, but the Denon DP80, Kenwood L07D, Technics SP10 Mk2 and Mk3 are as simple as a belt-drive, by comparison to the TT101.