Vintage DD turntables. Are we living dangerously?


I have just acquired a 32 year old JVC/Victor TT-101 DD turntable after having its lesser brother, the TT-81 for the last year.
TT-101
This is one of the great DD designs made at a time when the giant Japanese electronics companies like Technics, Denon, JVC/Victor and Pioneer could pour millions of dollars into 'flagship' models to 'enhance' their lower range models which often sold in the millions.
Because of their complexity however.......if they malfunction.....parts are 'unobtanium'....and they often cannot be repaired.
halcro
Moonglum, No, I have not tried it, yet.
Halcro et al, I only re-stated the case for a rigid connection between tonearm and bearing for the benefit of anyone who is reading this thread for the first time. Such an individual (Thuchan in this case) ought to hear both sides of the question before deciding which direction to choose. Like Henry, I am past trying to convince anyone else who has already made up his mind. But Henry, with all due affection and respect, your analysis of the L07D is ludicrous, certainly compared to the risk for drift of alignment of a fully outboard arm pod. The L07D is a system, using several different metals (stainless steel, alu, brass) with different temperature coefficients of expansion, closely coupled with substantial fasteners and massive. The temperature of a typical listening room varies by a couple of degrees during the course of time. Of course, if you leave your tt in the freezer on off days or cryo-treat the entire unit, you may want to do a re-alignment.
Lew...and this assumes that the feet of an outboard arm pod are even non-flexible and the mounting surface is stable - both dimensionally and mechanically in phase(!) ;^)
The L07D is a system, using several different metals (stainless steel, alu, brass) with different temperature coefficients of expansion,
The basic frame of the L-07d shown in my attachment is cast aluminium which has twice the expansion co-efficient of steel.
For every centigrade degree change of room temperature (and unless your room is fully air-conditioned 24/7 the variation can easily be 5 degrees C)...there is clearly change in the distance between the spindle and tonearm pivot of several millimetres which is disastrous in the scale of vinyl groove information extraction.
Now please tell me Lew....what is the exact "drift of alignment" of my fully outboard armpods?
Henry, Come back to me with actual numbers to describe the possible change in mounting distance, given what you perceive to be the problem. My listening room varies in ambient temp by about 4 F degrees, from 68 to 72. According to my calculation, the fractional expansion of an alu bar (which this is not) would be .000052 (4 times 13*10^6, using the inches/F coefficient) over this 4 degree F span of temperatures. Further, the aluminum yoke embraces a stainless steel and brass pod (yes, a heavy and damped pod like yours, except it does not touch the shelf) that in turn embraces the vertical shaft of the tonearm in a clamping collet (not with a flimsy set screw). The alu is constrained from expanding and contracting by the bond between it and that pod plus the fact that it is also surrounded by the concrete-like material that constitutes the plinth itself. In other words, your critique of the L07D is off the mark, at best, and a sidebar to the central question. But let's stop here; I am OK with your belief structure; it has no effect on me whatever, and I am sure your music sounds just fine. This is all about splitting hairs anyway.

Dear Thuchan, I may be wrong in my assessment of the top line MS tonearm mounts; I have only ever seen them in photos. Possibly they are more rigid than they appear to be. If so, my apologies.
Good one Halcro, this debate gets funnier by the minute. Assuming the Kenny was set-up and then played at room temp, there should be virtually no discrepancy in distance. 70°F = 21.1°C, and 79°F = 26.1°C (for those of us...). Is that enough to cause several mm change?

Still, the point is made and it seems valid, at least to me. Why is it better to have arm and platter joined at the hip? Potential for extraneous interactions seems greater, not less.