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.
128x128halcro
Fleib,
To paraphrase Mike Tyson...
Everyone's got a theory until they're punched in the face
After listening to multiple different materials and combinations on the Victor DD turntables......I know what sounds best to me....and so far it's what the Victor engineers themselves agreed on, the pigskin thin platter mat.
The last mat I will try is the glass one....also designed for these decks.

The Walker Proscenium turntable uses a platter made of granulated lead and epoxy I believe...😎
The funny or sad fact is that the mat has a large effect on sonics,…. after all the money is spent on the tt, tonearm, and cartridge. It's the salt and pepper of vinyl.
........or have their ear bitten off. Bon appetit.

Sorry I chimed in.
This has already been done by Pierre Lurne, only with a platter rather than a mat. I happen to have some sheet lead. Might see if it's doable.
Mat wise, did anyone try the old Oracle groove isolator?
It's a bit smaller than the TT platter but thick enough to be higher than the edge. I have tried carbon fibre (Boston) and Acrylic hard mat and found them hard and bright sounding. The Groove Isolator seems to have a very good tonal balance to my ears without losing details/muffling the sound.
Your mileage may vary.
Dear Doron, BA mats, brittle sounding or not, are not made of carbon fiber; they are made of graphite. (But I submit this with some trepidation, knowing now that you are an expert on materials science.) On two very different turntables (Lenco and SP10Mk3), I find them to be relatively neutral. On my Kenwood L07D, I find no reason to deviate from the OEM stainless steel "platter sheet", but if you asked me how I feel about metal mats in general, I would say that the BA graphite mat2 beat out the SAEC SS300 metal mat on my Mk3. Go figure.