Dear Tim (Pryso),
Actually I myself re-capped my SP10 Mk2. And I did not replace diodes or rectifiers, as the Mk2 had no problems ever. (I sold it after purchasing the Mk3.) When I acquired the Mk3, I did turn that over to Bill Thalmann who re-capped it and calibrated it as well. To my knowledge, he replaced no other parts, but considering the cost of his work in that instance, he may have replaced other parts. Somewhere in there, Bill also replaced the main chip in my Denon DP80 and all its electrolytics, too. In the process, he noticed that the discrete transistors in the DP80 were of a type he knew to be unreliable and also inferior to a modern equivalent part. He then took it upon himself to update all those transistors in the DP80. This brings us to the TT101. So far as I know, none of the diodes in the TT101 needed to be replaced. One might go to Schottky diodes, simply because they are the lowest in noise, but I am never going to open up my TT101 again, so long as it is working. I am so done with fretting. If one were to change the diodes, the new ones would likely have a different forward voltage drop than the originals. This would result in a very slightly different output DC voltage from the PS. You'd need to re-calibrate the voltages, at a minimum. Possibly, you'd have to recalibrate the motor as well. It's not trivial to do that. JP's philosophy is if it's not broken, don't fix it. I went along with that.
I was thinking last night that we collectively have made the world much safer for vintage DD turntables over the course of this thread. We now know about Bill, Peter, and JP. We know we can get most of the supposedly unobtainable ICs and discrete transistors for the major brands. Thanks to Halcro for starting us on this journey.
Today I went to buy a Boston Audio Mat2 for my TT101, only to find that it is out of production. What are guys using? I really like the Mat2 on my Mk3 and the Mat1 on my Lenco.
Actually I myself re-capped my SP10 Mk2. And I did not replace diodes or rectifiers, as the Mk2 had no problems ever. (I sold it after purchasing the Mk3.) When I acquired the Mk3, I did turn that over to Bill Thalmann who re-capped it and calibrated it as well. To my knowledge, he replaced no other parts, but considering the cost of his work in that instance, he may have replaced other parts. Somewhere in there, Bill also replaced the main chip in my Denon DP80 and all its electrolytics, too. In the process, he noticed that the discrete transistors in the DP80 were of a type he knew to be unreliable and also inferior to a modern equivalent part. He then took it upon himself to update all those transistors in the DP80. This brings us to the TT101. So far as I know, none of the diodes in the TT101 needed to be replaced. One might go to Schottky diodes, simply because they are the lowest in noise, but I am never going to open up my TT101 again, so long as it is working. I am so done with fretting. If one were to change the diodes, the new ones would likely have a different forward voltage drop than the originals. This would result in a very slightly different output DC voltage from the PS. You'd need to re-calibrate the voltages, at a minimum. Possibly, you'd have to recalibrate the motor as well. It's not trivial to do that. JP's philosophy is if it's not broken, don't fix it. I went along with that.
I was thinking last night that we collectively have made the world much safer for vintage DD turntables over the course of this thread. We now know about Bill, Peter, and JP. We know we can get most of the supposedly unobtainable ICs and discrete transistors for the major brands. Thanks to Halcro for starting us on this journey.
Today I went to buy a Boston Audio Mat2 for my TT101, only to find that it is out of production. What are guys using? I really like the Mat2 on my Mk3 and the Mat1 on my Lenco.