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.
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So that brace is an option that would seem to fit both the GT2000 and the GT2000X.  I am sure it would help to reduce or eliminate colorations I associate with MDF plinths.  I'd consider it a sine qua non; I'd buy the reproduction, which is beautifully made, if I owned a GT2000.

Henry, You say above that GT2000s are often double the typical price of the GT1000, which would indicate the average price of a GT2000 is ~$2000US, based on your estimate of the value of a GT1000.  Then you say that a TT101 might go for $1500US (or Australian dollars, maybe?)  When you consider that the GT2000 comes complete with plinth and tonearm and that the TT101 is chassis only, I think the facts rather support my point that the two are not much different in current market value. 

I just checked Hifido; there are indeed "mountains" of GT750s and GT1000s for sale, and no GT2000.  There's a P3 for ~$5500US.
GT2000/GT2000L/GT2000X seem to sell as soon as they are posted on Hifido. They probably have a waiting list. And I think the P3 there now was reserved pretty quickly after it was posted.

Lewm: That reproduction brace is indeed attractive, but costs 700,000 yen or $6.5k USD... 

Henry & Lewm: The going price of TT101 indeed is on the low side.  I recall a couple of years back seeing someone sell a TT101 with full maintenance done by the seller for >$1000 on Yahoo JP for just the motor, but I failed to bid then and haven't seen them come back again. 


TT101 is just the motor drive with no plinth and no arm whereas the GT2000 is a complete integrated turntable. The prices should be different.

The TT61, TT71, and TT81 do not use coreless motors and from my experience with TT71, while it's good sounding, its sound does not have the flowing smoothness of tables with coreless motor like QL-Y66F, QL-Y7, QL-Y5, QL-Y55F, etc... 


A few weeks ago I saw a TT-101 in the Victor wood base with tonearm and mounting boards for two other arms asking less than $2,000 on HiFiDo.

a cursory search on completed yahoo jp auctions shows that the last two yamaha 2000x went for US $5k each. That's more than most auctions for sp 10 mk3's. So, Henry is correct....something's afoot, we know not what.