Vintage DD turntables. Are we living dangerously?

I have no doubt that Lewm is right regarding the vintage Technics and Denons. But the Victors may present a different proposition since there weren't as many made and it's unclear, to me at least, that subsequent JVC/Victor tables can be cannibalized for parts in the way that the later Technics can. Either way, buying a DD presents a risk that buying an idler doesn't: the latter's parts can be machined brand new should the need arise. Having said that, Thalmann is THE MAN and I'd have faith that he can fix what ails any DD turntable.

But perhaps we shouldn't let Mr. Cheuk in on it since he'd likely raise his prices on these stellar pieces. :)

I don't dare buy a stethoscope for fear of feeding the neurosis. What if I heard some noise from underneath the platter? I wouldn't be able to sleep until I eradicated it.

Because of their complexity however.......if they malfunction.....parts are 'unobtanium'....and they often cannot be repaired.

This is Halcro's original premise and sadly I now have personal experience confirming its truth.

I longed to live dangerously so I bought a mal functioning tt101 with the idea that it could be fixed, a la Lewm's proposal, by a 'trained professional'. It could not.

The 'cannot' in the depressing sentence 'Your Victor tt101 cannot be fixed' is not, however, metaphysical. A trained professional with loads of time, resources and good will can probably fix such a machine, but such a person, if such there be (the guy who runs www.amp8.com is probably one such person), will need to charge a fee disproportionate to the value of the table. So, for all intents and purposes it is dangerous to live with these tables, well, at least the tt101.

So, Halcro, I have to withdraw myself from the 101 club before even attending the first meeting.

Thanks, guys. Financially, it's no big deal. What's really annoying is that, since I sold my last table in anticipation of getting a functioning Victor, I'm back at square one.

The tt81 is a thought, but since reading the praise of the tt101, I don't think I could be happy with its little brother. I'll always pine for the one that got away.

I'm thinking I'll lead a simple life in the countryside--and perhaps get an idler. :)

I emailed 4 techs about my problem and after initial confidence and enthusiasm they've backed off--after I sent them the service manual.

I snooped around and googled some of the IC part numbers, and all the ones I looked up are available from various sources. So, evidently they are not unobtainium.

What appears to be unobtainium is a tech who can do the job and do so without asking for an arm and a leg.

On a brighter note, the hunk of turntable I have does look nice in my office.

Bill knows the sp10 circuit but he's unfamiliar with the Victor. Consequently, it would take him far longer to diagnose a problem with the latter. And since time is money, he told me he couldn't afford the time it would take to fix it. This suggests it is fixable, but just not by him given his constraints.

To live less dangerously, we need to find a hobbyist with time on his hands. I imagine a person like the one who runs the Kenwood l07d site but with a Victor emphasis would be perfect.

I want to resurrect this thread with a resurrection story.

I told my story of woe above and the table has just been sitting on a cabinet since last August mocking me. I was going to sell it for parts but on a whim I decided to plug it in and leave the power on overnight. I recalled that my sp10, when it was acting up, would benefit from being left on, so I thought why not try it with the victor.

Lo and behold the following morning I pushed start and it remained running for a good long time--something it had never done, as it had the habit of stopping the platter after 30 seconds or so. After some fits in the next couple of hours it maintained perfect speed for 8 hours. It's the first time it's played music since I bought it last June. I heard its glory for those 8 hours last night! This is one fine tt.

A guy from Portland with whom I had emailing about the table suggests that it might be the capacitors reforming after long storage. Seems plausible.

All is not perfect however. This morning it reverted to its old ways for a couple of hours. It's now running again perfectly, so who knows what's going on. One thing that could be the problem is the electronic braking function: it doesn't always engage.

I feel like I'm living on borrowed time. I'm taking it to a tech soon to have the power supply capacitors replaced and the braking circuit examined. Mercifully it doesn't appear to involve the speed circuitry.

Now back to the music.

hi guys: the resurrection persists. Started up just fine this morning. I'm going to take Lew's advice and replace the caps. There's a boat load of them in this monster though, so replacing all of them may be cost prohibitive in terms of tech time. A quick peek at the service manual shows over 50 caps in the servo board alone. So, maybe just the ones in the power supply and then others upon visual inspection?

No meaningful impressions yet, Halcro. I'm using a new cart (astatic mf 200) so it's difficult to know what's responsible for what. Once the dust settles, I'll put on a cart I'm more familiar with and make a judgment. The combo sounded mighty fine last night though, better than anything I recall the sp10 putting out.

Yes, Aigenga, nude she is. I have the ql-10 plinth but what's the point?

I love Mahler, Dover, but for some reason I don't own the 2nd on vinyl. It'll make the resurrection complete once I get a copy and spin it on the victor?

You forgot to include the 'extra overcharge' and 'special undercoating' (seinfeld reference).

I was quoted a much higher number by a very reputable tech to do the same on my less complicated sp10 mk2.

But if that's the number, to be sure I would jump at it.

I would offer to do the work myself, except..... I won't.

Dear Lewm, this reminds me of what I used to say to students who asked for regrades of essays: "I would regrade your paper but I have a rule according to which I don't regrade papers."

You offer sage advice regarding comparative value. I'll keep it in mind when I hear the undoubtedly large number coming out of my tech's mouth.

Thanks for your confidence in my abilities, redglobe, but even with a very generous conception of possibility, I'm not sure I can envision a world in which "You could perform the work yourself" is true of me. I tried to make interconnects once and all I managed to do was melt the pins of the connectors. If I were to try again, I would certainly take Lew's advice and get a decent station as my previous disaster was not all user error (I want to believe).

Yes, Lew, it was Bill and it was a quote for my technics and not the victor. It did include other things but since I didn't ask for those other things, I assumed it all came as a package. No matter. He fixed the technics w/o recapping and did so for a reasonable price, so I'm not complaining (quite the opposite in that case).

Resurrection complete.

After nearly a year of fruitless search for someone to fix my ailing Victor tt 101, I found the man of my audio dreams. His name is Dave Brown. I must have emailed 20-30 odd turntable repair shops and/or persons and had nothing to show for it until I found Dave’s cool website. He specializes in synthesizers (I think), but he’s a pro in the highest sense of the word, and took ‘all of’ 7 hours to diagnose and fix what others said was unfixable or too time consuming. He had never seen this turntable before, yet with service manual in hand he was able to do what seemed to me, and not just me, impossible. And yet he’s not a pro in the sense that he runs a shop (he used to, I believe); he now does repairs out of interest and by request only. He initially declined, citing the difficulty of accessing the victor’s circuit boards while powering the motor (a well grounded concern it turns out), but I’m a good beggar ☺.

On my understanding of what he told me, the boards used on the victor are ‘eyelet boards’. The solder connections through such boards tended to suffer cracking. This is what happened to mine. Some of the connections are heat sensitive, and that’s why I experienced the partial resurrection a few weeks back after leaving the unit on. The cracking is not necessarily evident to the naked eye, but after resoldering the boards, the table now works flawlessly. It should be noted that changing the power supply capacitors didn’t fix any of my troubles, but some of them appeared to be leaking so it was a good idea to do so.

He warns that not all is repairable: if the quartz clock responsible for the pitch control is broken, then most likely you have a doorstop.

So, in regards to that, there is some danger in living with this direct drive table, but the world is made less dangerous with Dave in it.

Gotta go find that Mahler now.

hiho,

The english flyer for the jvc ql8 has a small black and white pic of the tt81 motor. Take a look and see if you can tell whether it's a coreless motor or not.

I'm glad it worked out for you, Halcro. The good news for us is that you now believe the much more widely available tt 81 is just as good?

There appears to be some disagreement regarding whether the tt 81 has a coreless motor or not. The vintage knob asserts that it does, but 'caligari' on this thread says he's positive that it does not. If he's right, then I assume the two tables would sound different? Did you notice that? I'm asking because I wouldn't mind getting a back-up. Nearly every time I push play on my 101, I feel a touch of anxiety; how's that for living dangerously?

Thanks for the links, Halcro. The boards of your 101 look immaculate. Did you relube the bearing?

Antonis's design sort of looks like what Ct0517 has done with his sp10. He also advocates bolting down the footers. What materials does he use? Slate, granite, marble: I can't tell.

The specs are for both the tt 81 and tt 71, the latter's specs being in brackets. So, he doesn't say anything about the tt 71's motor, since that is blank.

The only way to settle this is for Halcro to take his tt81 apart ;).

hiho:

go to the 'specs' section of the page for the tt 81, here. For motor, it asserts: "FG detecting Coreless DC Servo"

I have more than five times the expense invested in my TT-101 over the TT-81....and would love to say that the performance difference is worth the cost....?
Unfortunately (or fortunately)...that is not the case and I can honestly say that I can hear no differences between them.

Thanks for the honesty, Halcro; in the same situation, I probably couldn't bear to write those same sentences.

...according to the JVC flyer that timeltel linked to, there is no "significant difference" between the ql8 and the ql10, except the digital counter. So, you may be on to something in your comparative assessment?

It does seem odd though to cram all the added circuitry of the 101 just for the sake of the readout. And to expect people to pay nearly $1k more for it in 1977. That was the going entry fee for digital, I guess.

...I assume a really competent/talented technician would have the necessary skills to copy an entire IC, which is what he did.

Even if that were true, it takes all but a compact with the devil to locate such a person. Is there a N. American Chris Kimil? Not that I presently need one, but it would be good to have that name in the back pocket just in case.

At any rate, congratulations on renewed life.

Previously when the 'STOP' button was pressed...the platter instantly stopped due to the reverse current in the drive circuit....and then reverse spun for a second before stopping. This reverse spin was due to my removal of the stock heavy rubber platter mat which I have substituted with the lightweight Victor pigskin.

As you might already know, Halcro, the force of the reverse current can be calibrated via adjustment of variable resistors in the circuitry. My tech told me that the adjustment would be a PITA to do because he would need to build something to lift the turntable up a couple feet so he can put his test probes underneath while the table is running. I guess if one wants a perfect table, it might be worth doing. But of course the calibration is tied to a specific weight mat; change the mat and one would need to recalibrate. I left well alone.

Let's hope you're right about Zaah, Audpulse. If so, it not only frees the mind regarding what we already own but also greases the wheels for future purchases. Thanks.

I've been knocking around the idea of getting a ceramic mat for the victor. I was concerned about its weight: 3lbs. Your report, Aigenga, is helpful to me; so, thanks.

How do you find the perimeter ring? Are there any negative effects?

fwiw, the manual for the tt 101 states 1.2 kg.cm as the starting torque.

Just for giggles, I looked up the starting torque for Lew's sp10 mk3: a whopping 16 kg.cm. But the platter for that weighs as much as the entire tt 101. So both tables reach operating speed in under 3/4 sec.

violin:

If Halcro is right in his assessment, I should think that the victor/jvc tt 81 is unbeatable for the price and availability (yahoo Japan always seems to have a handful of them at any given time). Raul was very high on the denon dp 75, so that could be a consideration. I owned a technics sp10 mk2--that's very good. I've always gravitated towards the pretty Pioneer stuff (pl50ii and pl70ii).

The list goes on and on.

Doron:

Platter height is adjustable via a screw at the bottom of the unit (where the bearing is). You'll have to take off the metal cover to access it. It is cemented into place per stock, but perhaps the previous owner messed with it. Scraping is likely due to the platter being too low. Mine was the same way. Perhaps the bearing oil ran out or up due to shipping, thus causing the platter to sink ever so slightly? You might wait a day or so to see if it self corrects before messing with the bearing screw.

As Totem said, don't run motor w/o platter. It's calibrated for a specific load, so it shouldn't lock speed w/o platter. I'm surprised to hear that it locked at 45 for you.

Once I screwed it in slightly, the shaft went forward and the clearance/axial float of the spindle/shaft was reduced a bit. It still exists but just smaller. Is this normal?

Mine does that.

The platter now rotates freely now (no scraping) and the motor locks on both speeds readily.

Then you're good as gold. Congratulations and enjoy....but as Lew says, think about replacing capacitors.

Lewm,

I've taken off, and put back on, that bottom cover more times than I care to remember. But the most memorable thing about that experience is just how tight the fit is in there, especially the power cord. So, even though it didn't cross my mind that that could be the source of your problem, it wouldn't surprise me if it was.

At any rate, looking forward to hearing your impressions of the table.

I hear less noise - especially less 60 cycle hum.

That's exactly what I wanted to hear from you, Aigenga. Thanks.

Over time the bonding can loosen and the damping rubber ring will come lose, without this material the platter is better suited to announce the second coming.

Thanks for the tip, totem395. Upon inspection, the adhesive securing some parts of my rubber ring had indeed dried out. I couldn't tell just by looking; I had to peel back the outer rim of the rubber (the adhesive is applied in square blocks roughly midway inbetween).

Readers of this thread will know that my victor experienced a resurrection, but now that my ring is secured, I have perhaps put in abeyance the second coming?

Ok, I'm game. I'll buy the RP XPR 05w-20 race oil and re-run the test(s) with the same weight Redline.

One thing for certain is I don't know the first thing about motor oils. Here is what is available from Redline (from their website) as far as their race oils go:

20WT Race Oil (5W20)
30WT Race Oil (10W30)
40WT Race Oil (15W40)
50WT Race Oil (15W50)

And here is what RP offers in their XPR line (the line Doron recmmended to me):

XPR 3.1 0W-5
XPR 0W-10
XPR 5W-20
XPR 5W-30
XPR 10W-40
XPR 20W-50

As you can see, if I desire the same viscosity between brands, my 'choice' is limited.

hi Lewm,

You could try talking to the guy, Dave Brown, who fixed my tt 101. He wasn't taking new clients last I checked about 6 months ago, but he might be more open now. He's already famillar with the table and has perused the manual, so that saves a lot of time. You can find his contact info here. Good luck.

hi hiho,

It's high time for people to look into those and install your arm of choice.

I've actully been eyeballing the victor ql a95 (same motor as the tt 801 and can be used in conjunction with the ts1 vacuum stabillizer) for a year now, but the arm issue has kept me from pulling the trigger. I assume that one cannot just put whatever arm one wants (leaving aside geometry), due to the electronics in the table? Can you please elaborate on what might be involved in installing a different arm on one of these integrated tables?

thanks.

Whoa. Congratulations, Halcro. Did your tech miss a joint on the first go around? Or did an already resoldered one break anew?

When my tech redid mine, he said he had to very carefully inspect each joint with a magnifying glass.

Get your magnifying glass out, Lewm.

I don't believe Lew needs my tech, Halcro--he can probably solder just as well as my tech can--what he needs is a sunnier disposition :).

Lewm: after Halcro's experience I'd call into question every solder joint, including the 70%+ you already did. I recall you saying that for days it worked fine at Thalmann's but when you took it home it acted up again. Maybe some bumpy streets cracked one or two of those delicate joints?

The symptoms you describe are more or less what I experienced. They can lead one to suspect a failed component or something complex. My tech (and Halcro's) spent a good deal of time with that mindset only to discover that the gremlins lived in the solder joints. Since the boards are too complex to try to locate the joints responsible for any particular symptom, the 'brute force' method is recommended: redo them all; it's the only way to be sure.

If it still doesn't work, well then, we can say that your skepticism was warranted.

see above:

09-12-15: Banquo363
hi Lewm,

You could try talking to the guy, Dave Brown, who fixed my tt 101. He wasn't taking new clients last I checked about 6 months ago, but he might be more open now. He's already famillar with the table and has perused the manual, so that saves a lot of time. You can find his contact info here. Good luck.

He's in Oregon, so you'll need to risk shipping the table.

If Lewm is right, then Mr. Cheuk should terribly regret "throwing out" two (!) TT-101s.

Incidentally, his site presently has one for sale for anyone who likes to live dangerously. [I have no connection to that site or the owner]

I agree with Halcro’s assessment of the thin Jico mat. I have about 8 leather mats (some are diy) and I’ve tried many different configurations (stacked in various order), and the thin Jico one comes out on top (so far). The Jico mat extends over the lip of the victor’s platter unlike the OEM pigskin and my 47 Labs deerskin mats. I believe this is important, because I have found that if the outer rim of a record touches the bare alu platter, one can hear a sort of ringing. That was one reason I was stacking mats.

Aigenga: your iec post piqued my interest, but you don't say in what particular way(s) 'life is good' with the new cord. Can you elaborate?

I followed your lead on another matter: swapped out the stock ball bearing with a 4mm SiNi one. Thanks for posting the dimensions on the bearing. I can't say I heard a significant difference, but one visible difference I noted is this: the OEM ball bearing is scarred by 'grooves'--caused by either the bottom of the spindle or by the thrust pad (go here: http://cgim.audiogon.com/i/vs/i/f/1425847335.jpg --for some reason mark up tags are not working)--while the the harder SiNi is not.[n.b.: audiogon's system compresses my pic so the grooves may not be very clear; trust me they're there and are easily visible in the original pic). One would surmise that this increased bearing wear would have sonic consequences over time.

While the bearing swap did not result in anything significant for me, I can report that a change in lubrication did. I had been using Redline 20 wt race oil, as recommended by the Kenwood l-07d guru. Recently, audiogoner Doron suggested I try Royal Purple XPR race oil. I bought the 5w-30. The RP is significantly more viscous than the Redline and this resulted in greatly differing platter stop times (i.e. the time it takes for the platter to reach full stop after pushing the stop button/pulling the plug). With the Redline (at 45rpm), it took 1 minute 10 seconds to stop; with the RP, it took only 43 seconds. One can easily tell the difference between the two oils by how the platter responds to one’s hands. With the RP, the platter feels like it’s running on molasses; the Redline like running ON TOP of water.

Given these observations, and before I gave the RP a listen, I declared victory for the Redline (for surely the higher the degree of freedom of motion the better?). The declaration was premature. The RP yielded a lowered sound floor and a darker background. Evidently, the RP does a better job supporting the ball bearing at its contact point with the plastic thrust pad, thereby lessening (eliminating?) one significant source of noise. One way to confirm this is by adding weight to the platter and seeing whether it affects stop time. Both Doron and I confirmed that adding weight (in my case, I tried a 580g and a 770g weight) does not affect the RP (in both our cases, at 33 rpm the platter stops after 30 sec irrespective of weight). On the other hand, the Redline was down to 50 sec (from 1min) with the 580g weight.

Presumably, at some higher weight, even the RP would be affected. RP sells lighter race oils and I’m tempted to see whether one can achieve both freer motion and superior support.

This then is a consideration for those of you adding significant weight to the tt 101’s platter (perhaps this is part of the reason why the light weight leather mats sound so good?). Of course, whatever benefits accrue from adding really heavy mats and rrecord weights may mitigate the effects of increased bearing noise, so YMMV. And for those who have not changed out the oil on your 30+ year old tables, I’d strongly recommend you consider it (despite Victor’s assertion that the oil never needs changing). It’s so easy to do that even I can do it ☺.

Did you measure a "lowered sound floor", or is that a subjective judgement based on listening to LPs?

The latter, Lewm. It was the proverbial, "I could hear things (on very familiar records) I never heard before" bit. I did buy a mechanic's stethoscope. I placed the probe on the spindle shaft and the bottom of the motor: I didn't hear anything. Suspecting that the scope is not sensitive enough, I put it on a DD table I use to clean records: a hum could easily be heard. Of course, this does not get me very far, since I didn't probe the old bearing or the redline.

Your suspicions re a heavier weight Redline oil are duly noted. I might test that out in the near future, either a heavier weight Redline or a lighter weight RP.

The bearing is accessed from below; you'll need to flip your table upside down. Then unscrew the giant brass screw; it may be secured with some kind of cement that you'll need to remove first.

Your problem with your tt 101 is puzzling. I recall you saying that you could hear your platter scraping. Did you fix that? There are two ways to adjust platter height: the bearing screw at the bottom of the table or shims between the motor and the chassis (there should be 2 of them on each of the 3 screws that secure the motor. Note that with the screw, there is a range that yields the correct motor height(s). Outside that range, one gets one of three things: scraping platter, errant rotation, or complete locking. The easiest way I've found to find the right height is to take black bottom cover off and place your table inbetween two suitably spaced endtables. This way you can access the screw from below while the table is running. Just make small turns to the screw (clockwise--as seen from below--to raise platter). I know you have a stethoscope: use it to hear whether the platter is scraping.

I searched through my communications with my tech when he was servicing my tt 101. Below are some pertinent quotes on the construction of the boards and how he went about fixing the table:

--There were no bad parts, just bad connections. I ended up resoldering all the feed thru eyelets, then flipping the board and removing the solder with a sucker, then resoldering them with much less solder. They all look pretty clean now. I know other companies that used the eyelet method had reliability problems. For some reason the solder cracks around the eyelets, probably related to different coefficients of thermal expansion.

--Besides I took a lot of solder out of those eyelets. The issue is the eyelets are hollow so they don’t fill with solder. The hot air insides always bubbles the solder out. I put just a bit around the edges and then cleaned the flux with acetone.

--The PCB is two sided but without plated through holes. It looks like they put eyelets in and then solder on both sides. I found one that was open but by the time I pulled the PCB it was connecting. I resoldered it and now the 45 light comes on and that speed works. The 33 light never comes on so I think there is something wrong with that flip flop. It is made of all discrete transistors so it is really hard to figure out the logic flow.

--I’m always amazed when someone would design a product as complex as this, with a high price, and not spring for a plated thru board. It boggles the mind that they would have relied upon these eyelets which are labor intensive.

Hope it helps someone.

I haven't had a chance really to play around with my tt 801, but here are some observations.

1. The tt 801 DOES have the stepped pitch control like the tt 101. The control panel and speed indication is different though. Instead of showing the actual change in speed like the 101, the tt 801 displays '33/45 +/- .n' where 'n' refers to the number of steps up or down away from 33/45. Additionally, the 801 incorporates a reset buttton to quickly return to 'normal'.

2. The platters are different. The tt 101 platter weighs 1636g and the tt 801 weighs 2706g. The tt 101's platter is damped by a rubber ring seated (glued) underneath, while the 801's platter incorprates 2 rings that are secured to the aluminum via 6 screws.

3. Perhaps as a consequence of the heavier platter, the 801's motor has greater torque.

4. Although the 801's platter is heavier, the 101 motor unit is acually heavier. The materials making up the bezel of the two units appear completely different. The 101 is solid underneath the bezel, while the 801 is surprisingly delicate there.

5. My 801 didn't come with a rubber mat so I don't know for sure how the vaccum function works. From what I can see, there  are four holes surrounding the spindle that act as ports for the suction. Presumably, the oem mat has matching holes that traverse and direct the vacuum to the outer and inner rims (where one can see in pictures holes drilled through). These latter holes would be the vacuum exit points and hence where one's records would be held down. Presumably, one can use other vacuum units as long as the suction power is roughly equivalent. The problem is how to jerry-rig the mat if one doesn't have one.

How do the two compare sonically? I'm going to find out this weekend.

For anyone interested, some guy is selling a brand new in box tt 801 motor unit on Yahoo japan. For a very reasonable price IMO. There can't be too many of those left in the world. No affiliation.

Good for you Lewm. I hope it was all worth the trouble. You own some other very nice DD tables and I for one look forward to reading how the tt 101 compares.

chakster:

I use acupwr for my japanesse vintage gear: http://acupwr.com/pages/voltage-transformers-converters

Made in the usa, but likely just as good as Lewm's chinese step downs. :). It doesn't vibrate and doesn't heat up and neither does the gear connected to it. Having said that, I just bought a japanese made step down, partly because it is Japanese but primarily because I needed more outlets. I'm curious to see whether there are sonic diferences btw the two.

Lewm: The mat to get for the tt 101 is the victor pigskin shown here: http://www.topclassaudio.com/web/eng/used_product_details.jsp?gid=7901

I own that combo but don't really care for the glass. Just put the skin suede side up and as far as mats go for this table it's virtually unbeatable IMO. Halcro was the first to sing the praises of the pig, and I follow him.

I used a BA Mat 2 with my (now sold) technics sp10 2. It was a great match. I don't recall exactly why I sold the mat but seeing as the tt 101 followed the technics, it may have been because I didn't like it with the tt 101? I suspect the tt 101 does not like too much weight on it. I briefly owned the TTM Mat 2 and matching oil damped stabilizer (a very weighty combo), and the victor did not like them at all.

The only problem with the Victor pigskin is availability; it's quite difficult to find. 47 Laboratory sells a pigskin mat that looks promising (you can find it on the bay). I own their deerskin mat and it's good...but not as good as the victor.

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.

Lewm,

I've messed with that screw more than I'd care to admit. It has the effect of adjusting platter height. Too low and the platter will rub against the escutcheon and make noise. Even with the platter off, if that screw is not within some acceptable range, rotating the spindle by hand will generate some grinding/swooshing/what have you noise. Although I can't explain the sudden onset of the noise, I'm pretty sure adjusting that screw will cure it.

And, yes, I've used that Redline motor oil. It's fine, but Doron who is some kind of oil expert suggested I try Royal Purple. I found the platter freedom of movement to be much greater with the latter. And I recall believing that the table was quieter. I had planned to try different viscosities... but I had a pile of Music Matters jazz releases to listen to :).

 try this Lew: flip the table upside down and hold it. You'll feel the motor drop down; flip it right side up. Let it settle and then run it to see if the noise persists. That has worked for me before.

That screw we are referring to is actually a hollow cup into which they put some kind of plastic material.  A bearing ball rests on top of the plastic. You can see a pic of the ball on my system page. I conjecture, assuming there is not something terribly wrong with your motor, that the bearing ball is not properly seated on the plastic--that's why flipping it can help. How it became that way is anyone's guess. It may have something to do with the condition of the oil supporting that bearing ball. If the well is bone dry then then your finding that greater weight on the spindle leads to more noise makes sense. For all we know, the noise might be the ball grinding away dry against its plastic seat.

But get in there and see what's going on. In addition to relubing the ball (even though my platter spun smoothly, the well was more or less dry, it spins much more smoothly after a relube), you'll want to check on the condition of that plastic seat and of the bearing ball. I don't know whether anything can be done to replace the plastic (maybe Peter, with his fabrication skills, can make new ones for all of us :) ), but that bearing ball can be replaced with a SiNi one. I've done it and so has Aigenga iirc.

Same answer as halcro.

SO WHAT CAN I DO? Is that require some sort fo special knowlegde or experience to fix it locally with some tech?

IMO, you probably don't require a man of knowledge. What you require is someone with soldering skills and keen eyes (aided by a magnifying glass). I haven't been following this thread very closely lately, but I believe a goodly percentage of tt 101's documented on this thread have been resurrected solely by resoldering all the joints. 

You need to find someone who will undertake that task. And make clear to him that even if a joint appears to be fine that he should re-do it anyways. My hero, Dave Brown, called it the brute force method

Perhaps this is what Halcro is referring to: https://patents.google.com/patent/US4888564A/en?q=phase&q=lock+loop&oq=phase+lock+loop. From a brief glance, it looks like what is described in the tt101's service manual. Perhaps it is related to the pitch control capabilities that the tt101 and tt81 possess and their other turntables, e.g. tt 71, don't. I leave it to those with superior technical minds to render judgment.

For those who prefer their information concatenated with pretty pictures, Vinyl Engine has several jvc brochures from the late 70's which describe the merits of their line of quartz turntables (along with the 'numbers' for each turntable in a convenient side by side format).

One other tidbit relating to the differences between the tt101 and the tt 81/71 is this: only the 101 has a coreless motor. If one is to praise Technics for utilizing this type of motor in their new design (they are terribly late to the game, no?), then one should acknowledge at the very least that the 101 should sound different, and likely better, than its siblings. To dismiss the 101 after listening only to its siblings therefore strikes me as a logical error.