Henry, Thanks for the tip on the clickable links. As for mats, since I have yet no listening experience with the TT101, I cannot comment on its mat. With my Lenco and my SP10 Mk3, I am a big fan of the Boston Audio Mat1 (for the Lenco) and Mat2 (for the Mk3). (Mat2 is thicker and heavier than Mat1.) I've tried several different mats on each, and the BA mats are current winners. I totally agree about the colorations of the OEM rubber mats as heard on my Denon DP80 and on my Technics tt's. They not only color the music, but I think the rubber mats have colored people's opinions about direct-drive "sound". I wanted also to note that Kenwood was ahead of its time in offering its stainless steel platter sheet in lieu of rubber. But so too was Micro Seiki in offering a copper mat (and a gunmetal platter which can be used with no mat), albeit they are not famed as makers of dd turntables. Kenwood made an optional ceramic platter sheet for the L07D. I have only seen photos of that, but the scuttlebutt is to avoid it. I would not feel inclined to mess with the stainless steel platter sheet on the L07D. Currently, my SP10 Mk3 is receiving the Krebs upgrade and so is out of service. I have been listening regularly to the L07D with an Ortofon MC2000 cartridge (Raul's old favorite MC), and the sound is glorious. I cannot fault it.
Thanks for your concern re the TT101 on "Hold". There is no problem in terms of displaying 33.33 or 45.00. It goes right up to display those two speeds and holds those numbers firmly. The problem is that occasionally it will go into its typical failure mode after 3-4 minutes: the tach lights go out, except for the decimal point, and the platter coasts to a stop (no brake effect). It's as if someone pulled the plug, except the power lights are all "on". If you then re-start, it will work fine, as if nothing bad had happened. So far, in the nude, it has been dead nuts reliable when set to "Run" but does crash as described, about one out of 10 times, when the tach is set to Hold.
