I have ordered a Pioneer PLX-1000 direct drive turntable.....

[Frank Sol]

Have you personally heard a stock 1240 with your MM carts?

nope

How did I know you haven't :nono: You seem to have to be negative about any TT in the PLX1000 range without having any 1st hand experience

Very odd

 

[boreas]

I think it's time for me to get rid of all my turntables and get a plastic BSR. That way I'll have a table that we all agree is a POS and I won't risk getting my feelings hurt.

The thing that strikes me about Wayner's review is that he seems to have abandoned any sincere attempt at an objective critique after discovering that his favorite(?) Grado hummed. That appears to have magnified any of the subsequent disappointments he experienced and, over time, to describe them more negatively than he did originally.

A little personal observation regarding hum. Cartridge hum isn't always linked to the turntable it's mounted on.

I have a Spectrum SC-212E/II, an OEM version of the induced magnet Piezo YM-320. It hums. It hums because it picks up RFI from the transformer in my amp, not from the turntable. I know this because gradually moving the turntable (or even just swinging the tonearm) farther away from the amp's transformer gradually reduces the hum and eventually eliminates it.

I have about 20 other cartridges mounted and aligned, other IMs, some MMs and some MIs. The Spectrum is the only one of the bunch that hums, even with the "tonearm side" of the turntable around 2 inches away from the "transformer side" of the amp. So, do I "blame" the turntable for this? The amp? Or the cartridge?

John

 

[Garven]

How did I know you haven't :nono: You seem to have to be negative about any TT in the PLX1000 range without having any 1st hand experience

you obviously haven't read my comments very well.

In any case, Frank, this is getting very tedious and not contributing much to anyone reading this thread who might be trying to decide if the PLX-1000 is worth checking out. You have your opinion; I have mine. It's obvious never the twain shall meet, so let's give it a rest.

 

[Gibsonian]

Amen brothers!

 

[Frank Sol]

Garven, some 16yo kid just posted a PLX1000 review on Amazon. He said the Pioneer rocks and is better by 100 than any TT he has ever owned

Add him and his review to your 'I love the PLX1000' repertoire

 

[grottyash]

you obviously haven't read my comments very well.

In any case, Frank, this is getting very tedious and not contributing much to anyone reading this thread who might be trying to decide if the PLX-1000 is worth checking out. You have your opinion; I have mine. It's obvious never the twain shall meet, so let's give it a rest.

Except one opinion is based on first hand experience, the other on reading reviews.

 

[Frank Sol]

I think a revisit is in order to a few of Wayner's posts BEFORE he received the TT

Because no one else here has bought one (as far as I know), and I think I need one more TT (this will be #9), I have decided to buy this much anticipated DD table. I have already drawn lines in the sand for this table, and if it doesn't perform to my utmost expectations, its going back.

I'm an engineering guy, not a reviewer, so keep that in mind.

I hope it turns out well.

In the second part of the review, I will install one of the cartridges (probably a Grado) to check for hum issues...

I don't have any prejudice towards this table. I stated from the first post that there is a firm line drawn in the sand, and if this table doesn't pass my expectations, it goes back.

 

[Garven]

Except one opinion is based on first hand experience, the other on reading reviews.

Er, no. Other than the Reichart and Guttenberg reviews, all the others I read were actual users on this or other forums. Their first-hand experience is every bit as valid as Wayner's, plus they don't show the kind of inconsistencies his review and comments do (not only about the PLX, but also about the Technics).

 

[grottyash]

I meant Frank Sol. You have never seen the deck, so your opinion can only be secondhand.

 

[Frank Sol]

I meant Frank Sol. You (Garven) have never seen the deck, so your opinion can only be secondhand.

and... I gave a decent review of the PLX1000. Also must add, my adult son was disappointed in the PLX1000 considering the price tag

 

[Garven]

I meant Frank Sol. You have never seen the deck, so your opinion can only be secondhand.

Actually I have seen and touched a PLX-1000. I was in a Pro Music Shop a couple of months ago and saw one. I was in a hurry and didn't have time to audition it plus it wasn't hooked up to anything. I checked the bearings to see if they were loose (they weren't). Before buying one, I'd obviously want to audition it carefully using my own LPs, but until I'm ready to purchase, I've read lots of impressions online from people who actually own it. All but 2-3 are positive.

 

[majick47]

I wasnt knocking the capabilities of the Chinese mfgs, they are as capable as any one else to mfg great products. That said they are also great business men who know how to target and price their products for maximum profit. If anyone took a close look at Pioneers marketing material they would get a good idea who the PLX-1000 was marketed to. Pioneers video was squarely being directed at the small segment of DJs who still use turntables, the rap/hiphop DJ. If you like to play rap/hiphop then you probably wont be disappointed with a PLX-1000. Any criticisms mentioned here on AK should have no impact on the sound quality produced by the PLX-1000 as used for the above mentioned purpose.

 

[Frank Sol]

Garven , you mean Herb Reichert?

Herb indirectly favorably compared:

Pioneer PLX-1000 turntable
Shure SC35C cart
Schiit Mani Pono Pre

To a $100K vinyl frontend he once owned or once had use of... nuf said

Herb Reichert's articles are why my son wanted to buy the PLX1000

 

[Dr Tinear]

Actually I have seen and touched a PLX-1000. I was in a Pro Music Shop a couple of months ago and saw one. I was in a hurry and didn't have time to audition it plus it wasn't hooked up to anything. I checked the bearings to see if they were loose (they weren't). Before buying one, I'd obviously want to audition it carefully using my own LPs, but until I'm ready to purchase, I've read lots of impressions online from people who actually own it. All but 2-3 are positive.

Online impressions can be misleading. More than a few people own and enjoy Crosley or Ion turntables and post their positive impressions of those turntable-shaped objects. The Bose 901 also gets a lot of love in online forums.

 

[Garven]

Online impressions can be misleading. More than a few people own and enjoy Crosley or Ion turntables and post their positive impressions of those turntable-shaped objects.

Not in the forums where I hang out!

 

[JP]

I love both Crosley and Ion.

 

[SSaxdude]

Online impressions can be misleading. More than a few people own and enjoy Crosley or Ion turntables and post their positive impressions of those turntable-shaped objects. The Bose 901 also gets a lot of love in online forums.

The people that enjoy Crosleys and ions likely don't have experience with real turntables, so they have nothing to base the quality on. Plus many of them only get "into vinyl" for the novelty. Their standards cannot be lower. AK impressions are more valid, seeing as almost everyone in this forum has used/owned/currently owns multiple turntables.

That being said, the ion TTUSB is at least a generous step above Crosleys (not sure about the Advance model) and the LP60 (and all its Hanpin variants). Yes I heard one at a friend's place. The ion Profile is junk though, also from personal experience.

 

[Frank Sol]

I love both Crosley and Ion.

I read a review where a guy sold his tricked out Technics SP-10 Mk3 once he heard his new Ion

 

[boreas]

I read a review where a guy sold his tricked out Technics SP-10 Mk3 once he heard his new Ion

That was me.

 

[AcidPunk15]

I wasn't aware it's been linked here before. It's my first time. Yup, he's an Aussie in Dubai. You got to appreciate him living in one of the hottest countries in the world requiring a special permit to drink a cool one and allowing it only in designated bars and hotels for foreigners. Maybe that explains the full 30 minutes dealing with the PLX-1000. That's too long.

I thought it was pretty clear what was going on inside, the minute he lifted the bottom. Excuse me for saying so, but what's inside doesn't strike me as a $700 worth of quality TT content. Frankly, it looks sorta flimsy and the pitch fader soldered on to the PCB is, IMHO plain stupid.

That Pixle guy has some very interesting observations, backed up by solid explanations and obviously technical experience, regarding the expected durability of that TT. I think he makes a strong argument.

I kinda agree about the dubious cleverness of the experiment he devised with the speaker behind the TT. I don't think it represents a real life scenario and I also think it wasn't really placed straight, yet, you got to admit the Technics dealt with it quite remarkably, as opposed to the PLX.

That experiment doesn't really require a physics lab and a particle accelerator to reproduce. It seems more like old news. No one seems to seriously give a fudge enough to attempt it, probably because by now no one has too many expectations for 'supreme' Technics like performance out of the PLX. Given enough time it would probably go down in history as just another Technics clone out of the Hanpin plant. We seem to forget those very quickly. It was just the same shebang with the Stanton ST-150 a few years back. Even the pricing policy was identical. It's old news now and no-one is experimenting with it. What for...

We should probably place wagers on who's gonna be the TT maker / audio distributor that comes up with the next Technics / Hanpin clone. Philips maybe? Yama? That'll resurrect the likes of this thread again and probably encourage more experiments and comparisons. My money is on the prospect it will never, ever outperform the original. On a positive note - they might get the anti-skate to work by then.

Its Stanton Among DJs its knowns as the Technics Killer