Just picked up a Pioneer PL-570

mmmhh...lateral weights are not as often offered as i presume and if they are pretty expensive (~ 30-50 $). Most parts are listed in the bay. Maybe you can go to a machine-shop and let them lathe one for you
 
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This turntable cleaned up nicely, cover doesn't have any scratches that I can see. I think this will be as far as I go, it would probably be better for me to pass this on to someone that can properly service it and give it a chance to be fully enjoyed again. I have a Dennon, Thorens, and a few Technics tables I use often, so maybe it's better to pass this unit on.

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mmmhh...lateral weights are not as often offered as i presume and if they are pretty expensive (~ 30-50 $). Most parts are listed in the bay. Maybe you can go to a machine-shop and let them lathe one for you
Many thanks to skylab for setting me up with a lateral weight he had laying around . Just another example of great people on AK!
 
Your tonearm is missing the lateral weight! Without that the TT will NEVER play any records!
It should still play without this weight. It is supposed to offset the weight of the cart and headshell caused by the bends in the arm so the bearing is equally loaded on both sides. In practise, setting this is guess work and back in the day it was often stated to be an improvement to take it off.
 
It should still play without this weight. It is supposed to offset the weight of the cart and headshell caused by the bends in the arm so the bearing is equally loaded on both sides. In practise, setting this is guess work and back in the day it was often stated to be an improvement to take it off.
I can't confirm this. When i ran my TT after rebuild i forgot to put on the lateral weight and had exactly the same behavior that Steve described. After putting it on the TT worked as expected. So maybe your hint does not set an improvement on this TT.
 
I can't confirm this. When i ran my TT after rebuild i forgot to put on the lateral weight and had exactly the same behavior that Steve described. After putting it on the TT worked as expected. So maybe your hint does not set an improvement on this TT.

Interesting! I can't see how the lateral weight could affect the auto functions of the TT. Not saying it can't just that I don't yet see how it could. I have a PL-550 the manual version and the lateral weight has little or no effect in playing provided I suppose that the tracking is set without the weight fitted rather than removed after setting up. That could or would have an effect on tracking force potentially.

How about you take it off again and see if you get the same results?

Jack
 
I'm not too familiar with all the different turntables that Pioneer had or which were considered better than others, but this one I picked up today looks pretty high end. Anyone that knows this table please chime in and let me know what you can.

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Sweet Steve! Florida sure seems to be an audio gear treasure trove! Amazing stuff you've been getting!
 
Interesting! I can't see how the lateral weight could affect the auto functions of the TT. Not saying it can't just that I don't yet see how it could. I have a PL-550 the manual version and the lateral weight has little or no effect in playing provided I suppose that the tracking is set without the weight fitted rather than removed after setting up. That could or would have an effect on tracking force potentially.

How about you take it off again and see if you get the same results?

Jack
I'm pretty sure there is more problems than just the weight, most likely the common gummed up linkage and gear issue.
 
Sweet Steve! Florida sure seems to be an audio gear treasure trove! Amazing stuff you've been getting!
I have way too many people telling me about local treasures they see or hear about, but it's fun as you well know saving some of these gems.
 
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A big part of this hobby is trial and error. Just keep trying things until you find a combination of things that work well for you. Then you can delve in a start tweaking things to see if you can make it “better”.

Then you read an article or a post that describes a new approach, and you can tweak your system to see if it will work for you with your gear.

Remember: Not any two of us are exactly the same. PERIOD. No two of us has the same gear set up, the same listening room, etc, so you should never expect someone else to have the same experience that you do, or did. Enjoy the sharing of those experiences, and the quest for improving new experiences. It is unlikely that one tweak will create the exact same improvement for anyone else, but maybe similar. Talking about it is a big part of the enjoyment.

So go out there and tinker. Play the same cut with the lateral weight in place, with it off, with it re-positioned, etc. If you find an improvement that you like – stick with it. If not, keep tinkering.
 
Interesting! I can't see how the lateral weight could affect the auto functions of the TT. Not saying it can't just that I don't yet see how it could. I have a PL-550 the manual version and the lateral weight has little or no effect in playing provided I suppose that the tracking is set without the weight fitted rather than removed after setting up. That could or would have an effect on tracking force potentially.

How about you take it off again and see if you get the same results?

Jack

Oh that is simple to explain: This TT has the ability to "presume" that the tonearm maybe still locked by the clamp, and if so the logicboard will perform a shortened roundtrip to prevent breaking parts or de-setting the values. So if the TT isn't absolutely perfect in balance/level the tonearm without the lateral weight will force towards the clamp which results in the same "presuming". Maybe you can get out of this trap if you perfectly balance/level the TT, but in my humble opinion i won't use that setting for regular business
 
Hmmm. If that feature is explained in the 70 page owner's manual I flat missed it.

The cam wheel (just above the red arrow) will make one revolution every time a start or stop action is initiated. To the best of my knowledge, the only thing that can keep it from going around is to remove power. Removing power during a revolution will cause the mechanism to be out of synch. This situation is best resolved manually, or could result in damage to the mechanical linkages. It will definitely result in an AFU condition.



The cam wheel can be viewed by removing the bottom cover (13 screws) and the cover plate near where the coax cables enter the base. Lock the tonearm and remove the platter before inverting the TT.
 
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In the service manual version from vinylengine it says on page 13: "If the START button is pushed while the tonearm clamp is engaged, the platter will begin to turn even though the tonearm does not move. If a moment, however, the safety override mechanism will automatically turn of power to the turntable"
 
You need to get the auto mechanism back to the stop position. As member Ghazzer suggested, turn the cam wheel manually until it is as shown in the picture he provided. The auto functions still may not function because many of these have broken parts in the gear motor, but at least it should free up the tonearm so that it can be used manually. The lateral weight has nothing to do with this problem.

Jon
 
You need to get the auto mechanism back to the stop position. As member Ghazzer suggested, turn the cam wheel manually until it is as shown in the picture he provided. The auto functions still may not function because many of these have broken parts in the gear motor, but at least it should free up the tonearm so that it can be used manually. The lateral weight has nothing to do with this problem.

Jon

Due to the possibility that he can get a lateral weight for free, i still recommend to test the TT again with that. Low cost, and maybe with great effect.
 
DesertTwang hit on something that I experienced with my PL-518. Putting a cork mat on top of the stock rubber mat dramatically improved the sound (and it already sounded great). I believe that it improved the VTA, which these Pioneer tables do not have a way to adjust.
 
DesertTwang hit on something that I experienced with my PL-518. Putting a cork mat on top of the stock rubber mat dramatically improved the sound (and it already sounded great). I believe that it improved the VTA, which these Pioneer tables do not have a way to adjust.

Your information is incorrect in the case of the Pioneer PL-570. :no:

See the owner's manual, page 7 Fig. #10 (arm height adjustment screw).
https://www.vinylengine.com/library/pioneer/pl-570.shtml
 
Due to the possibility that he can get a lateral weight for free, i still recommend to test the TT again with that. Low cost, and maybe with great effect.

I didn't say don't use the weight, if you can get one, I said it has no relation to the problem.

Jon
 
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