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Strobe light with Pioneer PL-518

J

Jone

New Member
I'm a beginner to vinyl audio and bought my second turntable, a Pioneer PL-518, during the holidays. I'm not familiar with the strobes so I have a small question regarding it and the speed stability with this particular model.

The strobe seems to be working, though I do not perceive any visible blinking(?), and the speed remains correct and accurate according to the dots. The problem is that the dots are not very sharp, like they have a little haziness making it a bit hard to read, is this normal? I've never used a stroboscope before :)

I would interpret this as that there is very high frequency fluctuation in the speed, but the "average" speed is spot on. I assume this is impossible given the rotation momentum of the heavy platter, so it would average out any high frequency fluctuations in the speed?



Few considerations,

The speed control works nicely after turning it back and forth couple of times. There was presumably some oxidation, since in the beginning the speed first slowed down after turning the pot, but picked up after the contact "stabilized". I did not use any cleaning chemicals on it.

The stobe is presumably coupled directly to the AC, so is it possible that frequency the fluctuation in the power grid affects on the strobe, but the heavy platter evens out actual speed fluctuation and therefore the dots seem bit unsharp?

Maybe I'm just being too precise and paranoid :)

All in all I'm happy with the purchase. I had to make set of DIY feets for it which are fixed in height, and I'm looking for an adjustable nice looking alternative, but these have to do temporarily.
 
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Yup, sounds like its operating correctly. The dots won't look sharp like you would expect from a camera strobe. As long as they aren't steadily moving one direction or the other, the speed is stable and correct. I have a Sony that isn't stable, and you can clearly see the dots move first one way and then the other in pulses.
 
Thanks for confirming my thoughts, and I hope that I can sleep peacefully from now on.

Perhaps I could use this thread to express another question. The TT came with AT13Ea cartridge, but I attached Grado Black to it which I already had, since I did not know how much the AT stylus had been played. The cartridge itself was quite dirty. I later cleaned it a bit and briefly tried it on and for my surprise it sounded equal to the Grado. I haven't had time to do serious comparison, but now I'm wondering should I get new stylus for that and perhaps change to using it? Is there any general opinion which would be superior?

Is there difference in the replacement needles I should be aware of, other than the shape of the needle tip? I was looking for example this http://cgi.ebay.com/AUDIO-TECHNICA-...315?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3ee601aae3.
 
Speed sounds fine to me. I suspect the "haziness" you describe is simply a matter of expecting "HD" quality from something that's 30 years old... :D The "blinking" of the strobe itself occurs at 60 Hz, a frequency not detectable by the human eye (the "dots" on the platter adapt it accordingly).

Aftermarket replacement stylii for that AT13 should abound, and personally I've had good luck with Pfanstiehl replacements (looks like a pretty good deal you've found there for a .2 x .7 elliptical). Or you could go NOS genuine AT with stereoneedles.com.
 
Thanks for the stylus info, I had to actually google the abbreviation NOS, since I'm not native speaker :)

I might as well change the thread topic to something like "vinyl newcomer Q&A". Due the nice and useful answers I'll try yet another one.

I also had plenty of time to go through second-hand shops for records. From one I bought bunch of nice records from same previous owner, which were in pretty bad shape, but the nice titles and low price made me to take them. They were very dusty and some had quite lot of scratches. Even the ones that do not have that many visible marks have a constant scratch like distortion that seems to ride along the amplitude, i.e. the louder the passage the louder the distortion. Have these records just been played extremely much, like normally worn out or destroyed by other means, for example damaged needle with heavy tracking weight or something?

The amount of distortion varies little depending on tracks, usually the first track is the worst.
 
Haha, yeah I suppose. I guess that was one of my questions, is it a bulb or is it an LED? I'm picking up a PL-518 in a couple of days and the seller says that the strobe light is out. So I'm just curious if it's an easy repair (sourcing the part, access in the equipment) or if it's going to be a little tricky.
 
Z123Ruckus said:
Haha, yeah I suppose. I guess that was one of my questions, is it a bulb or is it an LED? I'm picking up a PL-518 in a couple of days and the seller says that the strobe light is out. So I'm just curious if it's an easy repair (sourcing the part, access in the equipment) or if it's going to be a little tricky.
Click to expand...

The owner's manual and the service manual are available for free download over at the Vinylengine library.

You have to register first.
http://www.vinylengine.com/library/pioneer/pl-518.shtml

The earlier Pioneer turntables such as the PL-518 may still be using bulbs.

The service manual may have more pertinent information about the strobe repair.

Nice turntable, enjoy the music. :music: :thmbsp:
 
Z123Ruckus said:
Haha, yeah I suppose. I guess that was one of my questions, is it a bulb or is it an LED? I'm picking up a PL-518 in a couple of days and the seller says that the strobe light is out. So I'm just curious if it's an easy repair (sourcing the part, access in the equipment) or if it's going to be a little tricky.
Click to expand...

Neon bulb. I have a PL-518X Black model. I read on a different thread this X model was not for sale here in the "States" Pop purchased this new "somewhere " in the DFW area in Texas back in day.
 
The strobe dots appear slightly 'fuzzy' because they're cast into the platter. Not a precise manufacturing procedure. As noted by a previous poster what's important is whether the dots remain stationary or appear to move backwards or forwards.

Congrats, you've acquired a fine turntable.
 
I have a PL-518 I bought new at Radio Shack (laugh if you must) when I was a kid. The strobe has never been distinct, because it uses a neon, and it never will be, unless you mod it. As long as the platter lugs don't drift in a way that you can't eliminate, as noted earlier in this thread, you're good.
 
Well, I downloaded the service manual from vinylengine (thank you Balifly) and it appears the strobe is a neon lamp and the housing is part of the tone arm assembly.
 
It could be that the plastic prism may have clouded up some over the years. Try cleaning it and see if that helps to shed a little more light onto the platter strobe markings. They are not the brightest and in strong ambient light it makes it difficult to see. Maybe you just need to dim the lights some. Mine never seemed to look fuzzy just a little dim compared to the strobe on my SL-1200.
 
pioneervato said:
It could be that the plastic prism may have clouded up some over the years. Try cleaning it and see if that helps to shed a little more light onto the platter strobe markings. They are not the brightest and in strong ambient light it makes it difficult to see. Maybe you just need to dim the lights some. Mine never seemed to look fuzzy just a little dim compared to the strobe on my SL-1200.
Click to expand...

+1:thmbsp:
 
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