Pioneer PL-750 vs a new entry level turntable
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The sale price of vintage gear is often much lower than an equivalent new product.
That being said, I'd spend some time with that pioneer before i spent $300+ on a new unit. The price you paid has little bearing on it's quality.
KentTeffeteller
Gimpus Stereophilus!
Indeed. spend some time with it and live with it before you decide on the next move. It could very well be decent.
JesusGreen
Member
Well just looking at specs, the PL-750 is closer to old favourites like the Technics SL-1200 than it is to any "entry level" table. Just comparing the wow and flutter and SnR says a lot:
PL-750:
Wow and flutter: ~0.025% (lower = better)
SNR: > 78db (higher = better)
Audio Technica AT-LP120:
Wow and flutter: ~0.2%
SNR: ~50db
U-Turn Orbit Basic:
Wow and flutter: ~0.175%
SNR: ~79db
Pro-Ject Debut Carbon:
Wow and flutter: ~0.1%
SNR: ~68db
Rega RP1:
...They don't even list the specs for these!
Of those the U-Turn does slightly win in the signal-to-noise department, but all of the examples struggle to keep speed anywhere near as well as the PL-750, and in my opinion that's the more important of the two specs, since I've found that SNR numbers are rarely actually a good measurement. For example the quietest turntable I've heard in person which was completely silent during quiet passages was my ELAC Miracord 660 which has an SNR/Rumble spec of 47db - on the other hand my Debut Carbon is one of the loudest with its motor noise despite being rated at a SNR of 68db.
Going for an entry level new table is going to be more of a downgrade in my opinion. The reason to pick new is more if you don't have a working table, then there's less risk/hassle involved than buying vintage. That's why I bought my Debut Carbon - I already bought a Miracord and ran into a lot of problems with it that I've yet to fix, and so wanted something that would be less likely to have issues when it arrived to be my main table in the meantime. On top of that I just wanted something that didn't have that plastic resonant sound that my old Ion TTUSB had. Specs wise though almost ALL of the vintage tables I looked at would outperform it. If you already have a solid vintage table and it's fully working, no need to buy something new unless you can afford something higher end imo (unless you just like how it looks or something).
That's my take on it anyway - opinions will vary of course! All the turntables in the list including yours should be solid when setup great, but I'd still lean towards yours being the better turntable.
PL-750:
Wow and flutter: ~0.025% (lower = better)
SNR: > 78db (higher = better)
Audio Technica AT-LP120:
Wow and flutter: ~0.2%
SNR: ~50db
U-Turn Orbit Basic:
Wow and flutter: ~0.175%
SNR: ~79db
Pro-Ject Debut Carbon:
Wow and flutter: ~0.1%
SNR: ~68db
Rega RP1:
...They don't even list the specs for these!
Of those the U-Turn does slightly win in the signal-to-noise department, but all of the examples struggle to keep speed anywhere near as well as the PL-750, and in my opinion that's the more important of the two specs, since I've found that SNR numbers are rarely actually a good measurement. For example the quietest turntable I've heard in person which was completely silent during quiet passages was my ELAC Miracord 660 which has an SNR/Rumble spec of 47db - on the other hand my Debut Carbon is one of the loudest with its motor noise despite being rated at a SNR of 68db.
Going for an entry level new table is going to be more of a downgrade in my opinion. The reason to pick new is more if you don't have a working table, then there's less risk/hassle involved than buying vintage. That's why I bought my Debut Carbon - I already bought a Miracord and ran into a lot of problems with it that I've yet to fix, and so wanted something that would be less likely to have issues when it arrived to be my main table in the meantime. On top of that I just wanted something that didn't have that plastic resonant sound that my old Ion TTUSB had. Specs wise though almost ALL of the vintage tables I looked at would outperform it. If you already have a solid vintage table and it's fully working, no need to buy something new unless you can afford something higher end imo (unless you just like how it looks or something).
That's my take on it anyway - opinions will vary of course! All the turntables in the list including yours should be solid when setup great, but I'd still lean towards yours being the better turntable.
Balifly
Listening
The Pioneer PL-750 was the top model of that series in 1984.
It should still out perform most entry level turn tables in today's market.
there's a couple of reasons to buy vintage. first is that Pioneer, for example, built millions
of TTs each with running changes, each new model added changes to make them better,
and there's enough of them to allow a choice and have spares to last even longer.
hard to beat the old technology - folks go gaga over the technics SP10/15/25 even though
it's first generation, discrete logic and complex implementation. The Pioneer belt drives
starting with the PL-xx, then the PL-xxx are great examples of good solid working TTs.
Pioneer's last generations of Linear trackers are also a great choice.
of TTs each with running changes, each new model added changes to make them better,
and there's enough of them to allow a choice and have spares to last even longer.
hard to beat the old technology - folks go gaga over the technics SP10/15/25 even though
it's first generation, discrete logic and complex implementation. The Pioneer belt drives
starting with the PL-xx, then the PL-xxx are great examples of good solid working TTs.
Pioneer's last generations of Linear trackers are also a great choice.
restorer-john
Addicted Member
The PL-750 used one of Pioneer's stable hanging rotor Quartz Lock DD motor units. The actual motor unit is excellent and was a carry over from previous year's Quartz PLL DDs. The rest of the turntable- not so much.
Shopping in the vintage market it's possible to find prices all over the place from a steal to the stupidly over priced. With research on places like Ebay you can find a rough average of recently sold items, best to include the cost of shipping to the total. Getting a great deal has no impact on the potential performance or value. No doubt if in decent working order the PL-570 will far outperform the UTurn and every other new entry level table by a wide margin. If treated with decent care by the previous owner most of the vintage direct drive tables like your Pioneer PL-570 will perform very well with little to no maintenance needed.
Bugler
Super Member
boreas
"If it sounds good, it IS good." E.K.E.
The polymer graphite tonearm is actually pretty good too. Very low effective mass.
Balifly
Listening
Should not be an issue with most receiver or integrated amplifiers that has a working "phono input".
restorer-john
Addicted Member
It tracked really well I remember, but I could hear loud bearing chatter when playing records on the few examples I had. I figured the mass decoupler thing was Pioneer's attempt to fix the problem after manufacture.
If you have a unit, play a record and listen to the arm bearings while it is playing (volume turned down). I'd never heard that on any other turntable.
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