Pioneer PL-L1000 Opinions Please! Score or Not?

I can't believe how many of you clowns find these at thrifts :D, this must be the 4th I've heard of. I guess this is the (only) benefit of living where there's more people. The 440ml is the one cart I really want to try, as I think LT is the ideal way to take advantage of the Shibata/Line Contact/Micro Line stylus. I have the stylus gage, I'll check the measurement with my caliper. I'm betting it's 50mm. If by arm lock you mean the little plastic plunger thingy, I've only seen one of these intact. People mistake it for a shipping clamp--it's not. the tonearm carriage is supposed to be screwed down, that tiny plastic rod doesn't stand a chance.
 
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koseltri said:
I can't believe how many of you clowns find these at thrifts :D, this must be the 4th I've heard of. I guess this is the (only) benefit of living where there's more people. The 440ml is the one cart I really want to try, as I think LT is the ideal way to take advantage of the Shibata/Line Contact/Micro Line stylus. I have the stylus gage, I'll check the measurement with my caliper. I'm betting it's 50mm. If by arm lock you mean the little plastic plunger thingy, I've only seen one of these intact. People mistake it for a shipping clamp--it's not. the tonearm carriage is supposed to be screwed down, that tiny plastic rod doesn't stand a chance.
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This is actually the first turntable of any quality I've found at a thrift or any garage sales. I've been looking at least once a week for the past 3 months. The little plastic plunger thingy is what I am talking about, I found part of it inside the table. I just wanted it to have everything intact, that's all. That would be great if you come find the overhang guage, I would really appreciate it. The AT440 seems like a nice cartridge, I looked at LP Gear for replacement stylus, they are more expensive than the Grado Gold1 and the Shure Jico SAS (for the M91ED), I was honestly surprised. After the holidays, I am going to be getting a replacement stylus for one of these, I was informed by a vote here at AK to go with the Jico, but now I will have to put the Shure/Jico up against the AT440ML OCC to see how that one comes out.

Thank you again everyone for your responses.

David
 
dnpainting said:
.. would be great if you come find the overhang guage, I would really appreciate it.
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Maybe this will help until you find a gauge.

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koseltri said:
Off by 1 mm :sigh:. these two seem to be standard. All the Mitsubishi's are 50mm.
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That's ok. Using the calipers for the 49mm measurment, I was off by 2mm, too far out, OOPS! Table sounds fantastic, although I am going to have to research a bit more. When using the manual jog wheel, tonearm is still drifting back to the base, ever so slowly. Then I will get to stop for a bit, then after the album side is over, it auto picks up and returns, then I jog it over and it is back to drifting.

*EDIT* I was able to order a new belt from Pioneer, part # PEB-097, for $2.50, So I ordered 4 because their shipping rates suck. I think this is the culrit, The monkey job I did on the tonearm belt. Well, hopefully.
 
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Mine will do funny things occasionally too. Like the arm slapping the stop on return, and drifting.
I put mine away in the project lineup for a re-cap. I'll betcha thats what the little buggaboos are.

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resound said:
Mine will do funny things occasionally too. Like the arm slapping the stop on return, and drifting.
I put mine away in the project lineup for a re-cap. I'll betcha thats what the little buggaboos are.

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Could be in need of a re-cap indeed. I will wait for the belt to arrive and change that, while in there, I will test the caps for leakage. All-in-all, this table really sounds outstanding. Some of my older albums that normally have a skip in them, track with no problem. I am really impressed with it.
 
Drifting means the arm is out of adjustment (not centered). The arm lift has a groove in it which is supposed to index the threaded rod in the tonearm, thus keeping it centered. BTW, does the rod have a molded plastic tip? sometimes it's missing. The arm adjustment is fiddly, each adjustment affects the other, and any time you change the arm height you have to do it all over again. I assume you know you have to level the table using the track rods.
 
I own two. One, a Phase Linear 8000 (same thing) I bought new in 1979. The other one I bought locally. Never have replaced any capacitors. These are very critical with mechanical alignment, and being level. As koseltri pointed out, I also suspect the screw with the white tip that fits into the V of the arm elevation platform may be out of adjustment, or possibly the white tip is missing. This centers the arm when it's up. If it's off center just a tiny bit the arm will drift to one direction, and the position knob will move the arm faster in one direction than the other.
 
koseltri said:
Drifting means the arm is out of adjustment (not centered). The arm lift has a groove in it which is supposed to index the threaded rod in the tonearm, thus keeping it centered. BTW, does the rod have a molded plastic tip? sometimes it's missing. The arm adjustment is fiddly, each adjustment affects the other, and any time you change the arm height you have to do it all over again. I assume you know you have to level the table using the track rods.
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Hi koseltri, the rod does indeed have a white plastic tip on it. When I first started the TT this morning, I had no drifting, until I went to start 2nd side. One thing that I have noticed, when doing the tonearm height adjustment, I loosen the tonearm lock screw (which I had found off down below in the bottom of turntable), and the tonearm is supposed to go to it's highest poing, it does not. You are then supposed to then move the tonearm up and down to set the correct height and lock the screw. when this wheel falls off, does something come out or drop out of place to where I need to remove the arm to fix?
 
CONGRATULATIONS! :thmbsp:

I guess you realize by now that yes, that was a score (scroe, screo, orsce, escor, scero, skor, or however you wish to spell it!). :yes: The cartridge alone is probably worth more than what you paid, and the turntable certainly is.

Pio1980 said:
Nice, you did great! I am still trying to convince myself to pull the trigger on one for two years but am already bung-hole deep in interesting good TTs.
Join TVE and download the manuals before getting too involved and in trouble.
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So I'm not the only one who has trouble resisting a good turntable? That's a relief! :D I've been able to get rid of a lot of the more "ordinary" TTs, and even a few nice ones, but it is those darned "interesting" ones that I just can't resist! :no: I know they won't remotely out-play my GT-2000, but they're still so interesting, so appealing... Argh!


Good advice about getting the manual, first. I talked with someone who knew some things about my PL-L1 before I "dug into" repairing it, and that conversation probably saved me from ruining it irreparably, as there are some parts of the tonearm assembly that cannot be accurately re-assembled (adjusted), once taken apart, without the correct factory equipment! The PL-1000 should be a little safer to work on, but still... the principle applies!

ghazzer said:
Probably a good score! Congrats! Most of te reported problems I've seen with them has been belts for the platter and for positioning the tonearm.

Take Pio1980's advice - get the manuals and READ,READ, READ. Search the AK forums to see what others have run into, how they resolved it, and how much they have enjoyed their treasure.
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READ, READ, READ.... absolutely! That's probably the best advice I've seen in quite a while here on AK. Not because there isn't a lot of good advice here, but because that is such really GOOD advice! :yes: :thmbsp: There is plenty out there about the PL-1000, too. [I just wish there was 1/10th as much about the PL-L1... it's supposed to be the "big brother" to the PL-1000, but I've found the differences to be pretty significant.]


merrylander said:
Get a piece of paper the size of the platter, punch a hole for the post and draw a straight line from the center of the hole to the edge of the paper. Put that on the platter and measure from a fixed line in front of the pickup arm both to the center and the edge until you know that line is parallel to the measuring point - that is where the stylus should land. Congratulations on a fine TT.
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Why didn't you post that BEFORE I went out and spent a lot of money on the Omnivision LP box, just to get that linear-tracking set-up side? :D

[Actually, I'm joking: I did buy it mainly for that one side, but I'm happy to have it for everything else it contains, too! :yes:]
 
The arm lift has it's own adjustment, the screw is in the center of the lift/arm lock. The lift needs to be adjusted in tandem with the tonearm to achieve the proper lift while preventing drift. The lift needs to come up enough to center the rod in the groove on the lift. Then you can adjust the height of the tonearm. Like I said, it's fiddly. Ed--I've got both brands too. Do you like silver or black better?
 
I believe I got rid of the drift. I took a look in the groove and there was a little debri in there, I cleaned it out and the white plactic piece, still got some drift, so I rotated the plastic piece, gave the tonearm a little tap and it rested perfectly from both directions. Thank you for the advice about it not sitting in rest correctly.
 
koseltri said:
Ed--I've got both brands too. Do you like silver or black better?
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I liked the looks of the 1000 better in the pictures before I got one. Now I realize how hard it is to keep the black satin finish clean. Otherwise it's a draw. The Phase is pretty though.

koseltri said:
Mine is missing, and it's difficult to get it to lift straight up, it doesn't drift though.
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So you run the end of the screw into the V, nothing in between?
 
New belt is on it's way and will be here tomorrow.:banana:

Question: While looking at the owners manual for the tonearm "Height" adjustment, it says to loosen screw on the side with coin or fingers, the tonearm base is supposed to automatically move to it's highest point, correct? This one does not, in fact, I can't get it to change past the first guage line, first being the tonearm is in the lowest position. This is the correct position for my cartridge however, but, if I ever want to change it. Is there a spring or something that could be missing? I don't see one in the SM anywhere.
 
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