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Pioneer turntable; comments needed

U

ursinus

Sansui 771 User
Hello,
can any of you tell me something about the quality of Pioneer turntables in general and those of late 70's and/or early 80's in particular? My friend has a possibility to get one (P16 in his words?) and he's eager to know how to pay.
Thanks in advance,
Ursinus
 
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Well, I run both Pioneer and Technics turntables and the Pioneers nearly always have a higher build quality. This is all my own personal opinion so I hope I don't upset anybody :music:

It depends what price range you're looking at but the bargain PL-12 is a good one for the price, good quality arm and motor. Then you get the likes of the PL-512, 518 etc with the solid laminated chip plinth, the arm on these isn't quite as good but they have nice rubber feet and again a good motor and I like them for the price, have restored quite a few. Then you get the PL-112, 115 etc. The use of plastic creeps in here and the build isn't as heavy as the earlier ones but they are still solid and have a similar tonearm to the PL-12. All the turntables listed above are belt drive, so simple and will run for years and years without trouble.

Then you move into the bigger bucks and the higher end direct drive turntables, like the walnut coloured PL-400, 500 series with brushed aluminium control panels to match the other vintage gear. I'm running a PL-550 at the moment (it's made my Technics SL-1500 redundant ;)), got it on pure silver cables and the sound is awesome. Direct drives can be more trouble if you buy untested on eBay, they can blow fuses and won't work properly if the switches/controls get dirty. Not a problem if you can sort it yourself but worth thinking about if you need a tech to fix it.

The long and short of it is: don't touch anything manufactured after about 1982, if it has a straight plastic tonearm and skinny black/silver plastic case then it's a no-no, the best ones have a silver S shape tonearm and were built before about 1980.

Regards, TiberiuS.
 
Lots of nice turntables from the late 70s and very early 80s.

My personal favorite is the PL-600. Caution, do not get this confused with the PL-600 from the late 80s.

Doc
 
Doc, the PL-600 looks like Pioneer's answer to the higher end Technics SL series direct drives, I'll take a look the next time I see one come up on eBay :)

Seen a couple in the past but thought they were plastic, didn't realise they had a cast ally base.

Regards, TiberiuS ;)
 
Cheers mates! I did find out the exact model: it's PL-6... If you still have your precious time. - Ursinus
 
I have the vinyl wood grained PL-570 and not the bpc one with the same model number. It's been my choice of Pioneer TTs until I got a PLC-590. Both work great but the 590 has a higher coolness factor.:D
 
I used to sell Pioneer TT's among others in the late 70's and ealy 80's. The big problem we had with them was the feedback they would draw. Had alot of returns and exchanges because of that. They were worse at that than any other TT we sold. With good placement they sounded fine.
 
My experience with all of the Pioneer components that I purchased new back in the late 70s and early 80s, bottom-middle-and top of the line, was that they were all excellent and never caused problems more than a worn out belt or two, and a speaker re-foam. I donated a system from 1979 that I listened to for more than 25 years. At the time of donation, it was still working fine.

Doc
 
ursinus said:
Cheers mates! I did find out the exact model: it's PL-6... If you still have your precious time. - Ursinus
Click to expand...

Congratulations, Ursinus! The PL-6 was a re-used model number. So, when you say PL-6, I am assuming that you mean the model from1981. If so, here is a photo from a 1981 German catalog.

Doc

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PL-6? Low mass, high tracking ability polymer/graphite arm etc?

I wouldn't go there personally. I have a PL-430 in the loft (same arm, semi auto DD) along with the rest of a 1983 x30 series system (SA-530, CT-330, TX530 etc), the post CD turntables aren't a patch on the earlier ones, neither are the systems. Get a good earlier model PL for a few $$ more and enjoy it :yes:

Just my opinion ;)

Regards, TiberiuS.
 
I know I like my Pioneer PL-55DX T/T. It and my JVC QL-F4 are all I use. I debated on selling one of them but I'm still not sure. Both are rock solid. I just hate having to wait till next Tuesday for my new Shure M97XE cartridge to come in! I know this old Audio Technics AT10 has seen it's better days and is not doing the records justice. I'm sure the stylus is the original. I had a SL-1500 that I gave to my best friend last month for his birthday. It was a heavy weight!
 
great thread....i'm running a Pl-518 but always loved the looks of the woodgrained TT's.
 
ozmoid said:
That arm is real piece of work! Which model TT?
Click to expand...

It's a Pioneer Series 20, PLC-590 which were sold with out a tonearm. The matching tonearm is the PA-1000 which is built out of carbon fiber.

I scored it with a Black Widow tonearm made by Infinity and that's what you see on it.
 
Very nice, I like the look and the machining. I have a PL-115D and a PL-4, both in need of repair. My main TT is a Yamaha YP-D8.
 
onepixel said:
It's a Pioneer Series 20, PLC-590 which were sold with out a tonearm. The matching tonearm is the PA-1000 which is built out of carbon fiber.

I scored it with a Black Widow tonearm made by Infinity and that's what you see on it.
Click to expand...


From a 1977 catalog, here is the PLC-590 and the PA-1000:

Doc

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