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PL-112D Tweaks - Time to move on?

JRSBat

JRSBat

Well-Known Member
With loads of help from AKers, I have resurrected/tweaked my only TT. It's a lowly PL-112D, purchased new in 1976. I have taken it about as far as possible. It sounds better now than it ever has before (of course 70's college parties kinda blurr sound quality). The only remaining item I can think of is upgrading the OM10 cartridge to an OM30 or OM40. LPGear has a shibata stylus version of the OM40 stylus that looks interesting.

The questions
  1. is money better spent to do this last $150 to $200 upgrade (or buy a whole new cart?) or
  2. bite the bullet and spend an extra $500 or so for a demo MMF 5.1, demo Pro-Ject XpressionIII or a used P3? The demo MMF 5.1 comes with a pre-mounted hiqh quality cart.

This level TT is as far as I intend to go for quite a while (famous last words).

I am not sure how much better a new intro level TT performs v. the tweaked Pl-112D with an OM40. I assume the new TT would blow it away, but I have never heard one.

Thanks in advance


Tweaks if interested:
de-ox'd everything in sight, oiled the motor, new belt, new OM10 cart and Ortofon headshell, clean/greased the bearing, added dampening and additional structural reinforcement to the base, new Herbies TT mat and anit-vibration tweaks, soldered in new interconnects, sprayed dampening material on the platter, etc etc. I also bought a base level MM/MC Pro-Ject pre-amp since the pre-amp part of my HK330C was very noisy (the aux input was dead quiet).
 
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Believe it or not, you can upgrade the stylus on your Ortofon with a cheaper Digitrac stylus. Do a search for "Quest 20," iirc. If you have the itch to upgrade to a new table, this may not make a substantial difference, but it would allow you to try that "last tweak" for a fraction of the price.

EDIT: The Digitrac won't take you into OM30 or 40 territory, though. Just to OM20, I think.
 
If you are going to continue using the HK 330. I would just buy a better cart. and be done with it..........:thmbsp:
 
watt said:
Believe it or not, you can upgrade the stylus on your Ortofon with a cheaper Digitrac stylus. Do a search for "Quest 20," iirc. If you have the itch to upgrade to a new table, this may not make a substantial difference, but it would allow you to try that "last tweak" for a fraction of the price.

EDIT: The Digitrac won't take you into OM30 or 40 territory, though. Just to OM20, I think.
Click to expand...

What he said, read this thread and buy a couple of the cartridges.
It may take you further than OM20 .............. :thmbsp:
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=192907
 
Thanks all - I had seen the Digitrac threads but wanted to go further up the food chain to an OM30 or OM40. Jettsales still advertises the $20 cart so I might get one just because its $20.

Maybe the real question is the tweaked PL-112D. Will it be able to do justice to an OM30/40 cart or should I spend the extra bucks for a better TT platform/cart?

A $690 demo MMF 5.1 comes prepackaged with a $200 Goldring 2200 Cartridge. I don't know if a combo like that translates into better overall sound than my tweaked TT with an OM40.
 
The PL-112D is not as lowly as you think. This was an excellent series of turntables by Pioneer and the 112D is only at the bottom by virtue of features (manual, belt drive), not quality. It will definitely do justice to an OM40. If you want a tt that takes you to another level, spend in excess of $1000 and it's justified. Otherwise, put the best cart you can on the Pioneer and you'll be very satisfied. Truth is most tts that are considered junk in reality aren't, and they all continue to reap benefits well up the cartridge ladder.
 
something like a used rega planar 2 or 3 of a systemdek IIX would be a worthwhile upgrade i think... and allow you to get even better sound from your present cartridge..
the pl112D is a good starter deck though but i wouldn't spend too much on a cartridge upgrade...

a 'sideways' step cartridge wise might give a different and more satisfying presentation though...so consider the at95e or at110e as they do sound pretty decent in the pioneer arm and stylus replacements are easily available...
these two cartridges also respond well to further turntable ( and especially tonearm) upgrades despite their budget origins... and you have a fairly easy future upgrade path with the at95e in the form of more sophisticated diamond profiles

if you do consider a turntable upgrade... some of the the usual suspects on the used market include thorens,ariston,heybrook,rega,systemdek,linn basik,revolver and some of the better japanese tables from the 70's and 80's like technics etc..

be prepared to allow for wall shelf mounting if you choose a turntable without any form of suspension as it does help keep the noise floor down.
 
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I think your best bet is to bump up to the Digitrack or the OM-30. The 112D is a decent turntable stock, likely improved nicely with your upgrades. I think you'd need to move into the $800 - $1200 range on a new turntable to hear a huge difference.

I think if there is a weak link in your set up, the OM-10 might be it. Its a nice little stylus, but those who have moved from an OM-10 to even an OM-20 notice a significant difference in presentation.

The OM-40 is a great stylus, but doesn't like less than pristine vinyl. So, for your best vinyl, you'd pop on an OM-40 for only your best vinyl, and then drop back to your OM-10 for everything else. That means you'd only get the benefit of an OM-40 on a select group of your disks, and go back to the "status quo" for most everything else.

Or, go with the Digitrack or the OM-30 stylus and play everything with one stylus, and get the benefit of your hard - earned investment all the time.

If you still find your setup lacking after a stylus upgrade - which I suspect is unlikely - you can try moving up the food chain to a better table, and your upgraded Ortofon would play very nicely in whatever set up you might happen to select.
 
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I've had almost the identical setup in a different lifetime. My 112D was hooked up to an HK330C for sometime, and I had the Digitrac 200 stylus. I was very satisfied with it, but felt that I struggled with channel separation on that setup. Everything was just a little muddy and I wanted to experience more. I switched to a Marantz 2225 and was much happier with that amp.
 
Thanks for all of the info. I have followed a bunch of online auctions for Systemdek IIX, Yamaha PF-800 and PF-1000, Pioneer 707 and 630, all Aristons, and P3s. I haven't seen a price I was comfortable with.

I also watch for PLC-590s and GT-2000s but those will have to wait for another day - when I win the lottery like my brother did. And no, he won't buy me a GT-2000.:tears:

Seems the PL-112D can stay for around for this one last mod. Re the OM30 v OM40, I've heard before the OM40 does not like my older albums. I was thinking that maybe the shibata replacement, which is a completely different type of cut per LPgear, might be more forgiving. Maybe the best answer is sticking with the OM30 upgrade and spend the difference on some albums.

I could go down the path of different carts, but then the decisions get dizzying. With the Pro-Ject phono pre-amp, I could even go with MC carts. I think few would be in my current price range. Unless there is a cart or type of cart that would blow away an OM30, I think I will stick with something I am familiar with. I like the OM10's sound - just want to see if I can pull more out of the albums.
 
Two deals - $20 Digitrac Cart and $149 OM30 Stylus

Wound up getting both. TTN had OM30 stylus at old prices so it was hard to pass up.

The Digitrac was a nice improvement but the OM30 is great! I will keep the original OM10 and the Digitrac styli as a back ups. The OM30 will be my main user.

NEW DEVELOPMENT! I still might be retiring the PL-112D. Yesterday I bought a Pioneer PL-610 on the Bay for what seemed to be a good price. It comes without a headshell or cart - but most times those would need replacement anyway. I can simply plug in the OM30 with its new Ortofon headshell, transfer over my Herbies' upgrades and go.

I was looking for an auto-return TT - had bid on some Aristons in the past. I did not want all of the extra mechanicals a fully auto TT includes. Until a couple days ago, I did not know 610's existed.

I should get it later this week. I will post the results when I get it. Hopefully, it will survive the UPS cross country transit.
 
I do miss the luxury of auto-return. Nothing like putting on a record and walking away, or being in the other room and letting the table take care of shutting it off. I'm currently a one-setup guy with a Rega as my main table. If I ever have a main floor/living room setup I think I'll get an automatic table for more passive or background listening.
 
Double benefit of the 610

I like to fall asleep to the music - can't do it with the manual table.

The icing on the cake is the 610 also should blow away the 112D in sound quality.:music:
 
Your Pioneer is fine table, If you're hot to spend some $$$ on another table I think you'd be way ahead to buy a fine Vintage table / arm, you can get some superb Vintage table arm combination's for the price of any of the new flashy MDF or acrylic slabs with cheap electric clock motors, but IMHO before getting a table a better cartridge then a better phono stage(easily the biggest bang for the buck in analog provided you already have a revealing system), learn to align your own cartridges spend the time making fine adjustments by ear.
You can learn a great deal on the Vinyl Asylum, the Archives there are worth it's weight in gold.
 
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