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Thoughts on a Sony PS-LX520

jhoyt

jhoyt

Incomprehensible space llama
Today I picked up a nice Sony PS-LX520 for a 5 spot. It seems relatively well-made, and the linear tonearm works without a hitch (I've played a couple records on it this evening, and played around with the controls some. The cart it came with was a brand new Ortofon OMP10!

What are your thoughts on the reliability and relative quality of this TT? Could it be in the same league as my Beogram 8000? The sound from both is quite similar, but I'll be doing A/B testing throughout the weekend. I also have that new (to me) Elac Miracord 50H that I've been having a blast using. But back to the Sony/Ortofon combo, does it have what it takes to be a front-line player, at least for someone with a very modest budget?
 
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It's a very nice turntable typical of Japanese offerings of that vintage. The parallel-tracking drive system and electronics is as (if not more) top-notch as any other. Reliability is excellent but watch for arm drive-belt deterioration which is easily accessible by removing the bottom cover: in a pinch it can be replaced with a rubber band.

The turntable is capable of first class performance if not for its cost-savings implementation - the base and top plate is plastic but can be beefed up. Get a copy of the service manual and you'll be amazed by how sophisticated it is.

Mate it with a Sony receiver (STR-VX550/750) to gain wireless remote control through a 5 pin cable.

Is it in the same league as your Beogram 8000? I don't own the Beogram so I can't say, but I'm willing to bet that had Sony dressed the turntable in prettier clothing and beefed up the chassis/suspension, it'd be in the same performance league as many much more expensive alternatives. Just as well; it lets us DIYers play with top notch gear at rock bottom prices.
 
The plinth appears to be MDF, although the bottom plate is plastic. Thanks for the heads-up on the arm belt. I had read other conversations referencing a "belt", but since the platter appears to be direct drive, I wasn't sure what was being talked about.
 
Well, I've been able to reach several quick'n'dirty conclusions about the Sony:

Overall, it's a nice tt. With the Ortofon cartridge, it really does put out nice sound. Last evening I was listening to Claude Bolling & Yo Yo Ma, and it sounded wonderful, even through the Sony STR-DA2000. Formerly, I had tried the B&O with the Sony receiver, and it just didn't sound very good. The Sony/Ortofon TT has a higher output than the B&O, and that seems to make a big difference. It's a good combination.

Mechanically, the TT works well; it does everything it's supposed to. But there seems to be a flat spot, or somesuch, on the arm drive belt. So, priority one is to replace that belt. I'm betting that the previous owner saw this problem, and thought the whole thing was toast. So, rather than chuck it, he donated it to a thrift shop. The dust cover was pretty crunched, so much so that I immediately took it off and threw it away. It looked like it had been stepped on, or worse. (There were no signs of abuse on the TT itself, though.)

I'm really liking this "linear tracking" thing, I am a big fan of the whole concept in general, even with the added electronic complexity. But, look at the results, right? Both my linear trackers produce wonderful sound, from the first groove to the last.

But I can't forget about my beloved Miracord 50H, it needs some love, too!
 
I have the LX520 connected to my SOny ES whole-house system so I can take advantage of that wired system control feature (Control S), and have found it to be a nice musical TT. I have the AT cart in mine that is readily avaialble for p-mount, would like to find a Shure V15 p-mount sometime but overall I'm happy with it.

John
 
Yup, that belt was replaced on mine a couple of years ago before giving the turntable to my Dad to transfer his vinyl.

I feel the same way about the linear tracking thing; they are so clever in design and execution. I recently acquired a Technics with the arm in the lid - it's quirky, it works, it's amazing to watch and a joy to use.
 
Well this thread was started in 2010 and here I am 10 years later, looking for help with MY newly purchased PL-LX520. I recently got a desire to play my old vinyl and needed to get a new player.

I was amazed to get one new in box; never used, stilll with all the original packing and transport screws in place. $250, which would have been not horrible if it worked, but I knew up front it might not. It powers up but the tonearm doesn't move. I took the bottom off and gently removed the mini drive belt for the tone arm and...it held it's odd shape (big wheel one end, small on the other) sooooo..I'm suspecting this is at least part of the problem. I confirmed the tonearm motor does turn. I'm about to go downstairs and see if I can find a very small rubber band but I'd really like to replace this properly. Any pointers to suppliers or workable replacements for the drive 'belt' would be most apprecited. I'm not sure if it's an O ring, or a square cross section.

Tips on mounting a cartridge would also be appreciated. The instruction manual tells how, but it also mentions a symbol looks like T4D or maybe T4P. The tonearm is a square hole with 4 female connectors inside.

[edit] I did find an O ring and tried it out, but it's much heavier/thicker than the original band. Installed, the motor just wouldn't turn. When the motor does turn it's loud. I'm not sure if that's normal, i.e. if the motor is just used to retract the arm to the position to allow you to put the platter on, or if it's an issue. I do seem to recall that some of these cheaper linear turntables were loud when retracting..but my memory is blurry :)

Let's see if I can include some photos:

Cart-Install.gif motor-drawing.gif tonearm-motor.gif
 
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illini said:
PS-LX520?

https://www.vinylengine.com/library/sony/ps-lx520.shtml

http://www.vintage-electronics.net has the tonearm belt.

Something like the audio-technica at92ecd or at450 would be a near perfect cartridge; t4p compliant (more or less...)
Click to expand...

That's great! Thanks so much. I just ordered a couple replacement belts, an AT cartridge, and a few other cleaning things I needed. Hopefully when the belt arrives my Sony will come back alive. If not..more debugging.

Thanks again for the quick response and the pointers to suppliers!
 
Another question...While I wait for the new belts to arrive I manually turned the drive wheel that runs off the motor to move the tone arm to the position to allow the platter to be put on. I haven't put the platter on yet, but I see there's a light grease on the shaft that the tonearm runs on. It feels like a very light grease, not really an oil, but I suppose it could be a heavy oil, or just aged oil. I already cleaned the shaft to the right of the tone arm, but it really didn't have this oil on it. I can easily degrease this, but then my question of course is, what oil or lubricant grease should I use to replace it? I have a few likely materials including Break Free CLP (light oil with teflon). Or I could use some clear silicone grease (sold as plumbing grease, but it's clear and about the consistency of an ointment.)

I've looked at another thread here, and it seemed like the choice isn't particularly picky. I'm inclined to try the CLP since I'm very familiar with using it on other mechanical items and it's light.

I have a similar question about an opaque white or off white grease used on the plastic gears of the drive mechanism in the base of the TT. I'm a lot more concerned about degreasing vintage plastic gears. They may not react well to 70% alcohol for one thing, and it may not degrease well anyhow. There's also the issue that, again with machinery, some greases have bad chemical interactions with each other if you don't get all the prior grease off. For now I'm inclined to see if the unused, clean, 30+ year old grease on the tonearm drive mechanism will work fine, particularly if I get the tonearm mechanism working and run it back and forth a few times. FYI you can see the grease drops in the above photo of the motor mechanism.
 
Woohoo (mostly)! I got the Sony up and running. With the replacement tonearm drive belt the arm moves out of the way, I put the platter on, plugged in the Audio Technica AT85EP cartridge I bought and plugged it all into the Schitt Mani phono preamp. The turntable plays records! :) It even tracked the 1812 Overture w/ live cannon, and played a couple other records adequately. But I think I need to do some work on it. There's some sort of noise that happens when I move the signal cables while it's operating. I also seem to be getting broadcast audio intermittently over the ground wire. I'll replace the 3 cables. I I'm not yet sure if I need to recap. If all the features are working does that imply the caps are good? I.e. if I have bad/marginal caps, will there be any problems with the sound I will be able to hear?

The Schitt Mani..I'm not sure of it yet. With it set to 42 dB gain and 47k ohm for the MM cartridge I have, I'm getting a wind/ocean noise from the Mani through my speakers. Even when the turntable is completely unplugged from the system. Is that par for the course for a sub $200 phono preamp? The Mani is supposedly well liked. (Yes, I haven't played records for 25 years, so I'm not sure if this kind of noise is normal, or not? Coming from the land of digital audio with a good DA and transport.)

Thanks again for all the tips and supplier referrences!
 
Sounds like a grounding or shielding (or both) issue. You have a ground line from the turntable to the Mani? No ground line from Mani to amp?
 
Mr Boochie said:
Sounds like a grounding or shielding (or both) issue. You have a ground line from the turntable to the Mani? No ground line from Mani to amp?
Click to expand...
I've tried it with and w/out the ground wire connected. But the rushing sound is from the Mani itself, since it changes volume when I change the gain, and it comes from the Mani when the turntable is completely disconnected from the system (even from the same power strip.)

I sent an email to Schitt asking about the rushing noise. My next step for the turntable is replace the signal and ground leads, and also look at the schematic to see if I need to replace any capacitors.
 
Mr Boochie said:
Maybe, need a replacement unit from Schitt?
Click to expand...

We will see. I'm keenly aware that, from Schitt's perspective, I'm a guy that is hooking up a 3.5 decade old turntable. The only thing I have going for me is, yeah I've been there as far as tracking down ground loop hum and other stuff. Since I'm getting this noise from the phono preamp, w/ no phono...that's a bit suspicious. But the Mani has a following;

My back up phono preamp plan is the Cambridge Solo. I like that it takes a 3 prong power plug and has an integral power supply rather than a wall wart that most phono preamp suppliers are relying on nowadays.
 
Hmm. This thread seems to indicate some potential problems with RFI and the Schiit Mani. Once I hear back from Schiit...I may end up trying to return the Mani. As I suspected, the cheap wall wart the use for power can have problems. I've experienced the reception of a local radio station bug. I thought it was due to my turntable, but now it looks like it's due to the power lead on the Mani acting like an antenna.

https://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/viewtopic.php?t=94128

[Edit]
Oh good. I just noticed this on the warranty section of the Shiit Mani:

"And, if you don’t like Mani, you can send it back for a refund, minus 15% restocking fee, within 15 days of receiving your amp. "

So to send it back I'll be paying over $20 (restocking fee plus shipping) on a $129 unit. That's absurd. I start to see how they make their money :)

I think I'll try out a Cambridge Solo or Duo. I trust the brand, the models are reviewed as very quiet, and they have a built in power supply rather than a cheap Chinese wall wart.

Live and learn. Avoid the Shiit.
 
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Final update. My experiment to use the NOS Sony linear arm turntable has worked!

Today my Cambridge Solo arrived. I installed it and, as expected by me, the rushing sound is gone, the picking up a local radio station on the power lead is gone, and the hum is reduced so much that you can only hear it by putting your ear next to the speaker and turning the volume up. And it sounds about as good as the Schiit. It is only Moving Magnet however, and is $50 more than the Mani. Of course I won't have to pay $30 to return it like I did with the Schiit Mani. If I'd wanted Moving Coil Support I would have had to move up to the Duo. But for my level of listening I figure I'll invest in a better cart, or a better stylus for my existing cart, Turntableneedles.com who sold me the cart has both a hyper eliptical and shibata stylus available. I'm wondering whether I'll be able to hear the difference.

At this moment I'm listening to my original 2 LP set of The Wall. On my turntable. Relaxing.

My thanks to you all for your recommendations and comments.
 
Robert3189 said:
Final update. My experiment to use the NOS Sony linear arm turntable has worked!

Today my Cambridge Solo arrived. I installed it and, as expected by me, the rushing sound is gone, the picking up a local radio station on the power lead is gone, and the hum is reduced so much that you can only hear it by putting your ear next to the speaker and turning the volume up. And it sounds about as good as the Schiit. It is only Moving Magnet however, and is $50 more than the Mani. Of course I won't have to pay $30 to return it like I did with the Schiit Mani. If I'd wanted Moving Coil Support I would have had to move up to the Duo. But for my level of listening I figure I'll invest in a better cart, or a better stylus for my existing cart, Turntableneedles.com who sold me the cart has both a hyper eliptical and shibata stylus available. I'm wondering whether I'll be able to hear the difference.

At this moment I'm listening to my original 2 LP set of The Wall. On my turntable. Relaxing.

My thanks to you all for your recommendations and comments.
Click to expand...

Thanks, for the update. Good job!

source.gif
 
WesleyIII said:
uh, you dont pay restocking fees on defective ****
or return shipping
at least i dont
glad you got your table going
wes
Click to expand...

You do if you make the mistake from buying from Schitt Audio. 15% restocking fee, plus return shipping. I'm waiting to see if they try to screw me over on refunding the sales tax. In which case since I'm in the same state as them I'll drop a time with the state tax board.
 
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