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Underrated turntables....Share Your Knowledge !!!!!

i think the entry level belt drive tables from the 70s like the pioneer pl112d are as good or better than some of the $400 belt drive tables of today, they have a actual anti skate adjustment are a breeze to mod, and can be had for $40, i run a pl112d along with a technics SL1200, with a nice cart , new belt, oiled the motor. fantastic table for the price of a stylus, any old table that has a steady motor, good belt , decent rca jacks and nice cart, its good to go.
 

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freQ(*)Oddio said:
i think the entry level belt drive tables from the 70s like the pioneer pl12d are as good or better than some of the $400 belt drive tables of today, they have a actual anti skate adjustment are a breeze to mod, and can be had for $40, i run a pl12 along with a technics SL1200, with a nice cart , new belt, oiled the motor. fantastic table for the price of a stylus, as long as it has a steady motor, good belt , decent rca jacks and nice cart, its good to go.
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Good to know...
 
I have 6 turntables here. I bought them with the intent to fix and flip but... I like them. Going to send one to my dad just so that I don't have to actually sell it.
 
Here is mine, Sansui FR-D3 from 1983, probably not a sleeper, but for the price they run its good for me. Got it for $60 in a very good state with a weird presumably rare cart on it that arrive broken... Bought a new cart and it sounds great to me (vinyl novice). Its direct drive and very stable, everything works fine on it
sansui_fr-d3_turntable.jpg
 
Here's what I'd like to see from this thread if it hasn't happened already:

Are there any tables left out there that have both quartz lock or at least a DD servo config AND direct drive... for sub $150 or so. VTA has been the one illusive feature in my low budget turntable play so far.
 
EngineerNate said:
Here's what I'd like to see from this thread if it hasn't happened already:

Are there any tables left out there that have both quartz lock or at least a DD servo config AND direct drive... for sub $150 or so. VTA has been the one illusive feature in my low budget turntable play so far.
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Depending on where you live, the Sony PS-X5 is very under-rated and I saw one in great shape for exactly $150. I think it has everything you want.
 
Just rehabbed a Sony PS-X4 + Pickering XV-15 and have to say not bad at all. The DD specs impress. Be nice if it had VTA like my Dual but its just for my beater records so no big deal.
 
I have the Hitachi PS-58 and it is a great little table and great looking with the toggle levers etc.
But I recently reacquired my favorite table, the Sanyo TP 825D and as much as I like the Hitachi I just love the Sanyo and have ever since I had my first one.
 
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It's probably not likely anyone else is going to find one of these, but if you do snag it despite the oddball looks. Project/One DR-770 aka CEC DD-8200. Quite a nice tonearm, weighs 22lbs or so, nice DC servo motor. The motor is likely a relative of the realistic lab-420's unit as they have the same pole/slot count.

The platter weighs a ton and the speed has been rock steady since I cleaned the pots.

The arm is solidly medium mass, I calculated around 15g effective, so it's a good match to some nice homc carts. The arm is a little short like the early Sonys at 215mm effective but with the right headshell a nice baerwald or Stevenson with sub 2.5* Max tracking angle error is pretty easy to achieve.

Q354ChE.jpg
 
freQ(*)Oddio said:
i think the entry level belt drive tables from the 70s like the pioneer pl112d are as good or better than some of the $400 belt drive tables of today, they have a actual anti skate adjustment are a breeze to mod, and can be had for $40, i run a pl112d along with a technics SL1200, with a nice cart , new belt, oiled the motor. fantastic table for the price of a stylus, any old table that has a steady motor, good belt , decent rca jacks and nice cart, its good to go.
Click to expand...
The knob that raises and drops the tonearm on my PL112D broke. I feel like there are too many plastic parts on this turntable and the suspension on the unit kind of sucks too. My wife and I found ourselves tiptoeing around my setup when a record was playing. I do agree with you that it's a great entry level unit, it was my first vintage turntable. I recently upgraded to an AR/XA and my hifi life is now complete.
 
I use a Pioneer PL300X (the dark grey one) in perfect working condition. The phase locked loop direct drive system is very accurate with quite a heavy aluminium platter. It's main saving grace is the suspension system where the body stands on fixed mounting posts with the heavy steel chassis carrying the platter and arm assembly hanging on damped suspension springs. The S shaped arm is O.K. I made some small cuts in the underside of the arm tube to disrupt resonance. The tracking is quite good according to a setup graph.
The main thing is that records sound good on this player.
I also have a PL-X430 belt drive linear tracking turntable which I bought cheap, as I just wanted to know how this system works. It is very plastic and feels cheap. The whole thing weighs less than the PL300 platter. The tracking system is very clever though. I was really surprised at how good it sounds. Also, I have a couple of quite badly warped records and this player played them perfectly where my main player would just skip about!
The difference between these 2 players from the same company in the same era is astonishing.
 
Distances said:
The knob that raises and drops the tonearm on my PL112D broke. I feel like there are too many plastic parts on this turntable and the suspension on the unit kind of sucks too. My wife and I found ourselves tiptoeing around my setup when a record was playing. I do agree with you that it's a great entry level unit, it was my first vintage turntable. I recently upgraded to an AR/XA and my hifi life is now complete.
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nice AR/XA, it takes a few simple easy tweeks to make the pl112d decent , why I posted "breeze to mod" . most important is the springy sub platter , needs to be screwed tight to the plinth, the way they were shipped with the 3 screws, holes are there, very simple, I added better feet from a parts table, i hot glued some old lead car tire weights in areas around the underside of the plastic and added a few steel plates in the base, it is as good as any table now for resisting environment vibrations, this is a mod that should be done to any problematic plastic table.
 
EngineerNate said:
What do you think a fair price is? It has a Gradient zf3 currently with unknown stylus wear. Also missing the hinges but includes the dust cover.
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I dont know the value of the cart, but clean functioning ps-x50's usually go for $250 range on ebay. I would try to get that one for around $150 depending on what you value the cart at. I might have a spare set of hinges, if not they pop up all the time.
 
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