Two things holding me back: 1) What do I do with my Audio-Technica AT-PL120?; and 2) What do I do with my wife?
LOL. I've experienced the wrath of my wife with my penchant for buying audio equipment. She finally just gave up after a few years.
Lymbo, which of the two cartridges you mention here do you like the best with the pioneer? I'm particularly interested in your thoughts of the AT150MLX since that's what I am using now(on a AT LP120)and it's what I would be using with the pioneer if I bought one. Easy to setup with the pioneer? A good match with the table's tonearm?
I did the whole mod thing removed preamp etc it was a huge improvement over my ProJect Turntable ( what a disappointment that was ) but I did expect more .....
That's too bad. It's kind of a cool looking one. But I hear you, I had a Project years ago and hated it. I will admit it was an early model, so I was hoping they'd improved.
I prefer the Quintet Black but it's not a big enough improvement in the sound to justify the cost. That being said, the 150MLX sounds very, very good. Nice match with the tonearm. I've always thought the 150MLX is one of the fiest MM carts made. I like it a lot better than the 2M Back and the Bronze.
Oh yeh it looks great but the motor had issues and very flimsy fishing wire used for a counter weight did like to fall off on a regular basis
A friend of mine has a Debut Carbon. He's VERY disappointed. He drools all over my vintage Pioneer every time he's over at my house. I'll talk him into selling it and buying a PLX. Apparently he has to disassemble the platter to access the 33/45 rpm switch ?! And it has a faulty power switch So a rebranded Pioneer Hanpin super OEM doesn't seem like a bad option all things compared .
A lot of the basic belt-drive entry level tables now require the user to remove the platter and physically change the belt from one position on the hub to another for 45rpm play. It's the whole Rega minimalist design. Nothing wrong with it per se when the machines are well built, but annoying nonetheless. Pro-Ject sells something called a Speed Box, which allows for pushbutton change of speed and generates a more stable voltage for the motor resulting in more speed stability, but it's about $100 extra. My issue with my Debut (and the Xpression that replaced it) was/is motor noise. One would think that a flexible belt would isolate such noise but all three Pro-Ject motors I've had all vibrated so badly that the resonant frequency travelled through the belt and into the subplatter, platter, & LP to the stylus. I'm definitely upgrading my turntable later this years and if the reviews on the PLX turn out as I hope, it may be my choice as it's definitely easier on the budget than an RP6, Traveler, Concept, etc., which is what I was thinking I'd have to get to be happy.
Some not too encouraging comments over on Audiokarma, from a user there, WaynerN, who bought a PLX-1000. Here's his latest comment:
We're really beating a dead horse here, but "WaynerN" did a pretty neutral and honest test on this table. His conclusion: So basically, it's a Hanpin turntable badged as a Pioneer, for $700. It's attractive, it's heavy. The wow/flutter measurement, although not ideal, isn't audible. But -- the questions a prospective buyer will have to ask themselves are these: - Does it bother me that the Anti Skate is essentially non-functioning? - Does it bother me that I won't be able to get some cartridges into Baerwald alignment? - Does it bother me that VTA isn't adjustable (as it is on a SL-1200) and I'd have to correct for it with mat thickness? - Does it bother me that I cannot use a Grado cartridge as they hum on this unit? - Does it bother me that these shortcomings are on a $700 unit...whereas I can get essentially the same engineering, motor and arm for less in an Audio Technica? And if the answer to all of these is no, enjoy your new Pioneer.
No, I don't think so. It's a different kind of damping than provided by the rubber in the arm tube. The fluid damper help to controls infrasonic vibration in the vertical plane extending down to about 5Hz. There's very little lateral damping. It attenuates the tonearm/cartridge resonance peak and cuts down on stylus/cantilever overreaction to any ripples in the vinyl, large or small. The end result is less stress on the cartridge suspension and less infrasonic noise eating up power at the amplifier stage.
Such damping could also result in a reduction of sibilants since I often find that most sibilant distortion seems to occur in the S channel when I convert needledrops to M/S format, and the S channel info comes from the vertical movement of the stylus, so damping any overreaction there could reduce sibilance.
I've been following that thread myself. He seemed to like the Pioneer last night when he actually sat down and listened to music on it. Now this a.m. he no longer likes the TT. I'm sure this guy knows what he is talking about, but it seems to me like some of the things he is complaining about may not necessarily be deal breakers for others. I wonder if there were even any audible "issues" with the AS while playing records.... Also, somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't setting the AS with a blank LP side the wrong way to do it?
Its just a push of a button on the RP6 to switch Fromm 33 to 45. I'm dying to hear this table and compare it to my SL1200 and my RP6
two things here...the guy actually DID have the Pioneer in a Baerwald alignment with an AT cart., and he DID have AS working(albiet at a higher setting on the dial)... But he did have AS working How do you know that other cart.s won't work with Baerwald too? maybe other cart.s will work with even more room to spare
Are those KAB mods on your SL1200? If so is your tonearm damped? That's funny I love the Quintet Black. I lived for a long time with an AT440 on my technics and tried the 150. Found them to be too thin sounding especially compared to the Ortophon carts. The Quintet Black was perfect though. Just curious what kind of music you listen too. How is the pitch stability for say anything with a piano?
Is there no way at all to adjust VTA on that arm?? I'm not a huge proponent of VTA but with an expensive fine line needle I'd at least like to be in the ball park
He *almost* had the AT440MLa lined up for Baerwald. That particular model of Audio Technica cart has a body style that's very common to AT. Most of the higher end AT's use the same body style, so it would stand to reason that this problem would occur with any AT carts with that body, going back to and before the old AT13ea and others. So now one has to eliminate most of the high end AT's and all of the Grados, and we haven't even looked at other carts yet. He noted that he had to set the anti-skate to 5 to get it to function properly as if it should have when set to 1.5 He is lucky enough to have one of those records that is completely groove-free on one side. I personally don't, they're kind of hard to find. Without one, how would you set your anti-skate... guess? Or just let the stylus lean on the inner grooves out of ignorance? Look, a lot of people don't care about any of these specs or settings. Even back in vinyl's heyday, most people didn't know how to properly set up a turntable, nor did they care one bit about it. They'd stick turntables on top of speakers, set them in front of speakers, set them on rickety, un-level tables, tape quarters to the tonearm, no end of offenses that those dedicated to getting the very absolute most out of vinyl would find to be horrific. That's fine, and everyone is free to do whatever they wish with their property and enjoy it in the way that they wish, as long as they don't start interfering with others...which giving bad advice does. I *get* that, to someone who just plopped down 7 bills for a new turntable, the last thing they want to hear is information defamatory to their purchase, even if it is the truth. But that makes it no less true.
