Honestly, there was an SL-1200 and a Pioneer PLX-1000 side by side at Guitar Center and all you have to do his raise their arms and move them across the platter. The Technics just glides precisely and the Pioneer feels like a toy. I know the bearings on the Pioneer can supposedly be tightened, but I still consider that a sign of enduring quality vs a manufacturer still learning it's trade. I'm sure getting rid of that "Pioneer" arm would be a big upgrade. As far as the "weight" of a turntable somehow being a sign of quality ... since when? Anyone ever lift up the super heavy hood of a Yugo?
Nevertheless it's apparently proven to be a good TT to be used ¨as it is¨ . People with ¨upgradeitis¨ will have to search elsewhere/spend a whole lot more money. I'd personally go for the auto Denon despite its spartan looks because of the automatism and lower price/good reviews. But I'd really rather have my PL-3000 survive me instead.
Others have noticed circuitry and chips that are the same as or similar to those in some Pioneer digital DJ products, and buttons and switches that are the same as in Pioneer digital DJ products. I thinks it's safe to conclude that there is some Pioneer DNA in the turntable.
I would agree with you there. The Pioneer tonearm does not feel that great and a little cheap, however it seems to work. I will look at seeing how easy it is to tighten the bearings at some stage. I am not a DJ, so the tonearm being able to handle lots of abuse/use is not really an issue for me. Of course how heavy or light has no guarantee of how a turntable sounds, bur I was impressed with damping of the table and the weight contributes to that. Sound wise, most reports the Pioneer sounds as good or better than the Technics. The Pioneer table you can buy new from any shop or online stockist. You cannot do that with Technics as it is no longer manufactured. For playing music, the Pioneer PLX-1000 is an excellent vinyl spinner, highly recommended to anyone looking for a good dd table at a reasonable price. I would certainly pick it over and similar priced of even higher priced Project or Rega Cheers
If the bearings are loose, I'd agree the arm feels cheap. It's fine when the bearings are adjusted properly. There's no point in aligning the cartridge to any alignment if the lateral bearings are loose as mine (and others) were. The arm will move front to rear and your alignment is gone.
I'm really wanting to to like this table. I'd like to set up another table to play my less than pristine finds. I don't mind having to set up cartridge alignments, VTA, VTF, and trying different cartridge loadings. I have no problem biasing output tubes. I successfully designed the room treatments in my listening space, I built some of them! But, I'm not sure not sure that I feel comfortable having to adjust the bearings of my tonearm. Maybe I'm just (momentarily) tired, but why is that one parameter now my responsibility too? Sorry to rant, just got done with a home improvement job that took too much time from listening!
My comments re feels a bit cheap relate to compared to my lot more expensive arms. I don't think my bearings are loose as it sounds fine and no tracking distortion across the entire record. Could you clarify where on the tonearm you need to tighten the bearing. Is it the sliver thing on the middle top of the arm and on the right next to the anti skating? pic below. cheers
On mine and others, it's been the uppermost screw on the gimbal assembly, directly in front of the counterweight. Err, yes the silver thing. The side screw was fine. I didn't even have to loosen the locking nut around the screw. It's just a hair of a turn clockwise and you are done, like 1-2 mm.
The arm was the first thing I noticed comparing it to my Technics. Over all it is a bit shy of the SL1200 in all regards. But that being said its the best buy out there at 600.00.
Thanks Hifi Guy Very easy being right on top. How do you know when it is tight enough or too right? cheers
Tight enough= zero play if the arm is grasped and attempted to move front to back. Too tight= Restriction or binding felt. Do the top if needed- just a wee bit. The arm moving horizontally will feel as it does vertically. You'll know.
Except it's the most expensive $600 turntable I've ever bought: Upgraded Mat Upgraded headshell Shure V15VxMR Just today: Upgraded non magnetic headshell bolts 32oz MoFi enzyme record cleaner Spin Clean rollers- actually wore mine out, put the spares on, needed another set of spares 180g Nirvana Unplugged 180g Duran Duran Rio But I haven't had this much fun or listening enjoyment in quite a while.
@HiFi Guy Nice! I feel your pain. Nice albums. Which Unplugged did you pick up? That's on my list of albums to grab this summer.
Russk, I bought the Universal release...on sale. I've read it's out of print, and I love my digital copy. It's time to see what I've been missing.
The pioneer is definitely a cool table. I believe I was one of the first people to start a thread here after discovering one at Guitar Center and saying how nice it looked!
I am getting back into vinyl after about 25 years! The PLX-1000 with Ortofon 2M red is my chosen path for now. I was setting up the PLX-1000 yesterday and balanced it all fine etc. However I noted one thing which I don't recall from my previous "setting up" turntable experiences and wanted a second opinion. When first setting up the arm and balancing it so it naturally hovers horizontally, the arm has a tendency to side swing back to its rest. In other words I pull it out to hover over the mat, and it swings back on its own. The turntable is level. As soon as I then set-up the tracking force, the tendency to swing stops and everything is fine. So I don't think this is any big deal but was just curious if anyone else had noticed this side swing tendency when balancing their PLX-1000 arms?
Yes I did....Sure if I turned up the anti-skate it made it even worse...but even at zero there was a tendency to swing. But as I say, as soon as there is some "downward" tracking force set (combined with identical value on the anti-skate) the swing disappears which is why I am hoping it doesn't really matter.
My vertical bearings were slightly loose as there was a slight bit of give going back n forth. A very small turn of the small screwdriver and fixed. No more give in the tonearm. the tonearm feels as solid as any other tonearm now. Thanks for that and an easy thing to do for anyone with slightly loose bearings on the PLX-1000. cheers
I think it is OK. If I start my tonearm at the arm rest it will float slowly inwards to the start of the lp. If I start at the end of the lp, it will go back to about 1/4 from the lp lip. Check the tonearm bearings and if there is any give, use HiFi Guys advise and give it a slight clockwise turn. I just tested the anti skate after I tightened the bearings - I think it operates more normal after I tightened the screw. Antiskate is such a incomplete thing as the skate required changes as you go across the LP. With the PLX-1000 since it may already have a slight anti skate without any applied, it makes sense to have the actual antistake lower than you tracking weight. Enjoy the table as its very good. cheers
Maybe use some alcohol or Windex to clean the rubber of the lift platform and the bottom of the arm that contacts it in case they've a little oil on them. A better grip should keep it from moving.
Thanks for the help. I will check the bearings! Overall I am very happy indeed with the sound I am getting from it which is the main thing
Interestingly, I checked the balance again after having run it for 10 hours. Now the swing has changed so that it settles about 1/3 into the mat. I read somewhere that sometimes it can be as simple as the cable into the arm putting a slight pull on it. Either way it seems to have resolved itself. A friend of mine loaned me the new Madonna album on 2*LP 180gm version. I would never have chosen this myself because I would guess this was primarily a digital flow all the way from start to finish and just dumped on vinyl at the end. But I wanted to test with it and compare it with the TIDAL lossless FLAC stream of the same thing as a sanity check of how well the set-up was running. I was actually pretty dumbstruck at how close the LP and FLAC are to each other. I am sure I could fool a few people with this one in a blind test...it was that close even into a Lexicon MC-12 (With analogue bypass for the turntable), Bryston amplifiers, and Kef reference 4.2 speakers). Anyway, my main mission here was to validate the set-up was reproducing the frequencies and dynamics and I basically proved that! And this was with the Ortofon 2M Red cartridge.....yes, I can hear some areas with precision listening where an even better cartridge might smooth out some sibilance here and there....but it's scarily close which shows how good the set-up is working. The cartridge took about 3-4 hours of playback before sounding good. I was actually rather concerned on a first listen, but it improved FAST as the minutes clocked up. Incidentally with the 2M Red, I found that a tracking force of 1.6 (preferred by some posters) was too low and resulted in distortion in loud or bass heavy passages. The recommended 1.8 seems perfect to me. Next mission is to sit back and listen to some of the old vinyl sitting in my attic for decades (fortunately well protected).
