I do not have a loose tone arm or a bad anti-skate. Just $100.00 Chord interconnects. I am extremely pleased with bot units. To my ears, the pioneer has a touch more bass. The Telarc recording of the 1812 overture requires 4 grams force to track on both units. I cannot say which sounds better. I do have a lot more money in the technics than the Pioneer. The interconnects on the Technics are way better, that is the only difference.
I wouldn't hold my breath for any upgrades/mods from KAB. I emailed Kevin at KAB some time back to inquire if he would be offering an upgrade path for the PLX-1000. His reply was shockingly negative, based solely on the published wow and flutter spec. He didn't say whether or not he had actually heard one. I'd bet he hasn't though.
Right now, I'm listening to the first Tull album "This Was." Not the reissue, but a mint 70's Chrysalis pressing. I never thought this album sounded particularly good. The PLX-1000 is showing me I was wrong. It's one of the best hi fi purchases I've ever made. I am considering an outboard phono stage to see if I can kick the performance up a notch. There's nothing wrong with my Emotiva XSP-1, and the built in phono stage is very nice, but the Jasmine LP 3.0 certainly looks interesting.
A new phono preamp would kick it up several notches. I have an Emotiva preamp in the #1 workstation. It's functional, but the phono section hovers somewhere around a 1970's Realistic receiver. The $40 ART betters it quite easily.
If you are talking about the built in phono stage in the USP-1, I totally agree. The XSP 1 is a completely different kettle of fish. That said, I'm still looking- I'd like whatever I do to be in my system indefinitely.
This isn't a reliable way of determining the condition of the arm because unfortunately as commented before, the PLX-1000 arm isn't perfectly oriented flat in accordance with the plane of the plinth. It is very slightly out on every unit I have seen. So to do this test you first need to level the table according to the arm, rather than the plinth. If you do so it should behave like the YouTube video. Mine does. A way to see that the arm is not level is to use one of those cheap 10-15 dollar electronic VTF weighing meters available on Amazon and eBay. First level the platter itself and then what you will find is that the VTF changes slightly from the outer edge of the platter to the inner point due to this. I am talking small amounts such as 0.05 of a deviation across the platter. Not enough to cause any real concern. Secondly, although the anti-bias control works on every Pioneer I have seen, you don't know that number 2 corresponds to 2g of lateral force. In fact, my tests with two units, suggest that it is actually achieving almost exactly half of what it says. I am trying to devise an accurate way of measuring this, but based on a number of test discs, I find that the tracking buzz of the higher output tests (e.g. 16dB or even 18dB) equalise out at almost exactly double the VTF on the anti-skate dial. It is interesting that the Technics only goes from 1-3 whereas the Pioneer 1-6. Finally, the loose bearing issue. I made a rather large mistake earlier in this thread. I suggested that it didn't matter exactly the tightening of the bearings as long as the movement was smooth and unrestricted. I have realised this is not quite true. As you tighten the top screw (lateral bearing), you will effectively hinder the anti-bias (slightly) due to the increased friction. Therefore the correct position of both vertical and lateral bearing adjustments is exactly at the point that "rattling" stops. There is a minute difference between this rattling point and stopping it. What you will find is that at the factory they were only a smidgen out in setting it correctly (1/10 of a turn at most). Some units were correctly set. I have never seen one with a serial number corresponding to later than a January manufacture. Stores still seem to be selling stock this old.
Thanks, jonstatt, for you detailed reply. So after all that, do you suggest I leave the tone arm alone or can a novice like me tighten the two screws without damaging the arm?
If you take your time to do it very carefully and realise that you are looking to turn the screws the most minute amount then you should be fine. On most PLX-1000s it is just the top screw that needs tightening.
First I assume you have validated that your bearings are definitely loose. This is easy to tell because if you give the arm a good wiggle you will hear and feel the clicking as you move it around. First take the arm and just wiggling it left and right evaluate if you hear and feel clicking. Then try up and down and evaluate the same. If either bearing is loose you may also get "in/out" movement as well. Many PLX-1000s have rattle when you wiggle it left and right...this is handled by the top screw. Some PLX-1000s have rattle wiggling up and down...this is handled by the right side screw. The in/out movement should fix itself when both bearings are adjusted correctly. For the units I have seen, only a screwdriver is needed. There is a locking outer nut which you are meant in theory to have to loosen, but as they haven't tightened them that hard, the screws will turn with a screwdriver alone. However, you want a flat blade screwdriver that fills the slot with a good sturdy handle so you can apply controlled force. Make sure the arm is locked in its rest so you don't have a nasty accident!! I recommend you use your thumb and forefinger with one hand to stop the screwdriver slipping off the screw and doing damage. Then turn the top bearing screw a smidgen....re-evaluate the arm...tighten again if needed. As I said, you want the point where it "just" stops rattling. After doing the top bearing, check the arm again if there is still up/down or in/out play. If there is, repeat the adjustment using the screw on the right side of the arm. That's about it....if you don't feel comfortable, please don't risk it. Loose bearings feel bad to me, but I must be honest and say that I could not definitively hear a difference after tightening them....but it just feels wrong to have them rattling around and I am sure with some music, it will induce unwanted vibrations, but how audible it is, is questionable.
Why not? Why all this nonsense about the Rega arms and the DL-103?? The compliance of the Denon at 10hz is known to be around 10 or 11. You need a 10hz measurement to plug into the calculators. Rega arms are around 11 grams, total effective weight w cart then comes to around 19 grams. The resonance is right about 11hz. This has been confirmed with test LP's, as well. Is there something wrong with an 11hz resonance? As far as my research has gone, unless someone has something that says convincingly otherwise, that falls right into the 'optimal' range. Sorry to hijack thread, but this fallacy gets repeated over and over again.
There is nothing wrong with 11Hz. Some say it will it sound slightly better with a little lower res. I don´t know personally if I think so, but it´s easy to test with a small weight at headshell if one wants to.
That was just silly of him. It could be a good revenue stream for KAB--improvements to the PLX-1000 to make it more "SL-1200-like" for prospective buyers, like adding in more resonance suppressing materials in the base and then testing the wow & flutter and deciding ifvthevspec can be improved upon, and how.
I sold my Music Hall this week and placed an order for a PLX-1000 this morning. I should have it by Wednesday, but with my work schedule I probably won't be able to get a cartridge installed on it for a week or so. I'm thinking about going with the Ortofon 2M Blue. Anybody have experience with this combination?
I believe this forum needs some more user comparisons with other tables. Pioneer brought out a giant killer in disguise, The low price. A large corporation does not make too many mistakes, they took direct aim at a market segment and will completely dominate it. As for my Technics, the fanboys are wrong, it is equaled by the pioneer to the only important ears of concern, mine. Speak up!
That's the cartridge I'm using on mine, I love it- Engaging and balanced sound on everything. I bought a Jelco HS-25 headshell for it simply because of it's versatility on adjustments, sounds great!
Hey guys, I need your opinions and expertise please. So I'm looking to buy my first turntable system. Just some quick background. I am a Salsa DJ and have been collecting vinyl for about a year now with the intention of digitizing my records. I am finally deciding to bite the bullet but am wondering if the PLX will fit what I need better. I was originally planning on getting the following components: VPI Scout 1.1 Dyna 20x2 Musical Phonomena II+ The thing is, I won't be investing or buying any Audiophile records or really any music of other genres. Unfortunately, Salsa companies didn't always have much luxury in using high quality vinyl pressings and some of what I have are dynaflex records. With that being said, since there may be an inherent bottleneck of quality, would the VPI Scout be overkill? Also, based on those who have had a chance to compare the PLX to other higher end turntables, would the better sound quality that the Scout would achieve justify spending over 2x more? Is it really that mindblowing? I am looking to buy something that I can be happy with and not have to worry about upgrading, since I rather spend the extra future money collecting more records PS. I will not be taking my turntable out of my house. I have no plans to use my turntable to DJ live.
I have a Shure M97xE with a JICO SAS stylus and a Zupreme headshell. It's an absolutely phenomenal combination. I highly recommend it!
I haven`t heard either the PLX-1000 or the Scout, so I can't really give you my impression but I have read comments from some folks who feel the PLX sounds as good. I've also heard some Scout samples online that had more motor noise than they should for the money being charged for the Scout.
Thanks for the advice, folks! I'll be going to my local dealer on Thursday or Friday and I'll see what he has to say. I can't wait to get this set up!
Hello, all! Here is my first post! I actually read this WHOLE thread! In making my mind up, I've decided a Technics is the way to go for me: cheaper on the used market, legendary design and status, and no one has said the Pioneer was better (in this thread, at least). Also: have you guys noticed that the Pioneer is up to $800.00 on Amazon? Pioneer PLX-1000 Professional Turntable https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O8U3ZI2/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_R0Zbwb7AZN8VN Nice to meet you all, see you around.
That's because very very few people have had the chance to compare the Technics and the Pioneer side by side! On top of that a recent comparison was a Technics with a full set of KAB customisations, and it wasn't better than the Pioneer. It sounded slightly different but neither was better. So either the KAB extras do nothing or the Pioneer is actually better than the Technics in its vanilla form!
