I finally took the plunge this morning and picked up a new PLX-1000. So far it's sounding great! One thing I was really happy and surprised to notice is how much better my old 2M Black sounds with it. Even my old OM20 sounds great and my Denon souns very much the same as it did on the old Pro-Ject Xpression I've been running since 2007. I also have an AT150MLX around here that needs a new stylus so I look forward to hearing how it sounds on it. My bearings were fine, the platter has no wobble and the antiskate seems to work ok. So all in all, I'm a happy camper!
Awesome! Be interesting to hear your feedback on the 150MLX on it since that is what I'm using and you have some other pretty well regarded cartridges to compare.
Messed around with one at guitar center near me, I'm going to continue to use my sl-1200 mkII's NOTHING ABOUT THE PIONEER MADE ME WANT TO SWITch. I just recently opened up my 3 sl-1200's cleaned the very small amount of brown oil from the spindle, added a few drops of fresh oil, made sure everything was snug, and I am positive I will have these for another 25+ years. I'm happy with these and the small add ons I made from KAB. JUST THE small plastic screw on piece which screws on the back of the tonearm has done wonders. I don't have much rumble, so unless it happens, I won't need the fluid damper. Turntables still start n stop on a hair. Just make sure you set the brake strength inside.
Hello, I recently purchased this exact same setup: Pioneer PLX-1000, Ortofon SH-4, and AT150-MLX, in many ways in response to reading this whole forum and your posts. I'm having a lot of trouble getting the cartridge into the alignment with the Mofi Geo-Disk. It seems that when I get the A-B alignment pointing toward the pivot point, it puts the magic "C" dot a few millimeters away from the stylus even with the cartridge to the very front of the headshell. Did you struggle getting this lined up as well? If you have any advice on what I'm doing wrong it would be a huge help.
Yes, I ordered a replacement stylus for the AT this morning so I'm looking forward to cartridge shoot-outs. For now I'm happy I no longer have to apply noise reduction to get rid of the Pro-Ject motor noise. In my initial tests with needledropping, the low-level resolution and clarity in the bass region is stunning. Ditto the soundstage.
I just used a protractor printer for my alignment and did it by sight as close as I could. I'm not familiar with that mofi geo disk. I'm using the same Baerwald alignment that the technics 1200s use. Only thing I can tell you is to use a protractor instead of the mofi disk, or you may have to go with a different headshell if you are dead set on using the mofi disk. Hopefully someone else will chime in with some more advice for you
Thanks for the advice. I also have the protractor from my Shure M97xE, so I'll give that a try. I don't want to buy another headshell if I don't have to.
Once you do get it aligned, I think you will be pleased. This headshell/cartridge combo works very well with the Pioneer.
5 months in to owning this table and I'm loving it still. I promised I wouldn't buy tons of vinyl but somehow the 10 albums I owned before I got the turntable has become 36, although every piece has been chosen because it's special: vinyl only releases, special editions of beloved albums, albums where the difference in price from CD is minimal and a digital copy is included, albums which were designed for vinyl listening and don;t sound right without a break for side flips, several mono only releases.... And I have a crate of my in-law's old 60's and 70's vinyl that needs to be cleaned before I play it, but includes mono Sgt. Pepper, mono Pet Sounds, mono Doors 1st LP, mono Highway 61... I may have to buy a mono cart! Anyway, stuff the haters and enjoy the turntable if you have it. Mine plays great, sounds as good as any digital copy or CD (in some cases better), and is great fun. It appears there is a little platter wobble but it tracks so well it causes no audio issues, although I may see about getting it fixed under warranty. The only danger for me is blowing more money on a mono cart and a record cleaning machine. Great fun.
To me, nothing beats an arc protractor. When you get this result, you are truly done with cartridge alignment:
+! I did some alignment comparisons last night with my old OM20, which is mounted on the Pioneer headshell that came with my tt and won't reach a full Baerwald IEC. I tried Stevenson and although it was ok, the highsa (especially cymbals) sounded a bit grainy. I then tried a custom protractor I did for Löfgren B with inner groove at 55 and outer groove at 140. This low distortion at the real inner groove around 60mm like Stevenson but has lower distortion between the null points, and although the distortion is highest at the outer grooves (where distortion is much less critical), it's still around the same as Stevenson. The overhang is 15.9mm with an offset angle of 22.2°. The difference was really noctiable with the highs turning much smoother. I also found that dropping the tonearm height to 1 on the scale really dialed in the old OM20 (I`m using a 1/4-inch "super mat" I bought at KAB so if you have the regular rubber mat that came with the PLX-1000, it would probably be better around 0 on the height scale). Here's an image from vinylengine with the comparison:
I started using the overhang gauge with my 1200 and kept the cart square in the headshell. I felt it really helped tame sibilance and produces excellent inner groove tracking. I am wondering, do you think that Technics Baerwald protractor is superior to the method I've been using? There are multiple ones right now on eBay starting at $400! http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pioneer-PLX...219935?hash=item33ad43969f:g:bjgAAOSwf-VWVNni
I got to hear one of these on Saturday and I was pretty impressed. Pioneer has really tweaked the Hanpin design for all it is worth.
Good point. I didn't look too much into it. I made sure that my 1200 that I got was never used by a DJ.
Thanks hifiguy but im in england so it's not really viable for me to call you, I did check the post on page 22 or 23 where there's a picture of the tonearm with the top gimbal and the screw, and I see the comments about tightening it, but that screw doesn't turn at all for me and I have no idea how to turn the lock nut.
