#Pioneer turntable manual#

The underside of the assembly displays it all too well: The tonearm assembly was embedded into the bottom of the deck with little isolation and none existent damping, and other than the armtube, it was all made of plastic. I've lost the pictures since then, so I'm using someone else's pics off the www.

I had to open it up, take it apart and see what was going on inside. It was rubbing against the plastic deck and spinning eccentrically. The flimsy thin alloy platter was spinning so fast, I felt my neck was at danger of it coming loose. I had a PL-300 on the bench back in 2013 and it had a rogue speed issue. So what if it's thinnest? Where's the quality guaranty? Pioneer weren't an exception with the 'world's thinnest' turntable motor. They were pretty much all the same and marketing was the only edge. They were easy and cheap to produce and were common with so many mfgrs, that it became literally up to marketing to make the difference. I bought mine as a replacement for my Technics SL-1500 while I work on its speed issue but now I'm not sure if it will be going back.īy the end of the 70's quartz lock PLL direct drive motors and their supporting electronics were made yesterday's technology. And I can tell you in person it feels a lot higher quality than it looks. 'It doesn't look special so why would it be good' Never judge a book by its cover, this table is a amazing sleeper that flys under the radar and doesn't get the appreciation it deserves. It gets a bad rap based on its looks in my opinion it's plastic resin body and cheap looking tonearm. So yes, it's a very nice 'deck that can be picked up for cheap. Lastly, people have mentioned issues with feedback and I experienced a little feedback at high volumes which was quickly fixed by placing a board under my wall mount brackets so I think it's probably best to place these 'decks on a nice heavy surface if it's going to be placed on a table or rack. The tonearm countershaft is known to be pretty fragile on these 'decks so if you do buy one ensure the seller removes the counterweight before shipping. I have yet to come up with a solution to this on my unit but so far doesn't seem to have affected mine in any way.

#Pioneer turntable manual#

This was true in my case where the dots on the strobe would suddenly fall in speed then quickly return as if the motor had a dead coil, this was easily fixed with the adjustments underneath the unit, the service manual dictates the procedure for adjustment which requires a oscilloscope and two probes, however you can get away with just slightly adjusting the trimmers until stable.Īnother problem is the rubber 'Socks' over the suspension springs, they're made from rubber and naturally with age, perish. These units are commonly plagued by a speed issue with presents itself as a 'Wobble' in the speed. The headshell is made from a composite material and has a copper sheild inside it connected to the ground of the cartridge to help eliminate EMI being picked up by the cart wires. Though there are far superior arms out there there are much worse and this one is far from bad. The tonearm tracks very nicely and accepts cartridges from 4 grams to 9 grams and will do well with most Shure and Audio technica carts. The tonearm is what people consider the failing of this unit but I disagree. What is even more impressive is the rumble rating of 75DB which is very nice, especially if you listen with headphones sometimes like me. The hall effect direct drive motor is quartz locked and keeps a very nice stable speed with a WOW & Flutter rating of 0.025% which I don't doubt. The direct drive quartz lock motor boasted by Pioneer as being the lowest profile direct drive motor on the market in the very late 70s is true, it gives this unit a very thin and sleek look. So I recently acquired a Pioneer PL-300 turntable pretty cheaply with its original box and a suprisingly pristine and clear lid and I thought I'd give my very unprofessional impressions on it.