Great table. I think it had more torque than almost anything out there. The only table with more torque, that I know of, is/was the Technics SP10 MkIII.
Showing 8 responses by t_bone
Lewm, thought I posted this just after your comment but seems I didn't push the "submit" button. The shoot-out is here. |
Lewm, the space really isn't there for a second tonearm on-plinth, and if one tried, THAT would require major surgery on the plinth. If one wanted to put one on a pod behind the plinth, that might work, but it would have to be a loooong arm. According to the Pioneer tech who did the overhaul on mine, the existing arm can actually be removed and replaced quite easily without doing anything to the plinth/chassis. The replacement simply needs to be a very similar arm (282mm effective length or so, as long as the base-pivot relationship is similar). I would think the long Audiocrafts (4000, 4400), the Audio-Technica 1501, the Micro Seiki MAX-282 and MA-505L could be made to work, and I bet the long Sony arms (PUA 286, 1600L), and the long Victor and Denon arms would also work. I have not tried it (not sure if I would want to - as a straight arm, it works really well). I cannot, offhand, think of any modern arms with similar length but I am sure someone could find one or two. That said, the arm on it is pretty darned good. I would think it would compete pretty well with the best of the arms mentioned above (which if I had to choose, I would say is likely to be the Max-282, based on my experience with the Max-237). |
Jwfabrie, Good news - sounds like you're on track. You might want to experiment further with the damping. I would have figured your AT-150MLX to be on the "low" end of compliance. According to the P3 manual (p15, bottom right), in general, low compliance carts should be set at 3-5 using the straight armpipe, and 2-4 using the S-armpipe. High-compliance carts should be set at 2-4 on the straight armpipe and 1-3 on the S-armpipe. |
Yes, 2-4 is the range on the damping knob on the top of the tonearm which the manual recommends for the S-armpipe when using 'low-compliance' carts. Personally, I tend to set it at the low side of what the manual recommends, but it is definitely worth experimenting - it will change the sound more than you expect... FWIW, I assume your AT 150MLX is 'low' because of the specs shown on vinyl engine (which I had recently looked at). I have not used one of those carts on one of my tables. |
The P3 is 100V 50/60Hz. It needs a stepdown transformer outside of Japan - preferably a larger one (one which can handle 300W or so). The transformer inside is supposed to be quite a bit larger than most turntables' transformers, according to the repairguy "the transformer is built for a 20W Class A amp". The back panel only says the draw is 15W, but he also has said to me that the peak power handling is quite large - lots of overhead. Because of that I would suggest more overhead in the transformer than you'd normally use with something which says 15W. YMMV... Maybe Mr. Downunder can opine... |
Jw, How did you solve your tuner band issue? If a tech can do that (and you can find a different number band for the tuner needle window), I would go out and find a Kenwood tuner. They can be found from time to time, but I just figured I could never get it to work in the right band... Downunder, When I move to a place with more than 100V, I will buy a big ugly thing and put it into a wooden box. |