Pioneer Direct Drives - Now and then?


I'm toying with the idea of getting into vinyl in the near future, and saw a recent model Pioneer recommended as a poor-man's Technics.  Also saw some very pretty vintage units for sale here and there.

I'm wondering if anyone has direct experience with them who could offer suggestions?
erik_squires

Showing 1 response by chayro

When I began my journey back into vinyl after a long hiatus, I bought a Music Hall 5.1, which is a belt drive and came pretty well set up and with a good Goldring MM cartridge mounted. I thought it represented a good taste of what analog was about and after I was convinced I wanted to continue, I sold it for a few hundred less than I paid and bought something much more expensive. IMO, it’s a good way to dip your toe in the water, although if I were doing it today, I would probably be tempted to go for the Pioneer 1000. I just think you need to remember that this is an experiment to see how vinyl goes and everything at this pricepoint (and at almost all pricepoints) are going to have compromises. But once you get used to playing vinyl, you’ll be in a better position to purchase something better. Ironically, the advent of internet sales in some ways made things more difficult by giving us such a huge range of choices.  In the old days, you walked into Crazy Eddie or Stereo Warehouse and picked one of the 10 turntables they had there.  Or if you made it to a high end dealer, they had maybe Technics, Linn and Thorens and you picked one.  Now, my god, there are hundreds at your fingertips.  Have fun.