Pioneer Direct Drives - Now and then?

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. 

I got into vinyl about  5 years ago.  I actually had records before I had a turntable.

Walked into an flea-market / re-sale type of store in my city one Saturday morning, asked the girl working the counter if she had any turntables.  At first she said no, but then said "oh hold on, I think I have one in the back".

She walked out from the back carrying a Pioneer PL-550 turntable in excellent condition, with the original owners manual. I had already been looking around online for a decent turntable, so I knew I was looking at something that was pretty damn nice and desirable.

Asked her what she wanted for it, she replied "how about $60?". 

I'll take it!

It had an Acutex cartridge on it. I bought a new needle for that cartridge, checked the alignment and settings, and have been listening to it for the past 5 years without issue. 

I plan on getting a new cartridge for it in the near future. 

Great turntable.

There's a Kenwood KD550 listed here on Agon. $799 in Washington State. I'd buy this myself but already have too many TTs - including a Kenwood KD650! Great DD TTs worth owning and using!

Hi,

I was looking intensely for a TT for my office system, and wanted either semi or full automatic. The Pioneer PL-530 caught my eye and budget also. I agree with Chackster, with higher budget, the PL-70II is a great choice.

Have you ruled out JVC or Denon DD?

Hopping about this am, I noticed, the PL-530 is not Quartz Locked. If you can fine one you like, Quartz Lock is better IMO. PL-505; A500; 707 are in that price range.

Fully Manual, this one with a solid wood base is on eBay, a curiosity for sure

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pioneer-PL-PM2000-Stereo-Record-Player-Millennium-Model-In-Excellent-Condition-/153834530694?_trksid=p2385738.m4383.l4275.c10

btw, to play a turntable, you will need two specific electronic things to occur:

1. phono signal equalization (RIAA curve)
2. phono signal boost (preamp).

many amps do not include phono inputs/phono equalization/phono signal strength boost, they only accept 'line level' signals (think 1 volt), like tuners, tape decks, .....

1. equalization: boost the lows and cut the highs

a. the lows are cut during recording (keeps grooves smaller, that is how they got more grooves on a platter, more music on a 12" disk. i.e. Long Play, i.e. LP.

b. the highs are boosted during recording.

Eventually RIAA curve was standardized: defined agreed amounts of alteration during recording and corresponding re-equalization during playback.

2. Preamplification. Original tuners and ceramic cartridges produced around 1 volt directly into amps. New stereo MM moving magnet cartridges produce a lower signal, half or often less strong. That weaker signal has to boosted (preamp) up to 1 volt, then sent to your amp designed to receive/boost a 1 volt signal strength enough for your speakers.

3. IF you choose a Moving Coil cartridge, they in turn produce an even weaker signal, and they need a pre-pre amp, to get up to the MM signal strength, then the 'normal' pre-amp boost up to 1 volt. A few High Output Moving Coil cartridges exist, they are 'strong enough or just strong enough' to go into a MM phono input

many new moderately priced TT have an optional/switchable built in phono eq/preamp, so you can use it and go into a 'line' input, or not use it and go to your external phono eq/pre-amp.