Steve's next turntable journey Pioneer PL-71

[Marco]

Fair enough, David - you'd know as you've seen it in the flesh

My bet is that it'll still pale into insignificance compared to the mighty 103SA-equipped 'Marco-boy' SL-1210 - be afraid, my brothers, be very afraid......



Marco.

[Dave Cawley]

According to the service manual the arm plate is held in by 3 screws; Jelco here we come?

Dave

[Beechwoods]

Fair enough, David - you'd know as you've seen it in the flesh

My bet is that it'll still pale into insignificance compared to the mighty 103SA-equipped 'Marco-boy' SL-1210 - be afraid, my brothers, be very afraid......

Let's hope that no-one argues with you Marco, seeing as it's your birthday and all

[Marco]

Did I mention that it was my birthday?

Marco.

[Dave Cawley]

Hi Marco, my friend Avril Lavigne is not taking any calls right now, otherwise she would have sung especial for your birthday.



So Al had to stand in.

Happy Birthday mate!!

Dave

[Beechwoods]

Did I mention that it was my birthday?

Marco.

Just once or twice

[David Price]

happy birthday Marco!

Can't wait to hear the SL1200 MP...

Oh dear Dave, so the "Pioneer PL600 DC" awaits us?

What are we going to call the Gyro? Can we name it after the initials of your cat?

[DSJR]

Re PL71. Have you tested one David? The arm, if it's anything like the Rega R200 which is so similar in many ways, would actually be a quite well behaved example of the type and even Martin Colloms thought it (the R200) was ok and pretty good sounding. Not having a fancy servo is fine in the pre-Quartz era, as long as the torque is adequate and overshoot minimal or non-existant. The plinth is pretty solid internally and not just a chipboard shell as many were.

Anyway, alternatives in the far east are all very well, being as getting one over here would be a very expensive process methinks..

[David Price]

Hi DSJR - yes, I have. A critique; quartz lock is better than no-quartz lock; easily demonstrable on a deck with switchable quartz lock. That's the first point against it. Second is the plinth; there's no serious attempt to isolate it from the outside world, and no clever use of materials (a la Lo-7D) to deal with the vibes - unlike the PL600 (and later Pioneers with 'coaxial' suspension, as they called it). Third, it's a middling motor - good but not special - and a middling bearing. Basically it's a decent, well made, mid-price Jap DD from the pre-Quartz Lock era.

An SL1200 is several steps above, and the later PL600X, PL-L1000, etc., are miles better. I'm not saying it's a bad deck; it isn't; it's just nothing special. Kind of like a Trio KD550, Sony PS-4750, etc. of that era. A nice thing, but in engineering and design terms pure straight-down-the-line conventional mid-price Jap DD - the t/t equivalent of a Honda Accord. The Technics decks of that period were better made, so I'm just wondering why everyone's talking about the Pioneer PL-71 all of a sudden?

I'm afraid to say I do speak from some experience in this matter; I lived in Japan for seven years, during which time I bought just about every Jap DD ever made (usually from charity shops for under Y5000 (£25)). As I said, the really clever thing - what really pushed Pioneer ahead of the crowd - was the coaxial suspension, and that didn't come until two years later than the PL-71.

Don't want to be rude about the PL-71 - it would kick a Project or suchlike into the dirt in build quality terms, but it's madness that they're going for big money on eBay (or whatever). It seems the net is full of 'urban legends', with lots of repeated "wisdom" from people with little or no practical hands on experience, and it's a bit weird how it spreads. Maybe this is a good idea for a feature?

Personally, I'd do as Marco did - get that SL1200 and tweak it - a great sounding deck that's not full of no-longer-available components and will last forever. An amazing bargain considering the performance that £250 (lightly used) buys you...

My two cents!

I'll shut up now, sorry for the rant!

[Magna Audio]

The reason why everyone's talking about it is because a few souls who have had nice LP-12's or SL-1200 or whatever else and thought them very good have tried the PL-71 and liked it a lot.
3 of these people I have met and 2 of them I have heard their turntables against other TT's.

It's perhaps down to what you listen for.
My SL-1210 (DIY PSU and off deck transformer) sounds detailed & dynamic, spot on speed but it doesn't boogie in the way I want it too - that musically right sounding aspect. That's what I listen for.
The standard PL-71 does that in spades.
Perhaps the Sl-12xx would/does if many more bucks were spent on it (arm) but the deck is the deck. Gromit went a bit of the way but could not see the point - neither can I.

My comparisons are with the same arm / cartridge / phono stage in my own home.

In spite of some problems with compatibility my phono stage output at the recent 8 deck turntable bake off and problems with it's recording digitally clipping in Audacity you can hear the nature of the decks and I like the way the PL-71 sounds. Some of those decks were VERY expensive (I mean ££££'s decks that were there, LP12, EMT, Rega etc). Just shows money isn't everything and PL-71 did not disgrace itself at all. I was disappointed by the way it sounded in that system but that's down to the way the whole thing sounded rather than the deck.
I would need to hear them over a good period of time to evaluate them properly. A short bake off is not the way to me.

I'll look out for the PL600X. It sounds interesting. If I get one and it's better then fantastic!