Was this worth it? (Pioneer PL-200 on Ebay)

[averydonovan]

I happened to get the strange urge to get a turntable in the last few days. I only have a single album on vinyl, but I figured it might give me access to the immense thrift store record collections and might be fun to play around with. After losing 2 other auctions to someone sniping an auction at the last second, I won a Pioneer PL-200 for $10.49 plus shipping (Ebay link). Was this thing even worth that price, or did I get something that might be halfway decent (missing dust cover is no biggie to me, I can find something to cover it with)? I figure that I'll build a phono stage myself, I found one on DIYaudio that is somewhat like a CMOY and I plan on using a CMOY power supply with it. I can't find much info about this unit, does it take standard cartridges? I'm a complete n00b when it comes to this stuff, so any advice or tips are appreciated. Thanks for any help.

 

[bln]

i was feeling the same way recently, bought a $27 turntable on eBay. anyway, i don't know how good that table will sound but it looks workable. i think you're going to need a stylus specific to that AT cart, however, so i hope you can find one. good luck.

 

[Spent&Bent]

I have a pioneer 200 X, I got mine from an old dolby prologic receiver trade.
But since I don't have a phono stage yet, the thing is pretty useless and I cannot comment on sound quality.
I got the thing for nostalgia sake because of my l.p. and singles collection that I bought in my teenage years so if the player sounds like the audio stuff I had in the 80's I do not mind.

 

[Audio Redneck]

Welcome to Pioneer Turntable Hell!

Ok, so its really not that bad. For under $50, it’s as good or better than most TT's you would find for that price. Its direct drive, which tends to let more motor rumble through than belt drive units, but that’s best left for another thread (argument). On the plus side, you won't have to change the belt it doesn't have. And if you decide to sell it, you can probably get most of your money back out of it.

The missing dust cover is no big deal since you should use it with the cover on.

Place it on the HEAVIEST, DENSIST chunk of mass you can find (double your body weight in granite would be nice, but the heaviest piece of furniture you have in the room will do for starters). From there you can experiment with all sorts of isolation. TT work on vibration of the needle and the ONLY thing you want vibrating is the needle (not really possible, but that’s the goal).

It takes a standard cartridge and I say stick with an AT or Ortorfon cartridge, maybe a Shure, but avoid Grado's on Pioneers as they tend to HUMMMMMMMMM (has to do with a lack of shielding and grounding of the motor.) Expect to spend more on the cart than you did on the TT for a good one.

Set up the tracking weight of the arm: turn the counter weight on the back of the arm so that the arm floats in mid air and set the dial to 0. Then adjust the weight until the dial reads between .5 and 1. Play a "junk" LP and keep adjusting (but don't play and adjust at the same time) until the arm doesn't "jump". The higher the number the harder the needle is pressing on the LP and the more wear on the needle and LP.

Set up the anti-skate: playing the junk LP, adjust until the arm's horizontal movement doesn’t skip (skate) forward or back.

Here is the most important things you need to know:

- Clean you records and keep them clean.
- Get the table level.
- Clean you records and keep them clean.
- Replace you needle BEFORE it wears out and damages your records.
- Clean you records and keep them clean.
- Don't expect this to be your last table, so if it's not the ultimate, don't fret.
- Clean you records and keep them clean.
- Keep your room as clean as possible.
- And lastly Clean you records and keep them clean.

Welcome to Vinyl! Have fun

(for perspective, my LP count is around 550 while my CD count is under 300)

 

[averydonovan]

Thanks for all the tips, Audio Redneck. I know exactly didley-squat about cartridges, but I read a few good things about the AT-71E cartridge on Audio Asylum, and it seems to be at a good price. I expected to pay more for the cartidge than the table since I am trying to go as cheap as possible for starters while getting something that can put out sound. I'm just waiting for the seller to email me the total, but I think the table will be under $30 with shipping. If it sounds better than my first ever turntable, actually a Motorola (!) el-cheapo unit with a speaker built in that sounded like a bad tape recorder and had awful hum, then I will be happy. What's a good (and cheap) record cleaner to use? Is this one worthwhile?

 

[pank2002]

I haven't read all the reply through.

Well, think about it this way; it was a turntable or a new cd. What is there to lose. I would like to get a turntable one day, 'cause some cool eps and underground and indie music only's on record. Also, a band I like very much have releashed a yellow

vinyl. I would love to have one of those. People also seem to like the 'darker' sound of turntable. I would like to get inro it. I might just go down and play around with my parrents vinyls and turntable. Maby not.

BTW Donovan, the Radeon card is still going strong, though it gets insaninly hot. I should probably upgrade my comp at some point.

 

[Audio Redneck]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donovansmith ... Is this one worthwhile?

I'd say almost any brush of that design will work. Garage-O-Records sells basically the same thing for $5 with the purchase of a cart. There are other accessories that you may want to get, so look around for the best total deal.

One more thing about cleaning: DO NOT USE ALCOHOL OR CLEANER CONTAINING ALCOHOL. Tap water is better and a VERY little Dove (with a LOT of rinsing) is ok on actual grunge. Disc Doctor is one of the few cleaners worth paying for and a kit will typically clean sever hundred LPs (cleaning should be a one time process, dusting should be a per play process). Make sure you have a seperate brush for cleaning than you use for dusting.

Audio Advisor is another place to look.

If you haven't figured it out, vinyl can become a very hands on form of entertainment.