Just came across this video episode and still have my PL-512 purchased in 1977 and is still working and looking great! It maybe time for me to do some lubricating.
Thanks for the repair. GREAT JOB! Appreciate the plug for the store, too. I LOVE to sell records. Glad there are people like you that keep the equipment running to play music. It's absolutely the best sound quality possible to hear all those great sounds. JUDY / FLIP SIDE RECORDS
Nice job! BTW, in case you may not know, this table I think was a budget model from 1978, at least Vinyl Engine indicates the table came out in '78 and in case anyone misses the hint near the beginning, the motor can't be adjusted because it's a Synchronous AC motor that runs off the AC mains frequency. I've read that if your belt drive table seems a bit fast and it wasn't before, the belt may be getting old, can't vouch for that though. One way to verify this is look at how long it takes to get up to speed as belts (and needing oiling) will slow it's ramp up to speed. I have a budget Kenwood, though not made out of particle board, nor MDF, but of molded plastic but uses a servo driven DC motor with frequency generated speed control and has been reliable as the day it was new, some 34 years later. However mine is a semi auto, straight low mass arm tube with removable ADC style off set headshell that was commonly seen back then on many tables. Mine, like this Pioneer benefit greatly from moving up the cartridge chain to about the $100-150 dollar range before the benefits begin to diminish, but they DO benefit great though to sound good and play and track well. I currently run a Grado Prestige Green 1 in mine and it's fantastic and elevates the table's humble origins greatly to where it's better than sounding than most budget tables, then, and now.
I just got that exact model, too. I think the 'X' in the name just denotes that it's the black version. I bought mine already refurbished and paid £239 gbp. Some people might think I overpaid or 'there are better vintage Pioneer decks' but it ticks a lot of boxes for me (black, curved chrome tonearm, it's a Pioneer, cleaned oiled bearings and motor, Shure cartridge with new stylus, new belt and new aftermarket lid). I'm happy to pay the man who deals in them for the fruits of his labour knowledge. When you consider the price these can be got for, in relation to the quality of an equally priced brand new deck in that kind of low price bracket, these beautiful and capable, well built and engineered, now vintage, tt's are the way to go, I think. I just came to see how to get the platter off so I can go round the outside of it and polish it with Autosol metal polish, so it's even shinier than the guy who sold it managed to get it to look. It was a great video on a great (if not 'best of the best') vintage deck. I think we made an excellent choice. Oh and I highly recommend the aftermarket lids like the one the guy put on mine. Totally clear, almost mirror surfaced, acrylic with no 'Pioneer' logo on them. You can find the suppliers on Google. They go for about 85 - 95 £/$. If the deck is a keeper and the budget can stretch to it, I think it is worth it. It looks pretty amazing.
@@LouisWinthorpe622 ,for sure ,you did not overpaid ,i´ve been looking to diferent turntables of several new brands or not known by me and this is much better than some turntables sold by Project or Fluance or Rega ,with prices till or around 1.000 € or dollars and it´s a 79 model ,had it under my bed for 30 years and it´s a good turntable ,at the time was the cheapest model ,i bought the cartridge and stylus from nagaoka ,the JNP/MP-110 for it and delivers great sound ,regards
Thank you so much for posting this video! I learned something new and have worked on them for years. LoL 🤣 So you're never too old to learn something new.
i bought cheap a turntable like this and still had no time to see what i need to do but it came with a nice shure cartridge ,but if i´m in doubt when refurbishing it ,i will look at the video as a good help, i have older turntables from pioneer since new and the one i used the most is in need of wiring but it still works good and still have the original cartridge and stylus, it was only used by me since 1974, it is proven to be a good brand for turntables i also have a technics the sl-3310 and a thorenz ,also a dual and a pl-560(if i´m correct ,is the one with a kind of VU meter for the pitch) from late 70´s, regards
Thanks for the video! I have a Pioneer PL-516 that needs some work, which appears to be very similar to this one, but slightly better, as you can adjust the speed. Anyways, I think I know what I need to do now, in order to get her back in to tip top shape. Cheers!
I picked one of these up when someone was trying to throw it away over a year ago, it needs a headshell, cart, and stylus, the anti skate works, tonearm lifter needs fixed. I put a new belt on it and it does work so I'm probably going to try restoring it
The AT95 actually sounds a whole lot better than the Ortofon (at least in my opinion), so now that one of them had to be broken, it sure was the right one. By the way, if you fix up another turntable sometime, you can make the dustcover look like new with Brasso, a soft cloth, and a bit of patience. Just polish with light circular movements. Thanks for making awesome videoes.
the problem with new AT needles is that are bad built recentelly, i had a turntable from pioneer that i bought in early 90´s this because all the others that i have were already old at the time i just had bought a complete new hi-fi system and bought it because they had the best parts of the late 70´s pioneer low-end turntables till that year maybe 93 and all others were S-shaped arms and i wanted to try that tone arm it even said there that was build with a graphity polymer(sorry some words i don´t know if they are right in english ,is not my first language) ,some of this were good and all had AT cartridges and stylus and the TT´s frame was plastic but beneath was all metal (also this turntables were sold by lot´s of brands in late 70´s early 80´s ,this because all were developed and created by chuodenki, C.E.C). I remenber in the late 70´s AT was considered one of the best brands as ortofon today that at the time almost no one use them, and today a good stylus from ortofon are expensive and with same quality from other known brands are cheaper or for the same price, so this AT you refer were good they sound great but for some reason when listening to a new record that i already had but a dog shew it ,i notice that at the 3rd time i listen to it, it make some noises that i thought was because i didn´t clean it well but after a few monthes it increased the noise inbetween tracks and the same happened to a record that i bought in late 80´s, so i had to stop using it although it sounded really great on that turntable, don´t know why but in some blogs they complain of the same problem, so you´re right but there´s some problem with those that were built recently,i even tried from a substitution brand ,YUCO and the problem was gone, but i ended selling this new at the time pioneer turntable ,i think it´s the pl-430, regards
Good job Tony as always! Those vintage turntables are so cool! I have a couple of vintage turntables and I enjoy listening to nice and clean records once in a while, the analog audio sounds great!
Mil gracias por este video,apesar que no entiendo ingles con la traducción pude hacerle mantenimiento al mio...🇨🇴🇨🇴🇨🇴🇨🇴 le envío un saludo desde Colombia....
45.93 is very accurate compared with other brands basic turntables , that app i didn´t knew it i still use the traditional way, i discover yesterday other part not working ,to lift the arm it don´t work just with the hand to put it on the place you want the needle to be but i think it´s simple
Excellent! Very informative and well explained! I'm just working on a PL-512 i bought second hand and it really helped me get inside the unit, btw what RPM app do you use? Thanks!
Its important to mention the TT should be level before any calibrations/adjustments are made or they will be inaccurate...Its not difficult to run new wire through the tone arm as you can use the old wire to pull the new wire through...soldering the connections can be a little fiddly but just take your time. Taking into account you are repairing the TT for the store to sell, I would have installed new wiring, splicing will cause issues and be difficult to troubleshoot if your not aware of the splice...
thanks for the video, learned a lot! I have just inherited one of these sounds great but the lever doesn't lift the tone arm. Lever goes back and forward and the lifter goes up and down but doest come up high enough to lift the tone arm, any ideas how I can fix that?
It would have been nice to see how you connected those wires that were disconnected. That is why we watch these videos. I don't understand why so many people on CZcams skip the details that would help people know how to do these things.
Thanks so much for the video, super helpful. I just got done setting up and servicing a 512 and it runs wonderfully. However as you found with yours near the start of your video, it runs a touch fast...MIne spins at approx 34.1rpm which is similar to the output yours did also. Wondering if your TT played closer to 33.3 after your tune up? Mine prior to the tune up spun at exactly the same speed as after. I cleaned, regreased/oiled the spindle, motor, and a any other moving parts, and replaced the belt and span exactly the same 34.1.
Great detailed video, thank you. I'm about to tackle a full service on a PL-514a, but having trouble finding the schematics. don't suppose you could suggest a website that has these records?
if it fits ,it delivers sound but if the section is thiner it should deliver lower sound ,but i really don´t know what is the standart section of the wire for the tonearm but when using those din cables to conect an old cassette deck or a reel deck i notice that the sound is lower than using rca´s or old mono plugs with jacks like in old professional amplifiers ,those work fine, but i´m not a electronic engenier don´t know if distortion or noise stays the same with lower sound or also decrease with smaller section,(don´t call me but man) regards
The weakest part of these budget turntables was always the plinth and platter. The lightweight cast platter would ring like a bell - try it. The mat would damp it and aftermarket mats were popular, but filling the perimeter with Plasticine was remarkably effective. If you do take care to balance it - you can remove the belt secure the arm and the main bearing is sensitive enough if you sit the whole thing at 90 degrees to allow balancing. If you are adventurous a perspex plinth could be made to replace the cheap chipboard thing. Remember the arm wiring will add to horizontal friction so it is important to dress this cable carefully. I'm sure the original cartridge was an Audio Technica.
I warmly welcome. English is not my national language and I have never tried to learn it, so please forgive me if the next text is not very understandable. I've been watching a lot of movies about repairing Hi-Fi and Hi-End audio equipment lately. I have seen a lot of Accuphase, Sansui, Luxman, Pioneer, Denon, Marantz, Onkyo, Sony, Rotel or Nakamichi regeneration. I do not like tube and hybrid transistor-tube equipment. I love transistors. For understandable reasons, I value the most materials in my own language (channels: Jacek Kawa, ReduktorSzumu, RS Elektronika), but moderate linguistic skills also allow me to absorb videos in English-language, Russian-language, German-speaking and partly French and Japanese-language (where I prefere Your canal and Mr Carlson's Lab). I really like long films, in which the author talks about the repaired equipment, as well as communicates the knowledge he has gathered to the general viewers. That's why your channel is very appealing to me. I do not understand too much, because I do not have any technical education, but I absorb words with my whole, because I love the audio technique from years in which accountants had little to say, but the engineers were letting go of their own fantasy. I appreciate your attempts to explain to us (mostly laics) the basics of electronics. I like when You analyzing diagrams on paper and showing the signals on the real 'body' at the same time. I try to acquire this information, although due to lack of education, these attempts are mostly doomed to failure. Although I do not understand much, I want to cheer you on to continue teaching and to broadcast the materials in unchanged form. One thought gave me the inspiration to create this comment. I'm not a rich man. I rather belong to the poor. I think that people like me are not so small in the audience. I can not afford the remanufactured Hi-Fi equipment from the eighties. I do, however, have some old equipment that requires repairs and adjustments. These are cheaper, budget elements. For example, UHER RG280, Siemens System 777 (preamplifier, amplifier, tuner, two tape recorders), Canton Karat 200, Denon DCD-820, Toshiba SB-5438, Fonica GS434 and several decks of various companies (because I love cassette players the most). Services are very expensive, even in my country, so the cost of repairing the turntable itself will significantly exceed the value of the whole 'collection'. I definitely do not want to give it all to recycling, because I just feel sorry for these 'blocks'. I want them to play and I want them play well. I can not givem to the repair for the electronics without experience and the rich equipment base, because it will spoil it even more. I will not be able to do it myself, because I can not do it and I do not have the tools, though there is no shortage of will. The question is: Do you have a prescription for this situation? How to resurrect such equipment? Where is the longed-for 'golden mean'? Greetings from Poland and I wish you large ranges on CZcams, and more time to indulge your hobby.
Didn't see the anti-skate adjustment on this - when I was setting up cartridges at the store I worked at back in the 70s and early 80s, I had to do the anti-skate on every turntable. Does the Pioneer do it automatically - since anti-skate is keyed to the tracking force? I never did that particular model...
These are great turntables, I Have the PL120 and it's an amazing turntable.... It sits on my timber floors about a foot away from the B and W 12" subwoofer and refuses to skip no matter how loud the volume is... I absolutely love it... I have two realistic turntables and a later model Audio Technica but they just can't seem to keep the needle in the grove when the volume gets turned up... I wonder what the new Pioneer turntable that Pioneer has recently released is like...
is the simpler at it could be ,the fashion now is expensive turntables in need of most of the parts,so the new pioneer as everything but as simple as this one in the video,maybe a new version of it
Hello I bought a PL-512 partly due to your video! I'm confused here still though... everything is like a pitched half a step lower. what lube should I use as of 2021? and maybe any belt places I can trust to buy? Thanks good sir! I am new to turntables :D
Too late now but a lot of times you'll find belt residue on the motor pulley is usually the cause of a over speed platter on older turntables. A simple clean of the pulley and platter edge with alcohol will usually fix it. If that doesn't get the speed down you can use very fine sand paper to sand the pulley down. Take the platter (and stylus) off, move the arm over to turn the motor on motor on. Make a strip of VERY FINE sand paper the width of the pulley and 3" long. With the motor spinning pinch the sand paper between your fingers in a loop with the pulley spinning GENTLY and briefly sand the pulley. Check the speed and repeat as needed. Be careful you don't sand too much off!
There's no justice in the world when it's stupid, guff, comments everywhere that get lots of 'likes' and really good, helpful and clever ones like this one, don't. My speed variance is only about 1.8% over and doesn't really bother me but I get the principle of what you are talking about (gearing) so one day I might give it a try, after just wiping with acetone or contact cleaner (probably something a bit stronger than isopropyl) first, of course. Thanks.
@xraytonyb- You do excellent work! I'm very impressed with the restore you did on the Sansui 9090, and would like to explore having you do similar work on my 9090 receiver if possible? Thanks
The cartridge is extremely sensible of magnetic fields. Never use a magnetic screwdriver to remove, install a cartrigde. Use special aluminium screws; any steel object close to the cartridge will affect its performance.
Those cartridges just pull out and you can snap a new one in as they are T4P and it turns out that you don't have to change the main part very often, there is a small screw which must be loosened before the whole cartridge unit can be removed and replaced and maybe it is the reason I prefer Linear Tracking Turntables and maybe I will get myself a REVOX B790.
there are very good turntables with linear tracking not being tangential wich at the end of some years it will give problems, and more dificult to reppair , but the t4p system that appeared for the first time in technics(they released this system) turntables if working perfect it will be acurate, normally people used to buy a t4p tuntable and normally would take out the cartridge to a "better one"and not having anti-skating or even weight it would be a very good mess
The speed should be a little fast, as when you put the record on the platter and allow for a little friction from the stylus, if will slow down the speed slightly.
i have a pionner from 74 that also doesn´t have and the arm is loose where it meets the axle where it rotates , normally all records sound very good but records with more time of music, the last songs it doesn´t read them right
That looked like it was an AC synchronous motor so no adjustments for it, now if it had a smaller DC motor with say, a frequency generated speed control, then yes, you'd have the trimmer pots for both speeds. My guess is, either the pulley or platter's inner rim were dirty, or the belt may not be quite as good as it appears as I have heard that if the speed goes a becomes a tad fast, it's the belt going bad. Plus, the speed of the platter is a bit slower upon startup getting to speed, that's another sign, along with needing some oil, but there, the speed would be a tad slow too.
Nice job on that unit, Tony. Was hoping you would change those pickup wires, so we could see how that's done. Never taken of the headshell connector to replace such wires. Always wondered why those wires often is just floating around inside the turntable. Shouldn't they be twisted together all the way, the 2 left wires together and the 2 right wires together? To stop crosstalk between the 2 channels.
That's a bit of a double-edged sword... twisting the wires would increase cable capacitance somewhat. And it's not like you get super great channel separation anyway.
@@PileOfEmptyTapes Why not build a preamp into the unit? Shouldn't be difficult at all to add an opamp into the base, and optionally some transistors into the arm.
@@NiHaoMike64 This can be a good project as a hobby. Phono pre-amps should have a very stable and well shielded circuitry and very low noise DC power supply since the output of the cartridge is only a few mV. Pre-amps like the Pyle PP999 cost less than USD 20.00 and are very cost-effective in my opinion, and it does use FET's in the input and several stages of Op-amps. I have used one of these for years with no problems.
Well I guess not! But like others said try cleaning the pully with sand paper to make sure no junk is on it or try a different belt size! OK that's my opinion!
If you REALLY wanted to change the RPM, what would you do? Play with some capacitance across the poles of the motor? Scrap the motor and install a controllable motor?
The low-tech solution: Tape around the pulley to get the diameter up. Beware of wow/flutter. The high-tech solution: External variable frequency drive unit, e.g. Pro-Ject Speedbox SEII. Synchronous motors are as stable as input mains frequency, but this rigid coupling also means that adjusting speed is not trivial. The old Dual idler wheel drives used to have a mechanical pitch control.
PileOfEmptyTapes Adding tape to the spindle will increase the speed. I might consider adding a layer of tape to the turntable to slow it but then the 33 is further out than the 45 so maybe aim to split the difference.
all have ,i own a turntable from the ES-2000 system wich is better finished than the components from the same year catalog and the model is PL-ES and doesn´t have anti-skating (a 74 model). This more modern ones ,the ones i know all have anti-skating
@@lesrogers7310 Read the instructions, but essentially, red to red, blue to blue etc, it's only the order they are in is a bit different than on most. I have the OM-10 myself, though I no longer use it, then went to a SHURE M97xE and now a Grado Prestige Green 1 on a budget Kenwood table that in some ways may not be as well designed, but isn't bad as this Pioneer but this table is older then my Kenwood, which is from the mid 80's and like this table, is belt driven.
Thanks for that John. I will be installing the 2M on a Thorens TD280 Mk.IV which is also belt driven. It currently has a OM-5E fitted but i'm hoping the 2M will be an improvement on this.
@@lesrogers7310 Most definitely, the blue will be better than the OM5E and here is why, it's next to the bottom of the barrel of the Ortofon range of the OM series anyway, the only other lower model is the OM3E. The OM10 was the next tier up, and mine was the SUPER OM10 at that, though no longer sold as a cartridge, you can still get the OM10, 20, 30, and 40 styli for the 5E but be forewarned, they will cost as much and more from what the 5E goes for, which is roughly the $70 to 80 dollar US range. But sadly, ian of HiViNews on YT did an extensive testing of it and other carts in that price range and it did OK, but was bettered by other carts, the two that topped the $70-80 dollar range were the outgoing (discontinued) Goldring Elan and the older Grado Prestige Black 1. The base 2M cart is the red, at $99, was bested by 3 others in the $90-120 price point, the Grado Prestige Green 1 (I have), the Goldring Elecktra, and the Nagaoka MP110, which bettered the 2M Red, it didn't fair well in this group to be quite honest. The blue you are getting costs in the 130 or so price point, and it's well known that the Red was not very good and best to skip anyway so in this case, very likely it'll be a significant jump up from the OM5E.
Great video. Thanks. I find that business of the spindle and platter all spinning on a single greasy ball bearing with, effectively, just a greased, brass, bush for alignment, all a bit unexpected and weird. I did not expect to see that. Still, if it works it works, I suppose. And the condition of that tonearm wiring? That is a whodunit mystery of Agatha Christie-an proportions that would probably have me tearing my hair out for a fortnight wondering how the fuck that happened, or what kind of asshole could be so dumb as to do something like that. Still, I had a girlfriend once who's radio/ cassette player in the car needed taken to a shop for decoding/ recoding as it wasn't working. I went at it and managed to get it out of the dash, only to discover that all the wiring at the back of it, to the 4 speakers, the stearing wheel controls, battery, etc (must have been about 10 or 12 wires) had been cut. Obviously all at the same time, in the exact same place, with some kind of big snips. Here's the kicker though: right behind a big white plastic multi-block connecting box with all the car wiring connected to one white plastic covered half and all the radio/cassette's corresponding wiring connected to the other white plastic covered half. All anyone would have had to have done was unclip the 2 halves of the connector block, to remove it from out of the dash but someone had snipped all of the wires! That was a similar mystery that she didn't seem to know how it had happened. She was a major pot-head, though so I guess it was her, with the intention of taking it in for repair after the car battery had been out of charge or out of the car for 2 long. Who knows, when the people in a repair shop, maybe, saw what she'd done, maybe they laughed her out of the shop, so she'd gone home and just, angrily, fucked it back in to the hole in the dashboard and decided to forget about it? I don't know. But I soldered all of the wires back on to the corresponding colours of wires on the connecting block, took the thing to a shop and got it recoded. All of this was after I had valeted the whole car for her while she was away on a holiday with the kids, that her dad had booked and paid for before I had started seeing her, too and do you know what the cow did? Now that the car was a gleaming, sweet smelling car with a sound system that you could control with little buttons and paddles next to the stearing wheel, rather than a rolling ashtray with a whodunit, hatchet-job of an ex-radio stuck in a rectangular hole in the dash? SHE FUCKIN TRADED IT IN! This is partly why I don't date stoner-boots, any more. Your tonearm wiring problem reminded me of her. Hehe.
I remember Tony talking about capacitors and that could be a can of worms. IMHO, turntables can be another big chapter of different opinions and preferences. I myself really like Direct Drive Quartz Locked turntables (I don't care about pitch control) -- it's my own preference and that's the type of turntables I have owned since the mid 1980's. Others say that belt drive is better because the motor's electromagnetic field interacts less with the coils of the cartridge -- good point but it is another can of worms to discuss. There are many good video clips about cartridges, styli, and how to clean records and keep them clean, and others about grounding the record with anti-static brushes, and it goes on and on. Everyone has different preferences about turntables and tape recorders as those usually require more care and maintenance than digital/modern sound equipment.
@@BobWiersema I used to work for a company that manufactured ball bearings and had it drilled into me that a bearing ball was a component of a ball bearing. Unfortunately every now and then I let that slip out. :o)
I picked one of these up when someone was trying to throw it away over a year ago, it needs a headshell, cart, and stylus, the anti skate works, tonearm lifter needs fixed. I put a new belt on it and it does work so I'm probably going to try restoring it
Just came across this video episode and still have my PL-512 purchased in 1977 and is still working and looking great! It maybe time for me to do some lubricating.
Hats off to you sir for putting this back into service. Great upload.
Thanks for the repair. GREAT JOB! Appreciate the plug for the store, too. I LOVE to sell records.
Glad there are people like you that keep the equipment running to play music. It's absolutely the best sound quality possible to hear all those great sounds. JUDY / FLIP SIDE RECORDS
My pl112d had a plastic gauge for stylus alignment. 77 micro acoustic cartridge. Good video as always. Keep it up your a great teacher.
Thanks for going through this! I’m planning to service my Pl512 tomorrow.
Excellent video man. Wish I could have seen you rewire the power cord and ground but one of the better videos I've seen
Nice job! BTW, in case you may not know, this table I think was a budget model from 1978, at least Vinyl Engine indicates the table came out in '78 and in case anyone misses the hint near the beginning, the motor can't be adjusted because it's a Synchronous AC motor that runs off the AC mains frequency. I've read that if your belt drive table seems a bit fast and it wasn't before, the belt may be getting old, can't vouch for that though. One way to verify this is look at how long it takes to get up to speed as belts (and needing oiling) will slow it's ramp up to speed. I have a budget Kenwood, though not made out of particle board, nor MDF, but of molded plastic but uses a servo driven DC motor with frequency generated speed control and has been reliable as the day it was new, some 34 years later.
However mine is a semi auto, straight low mass arm tube with removable ADC style off set headshell that was commonly seen back then on many tables. Mine, like this Pioneer benefit greatly from moving up the cartridge chain to about the $100-150 dollar range before the benefits begin to diminish, but they DO benefit great though to sound good and play and track well. I currently run a Grado Prestige Green 1 in mine and it's fantastic and elevates the table's humble origins greatly to where it's better than sounding than most budget tables, then, and now.
Learned quite a bit about turntables; thanks for sharing.
My next door neighbour had this turntable in the 80s, a beautiful turntable, simplicity at its finest.
Superb reference video for me as I'm restoring my own pl512 many thanks very very very helpful 👍
I've had one of these for years , they may be fairly basic but they work very well .
Just got myself a PL-512X. I'm new to vinyl records and turntables, and this video was super informative! Thanks a lot.
I just got that exact model, too. I think the 'X' in the name just denotes that it's the black version. I bought mine already refurbished and paid £239 gbp. Some people might think I overpaid or 'there are better vintage Pioneer decks' but it ticks a lot of boxes for me (black, curved chrome tonearm, it's a Pioneer, cleaned oiled bearings and motor, Shure cartridge with new stylus, new belt and new aftermarket lid). I'm happy to pay the man who deals in them for the fruits of his labour knowledge. When you consider the price these can be got for, in relation to the quality of an equally priced brand new deck in that kind of low price bracket, these beautiful and capable, well built and engineered, now vintage, tt's are the way to go, I think.
I just came to see how to get the platter off so I can go round the outside of it and polish it with Autosol metal polish, so it's even shinier than the guy who sold it managed to get it to look.
It was a great video on a great (if not 'best of the best') vintage deck. I think we made an excellent choice. Oh and I highly recommend the aftermarket lids like the one the guy put on mine. Totally clear, almost mirror surfaced, acrylic with no 'Pioneer' logo on them. You can find the suppliers on Google. They go for about 85 - 95 £/$. If the deck is a keeper and the budget can stretch to it, I think it is worth it. It looks pretty amazing.
@@LouisWinthorpe622 ,for sure ,you did not overpaid ,i´ve been looking to diferent turntables of several new brands or not known by me and this is much better than some turntables sold by Project or Fluance or Rega ,with prices till or around 1.000 € or dollars and it´s a 79 model ,had it under my bed for 30 years and it´s a good turntable ,at the time was the cheapest model ,i bought the cartridge and stylus from nagaoka ,the JNP/MP-110 for it and delivers great sound ,regards
Wish I had nice old Pioneer Turntable like that . I hope take us to the Shop . Good Job
Brilliant brought back so many memories. Thanx
Thank you so much for posting this video! I learned something new and have worked on them for years. LoL 🤣 So you're never too old to learn something new.
Never worked on a turntable. Interesting! Thanks Tony.
Thank you! I'm trying to fix up one that I recently found and this was so helpful.
i bought cheap a turntable like this and still had no time to see what i need to do but it came with a nice shure cartridge ,but if i´m in doubt when refurbishing it ,i will look at the video as a good help, i have older turntables from pioneer since new and the one i used the most is in need of wiring but it still works good and still have the original cartridge and stylus, it was only used by me since 1974, it is proven to be a good brand for turntables i also have a technics the sl-3310 and a thorenz ,also a dual and a pl-560(if i´m correct ,is the one with a kind of VU meter for the pitch) from late 70´s, regards
Nice video. I noticed the headshell has the Kenwood logo on it. I liked the protractor part.
Thanks for the video! I have a Pioneer PL-516 that needs some work, which appears to be very similar to this one, but slightly better, as you can adjust the speed. Anyways, I think I know what I need to do now, in order to get her back in to tip top shape. Cheers!
My Dad just handed the same model down to me. Great memories with it!
I picked one of these up when someone was trying to throw it away over a year ago, it needs a headshell, cart, and stylus, the anti skate works, tonearm lifter needs fixed. I put a new belt on it and it does work so I'm probably going to try restoring it
2 Million Records?! 😳 Wow!
The AT95 actually sounds a whole lot better than the Ortofon (at least in my opinion), so now that one of them had to be broken, it sure was the right one.
By the way, if you fix up another turntable sometime, you can make the dustcover look like new with Brasso, a soft cloth, and a bit of patience. Just polish with light circular movements.
Thanks for making awesome videoes.
the problem with new AT needles is that are bad built recentelly, i had a turntable from pioneer that i bought in early 90´s this because all the others that i have were already old at the time i just had bought a complete new hi-fi system and bought it because they had the best parts of the late 70´s pioneer low-end turntables till that year maybe 93 and all others were S-shaped arms and i wanted to try that tone arm it even said there that was build with a graphity polymer(sorry some words i don´t know if they are right in english ,is not my first language) ,some of this were good and all had AT cartridges and stylus and the TT´s frame was plastic but beneath was all metal (also this turntables were sold by lot´s of brands in late 70´s early 80´s ,this because all were developed and created by chuodenki, C.E.C). I remenber in the late 70´s AT was considered one of the best brands as ortofon today that at the time almost no one use them, and today a good stylus from ortofon are expensive and with same quality from other known brands are cheaper or for the same price, so this AT you refer were good they sound great but for some reason when listening to a new record that i already had but a dog shew it ,i notice that at the 3rd time i listen to it, it make some noises that i thought was because i didn´t clean it well but after a few monthes it increased the noise inbetween tracks and the same happened to a record that i bought in late 80´s, so i had to stop using it although it sounded really great on that turntable, don´t know why but in some blogs they complain of the same problem, so you´re right but there´s some problem with those that were built recently,i even tried from a substitution brand ,YUCO and the problem was gone, but i ended selling this new at the time pioneer turntable ,i think it´s the pl-430, regards
Good job, a simple unit that should last.
Excellent explanation and video thank you
Intresting Tony. Can't remember the last time I seen a turntable lol. Must have been the 80s as well.
Good job Tony as always! Those vintage turntables are so cool! I have a couple of vintage turntables and I enjoy listening to nice and clean records once in a while, the analog audio sounds great!
You're still the coolest!😎
Mil gracias por este video,apesar que no entiendo ingles con la traducción pude hacerle mantenimiento al mio...🇨🇴🇨🇴🇨🇴🇨🇴 le envío un saludo desde Colombia....
45.93 is very accurate compared with other brands basic turntables , that app i didn´t knew it i still use the traditional way, i discover yesterday other part not working ,to lift the arm it don´t work just with the hand to put it on the place you want the needle to be but i think it´s simple
Excellent! Very informative and well explained! I'm just working on a PL-512 i bought second hand and it really helped me get inside the unit, btw what RPM app do you use? Thanks!
Its important to mention the TT should be level before any calibrations/adjustments are made or they will be inaccurate...Its not difficult to run new wire through the tone arm as you can use the old wire to pull the new wire through...soldering the connections can be a little fiddly but just take your time. Taking into account you are repairing the TT for the store to sell, I would have installed new wiring, splicing will cause issues and be difficult to troubleshoot if your not aware of the splice...
Excellent. You did a turntable. Thx. Maybe a Reel to reel next? You said you had a cassette deck also. That'll be good. Thanks for another good video.
thanks for the video, learned a lot! I have just inherited one of these sounds great but the lever doesn't lift the tone arm. Lever goes back and forward and the lifter goes up and down but doest come up high enough to lift the tone arm, any ideas how I can fix that?
Très bonne vidéo ! Merci !
Coffee filters are good for cleaning too as they don't leave any fibers behind.
It would have been nice to see how you connected those wires that were disconnected. That is why we watch these videos. I don't understand why so many people on CZcams skip the details that would help people know how to do these things.
Thanks so much for the video, super helpful. I just got done setting up and servicing a 512 and it runs wonderfully. However as you found with yours near the start of your video, it runs a touch fast...MIne spins at approx 34.1rpm which is similar to the output yours did also. Wondering if your TT played closer to 33.3 after your tune up? Mine prior to the tune up spun at exactly the same speed as after. I cleaned, regreased/oiled the spindle, motor, and a any other moving parts, and replaced the belt and span exactly the same 34.1.
Thanks Tony. I can't even remember the last time that I touched a record player.
Great detailed video, thank you. I'm about to tackle a full service on a PL-514a, but having trouble finding the schematics. don't suppose you could suggest a website that has these records?
I had to re wire my tone arm. I used the thin wires from a USB mouse. They are super tiny and worked perfect.
if it fits ,it delivers sound but if the section is thiner it should deliver lower sound ,but i really don´t know what is the standart section of the wire for the tonearm but when using those din cables to conect an old cassette deck or a reel deck i notice that the sound is lower than using rca´s or old mono plugs with jacks like in old professional amplifiers ,those work fine, but i´m not a electronic engenier don´t know if distortion or noise stays the same with lower sound or also decrease with smaller section,(don´t call me but man) regards
The weakest part of these budget turntables was always the plinth and platter. The lightweight cast platter would ring like a bell - try it. The mat would damp it and aftermarket mats were popular, but filling the perimeter with Plasticine was remarkably effective. If you do take care to balance it - you can remove the belt secure the arm and the main bearing is sensitive enough if you sit the whole thing at 90 degrees to allow balancing. If you are adventurous a perspex plinth could be made to replace the cheap chipboard thing. Remember the arm wiring will add to horizontal friction so it is important to dress this cable carefully.
I'm sure the original cartridge was an Audio Technica.
Great Video! How dis you adjust the speed. In the bigining you said it was over 34rpms
Great mate.
I warmly welcome.
English is not my national language and I have never tried to learn it, so please forgive me if the next text is not very understandable.
I've been watching a lot of movies about repairing Hi-Fi and Hi-End audio equipment lately. I have seen a lot of Accuphase, Sansui, Luxman, Pioneer, Denon, Marantz, Onkyo, Sony, Rotel or Nakamichi regeneration. I do not like tube and hybrid transistor-tube equipment. I love transistors. For understandable reasons, I value the most materials in my own language (channels: Jacek Kawa, ReduktorSzumu, RS Elektronika), but moderate linguistic skills also allow me to absorb videos in English-language, Russian-language, German-speaking and partly French and Japanese-language (where I prefere Your canal and Mr Carlson's Lab).
I really like long films, in which the author talks about the repaired equipment, as well as communicates the knowledge he has gathered to the general viewers. That's why your channel is very appealing to me. I do not understand too much, because I do not have any technical education, but I absorb words with my whole, because I love the audio technique from years in which accountants had little to say, but the engineers were letting go of their own fantasy. I appreciate your attempts to explain to us (mostly laics) the basics of electronics. I like when You analyzing diagrams on paper and showing the signals on the real 'body' at the same time. I try to acquire this information, although due to lack of education, these attempts are mostly doomed to failure. Although I do not understand much, I want to cheer you on to continue teaching and to broadcast the materials in unchanged form.
One thought gave me the inspiration to create this comment. I'm not a rich man. I rather belong to the poor. I think that people like me are not so small in the audience. I can not afford the remanufactured Hi-Fi equipment from the eighties. I do, however, have some old equipment that requires repairs and adjustments. These are cheaper, budget elements. For example, UHER RG280, Siemens System 777 (preamplifier, amplifier, tuner, two tape recorders), Canton Karat 200, Denon DCD-820, Toshiba SB-5438, Fonica GS434 and several decks of various companies (because I love cassette players the most). Services are very expensive, even in my country, so the cost of repairing the turntable itself will significantly exceed the value of the whole 'collection'. I definitely do not want to give it all to recycling, because I just feel sorry for these 'blocks'. I want them to play and I want them play well. I can not givem to the repair for the electronics without experience and the rich equipment base, because it will spoil it even more. I will not be able to do it myself, because I can not do it and I do not have the tools, though there is no shortage of will.
The question is: Do you have a prescription for this situation? How to resurrect such equipment? Where is the longed-for 'golden mean'?
Greetings from Poland and I wish you large ranges on CZcams, and more time to indulge your hobby.
12voltvids here on youtube is another great source of information.
Didn't see the anti-skate adjustment on this - when I was setting up cartridges at the store I worked at back in the 70s and early 80s, I had to do the anti-skate on every turntable. Does the Pioneer do it automatically - since anti-skate is keyed to the tracking force? I never did that particular model...
These are great turntables, I
Have the PL120 and it's an amazing turntable.... It sits on my timber floors about a foot away from the B and W 12" subwoofer and refuses to skip no matter how loud the volume is... I absolutely love it... I have two realistic turntables and a later model Audio Technica but they just can't seem to keep the needle in the grove when the volume gets turned up... I wonder what the new Pioneer turntable that Pioneer has recently released is like...
is the simpler at it could be ,the fashion now is expensive turntables in need of most of the parts,so the new pioneer as everything but as simple as this one in the video,maybe a new version of it
Hello I bought a PL-512 partly due to your video! I'm confused here still though... everything is like a pitched half a step lower. what lube should I use as of 2021? and maybe any belt places I can trust to buy? Thanks good sir! I am new to turntables :D
Too late now but a lot of times you'll find belt residue on the motor pulley is usually the cause of a over speed platter on older turntables. A simple clean of the pulley and platter edge with alcohol will usually fix it. If that doesn't get the speed down you can use very fine sand paper to sand the pulley down. Take the platter (and stylus) off, move the arm over to turn the motor on motor on. Make a strip of VERY FINE sand paper the width of the pulley and 3" long. With the motor spinning pinch the sand paper between your fingers in a loop with the pulley spinning GENTLY and briefly sand the pulley. Check the speed and repeat as needed. Be careful you don't sand too much off!
There's no justice in the world when it's stupid, guff, comments everywhere that get lots of 'likes' and really good, helpful and clever ones like this one, don't. My speed variance is only about 1.8% over and doesn't really bother me but I get the principle of what you are talking about (gearing) so one day I might give it a try, after just wiping with acetone or contact cleaner (probably something a bit stronger than isopropyl) first, of course. Thanks.
why not decrease the speed in the engine itself ,mine as holes so we can fix the excessive speed
@xraytonyb- You do excellent work! I'm very impressed with the restore you did on the Sansui 9090, and would like to explore having you do similar work on my 9090 receiver if possible? Thanks
I'm wondering if the weight of your phone would effect the speed measurement
Did you check the rpm speed again?
What's it called and where is this record store??? :)
Thanks for the vid.
The cartridge is extremely sensible of magnetic fields. Never use a magnetic screwdriver to remove, install a cartrigde. Use special aluminium screws; any steel object close to the cartridge will affect its performance.
That’s good to know about the new stylus force devices. I have the old SHURE mechanical device.
Record stores are your best friend when you can repair turntables. Dont ask how i know :P
p.s. that AT95E is way better than the ortofon OM anyway ;)
Where can we make this protractor ?
Nice work Tony. Thanks and God bless you. Where is that record shop with all the records?
Ask God.
Those cartridges just pull out and you can snap a new one in as they are T4P and it turns out that you don't have to change the main part very often, there is a small screw which must be loosened before the whole cartridge unit can be removed and replaced and maybe it is the reason I prefer Linear Tracking Turntables and maybe I will get myself a REVOX B790.
there are very good turntables with linear tracking not being tangential wich at the end of some years it will give problems, and more dificult to reppair , but the t4p system that appeared for the first time in technics(they released this system) turntables if working perfect it will be acurate, normally people used to buy a t4p tuntable and normally would take out the cartridge to a "better one"and not having anti-skating or even weight it would be a very good mess
Oh buy the way Ortofon OM-10 cartridges have a tendency to have defects right from the factory as I have read about the reviews!
A nice solution for the wires. To bad about the ortophon.
The speed should be a little fast, as when you put the record on the platter and allow for a little friction from the stylus, if will slow down the speed slightly.
I think the weight of Tony's cellphone is heavier than the weight of an LP.
Lithium grease? They tend to harden. I would ude synthetic motor 5W.
Did you ever post a return video?
Nice debugging XD
Kenwood headshell huh?
I'm sure there is an adjustment under the motor for speed if not it may be the wrong belt!
I have the same turntable.
It has no antiskatig adjustment.
What can I do if I have antiskatig alignment problems?
i have a pionner from 74 that also doesn´t have and the arm is loose where it meets the axle where it rotates , normally all records sound very good but records with more time of music, the last songs it doesn´t read them right
What about the speed of the motor did you recheck it
That looked like it was an AC synchronous motor so no adjustments for it, now if it had a smaller DC motor with say, a frequency generated speed control, then yes, you'd have the trimmer pots for both speeds. My guess is, either the pulley or platter's inner rim were dirty, or the belt may not be quite as good as it appears as I have heard that if the speed goes a becomes a tad fast, it's the belt going bad. Plus, the speed of the platter is a bit slower upon startup getting to speed, that's another sign, along with needing some oil, but there, the speed would be a tad slow too.
Nice job on that unit, Tony.
Was hoping you would change those pickup wires, so we could see how that's done.
Never taken of the headshell connector to replace such wires.
Always wondered why those wires often is just floating around inside the turntable.
Shouldn't they be twisted together all the way, the 2 left wires together and the 2 right wires together?
To stop crosstalk between the 2 channels.
That's a bit of a double-edged sword... twisting the wires would increase cable capacitance somewhat. And it's not like you get super great channel separation anyway.
@@PileOfEmptyTapes Why not build a preamp into the unit? Shouldn't be difficult at all to add an opamp into the base, and optionally some transistors into the arm.
@@NiHaoMike64 This can be a good project as a hobby. Phono pre-amps should have a very stable and well shielded circuitry and very low noise DC power supply since the output of the cartridge is only a few mV. Pre-amps like the Pyle PP999 cost less than USD 20.00 and are very cost-effective in my opinion, and it does use FET's in the input and several stages of Op-amps. I have used one of these for years with no problems.
My toshiba sr 230 came with a similar cartridge
Great video. The Headshell it Kenwood/Trio though so not original.
So what is the Armor All trick on the power cord?
Pretty sure it's using the car, interior plastic, cleaning product to get the black power cord clean, shiny and looking like it's brand new.
it´s the plug conected to the wire, i think
Well I guess not! But like others said try cleaning the pully with sand paper to make sure no junk is on it or try a different belt size! OK that's my opinion!
Aren't Pioneer tables a straight 49 mm length from stylus to collet? If so, a protractor is moot.
Agreed. If Pioneer says 49 mm is correct, you don't need a protractor.
If you REALLY wanted to change the RPM, what would you do? Play with some capacitance across the poles of the motor? Scrap the motor and install a controllable motor?
Take that brass axle from the motor and use a lath to make it thinner (or make a complete new one if it must be thicker)
The low-tech solution: Tape around the pulley to get the diameter up. Beware of wow/flutter.
The high-tech solution: External variable frequency drive unit, e.g. Pro-Ject Speedbox SEII.
Synchronous motors are as stable as input mains frequency, but this rigid coupling also means that adjusting speed is not trivial. The old Dual idler wheel drives used to have a mechanical pitch control.
PileOfEmptyTapes
Adding tape to the spindle will increase the speed. I might consider adding a layer of tape to the turntable to slow it but then the 33 is further out than the 45 so maybe aim to split the difference.
Nice. I have a PL- 514 which has anti skate adjustment. JMO but I think the copyright B.S. is becoming ridiculous!!!
all have ,i own a turntable from the ES-2000 system wich is better finished than the components from the same year catalog and the model is PL-ES and doesn´t have anti-skating (a 74 model). This more modern ones ,the ones i know all have anti-skating
Is there a way you can repair mine I’ve got 3 and I will pay you but through PayPal is that ok?
What is the name of the record store?!
Flipside record mall
www.flipmall.com
Beware... On my Ortofon 2M carts the wire layout is not the same as the cart that I swapped it out for. Took me a year to figure that out.
I'm getting a 2M red, could you please tell me what you had before your 2M so I know what to look out for?
@@lesrogers7310 Read the instructions, but essentially, red to red, blue to blue etc, it's only the order they are in is a bit different than on most. I have the OM-10 myself, though I no longer use it, then went to a SHURE M97xE and now a Grado Prestige Green 1 on a budget Kenwood table that in some ways may not be as well designed, but isn't bad as this Pioneer but this table is older then my Kenwood, which is from the mid 80's and like this table, is belt driven.
Thanks for that John. I will be installing the 2M on a Thorens TD280 Mk.IV which is also belt driven. It currently has a OM-5E fitted but i'm hoping the 2M will be an improvement on this.
@@lesrogers7310 Most definitely, the blue will be better than the OM5E and here is why, it's next to the bottom of the barrel of the Ortofon range of the OM series anyway, the only other lower model is the OM3E.
The OM10 was the next tier up, and mine was the SUPER OM10 at that, though no longer sold as a cartridge, you can still get the OM10, 20, 30, and 40 styli for the 5E but be forewarned, they will cost as much and more from what the 5E goes for, which is roughly the $70 to 80 dollar US range. But sadly, ian of HiViNews on YT did an extensive testing of it and other carts in that price range and it did OK, but was bettered by other carts, the two that topped the $70-80 dollar range were the outgoing (discontinued) Goldring Elan and the older Grado Prestige Black 1.
The base 2M cart is the red, at $99, was bested by 3 others in the $90-120 price point, the Grado Prestige Green 1 (I have), the Goldring Elecktra, and the Nagaoka MP110, which bettered the 2M Red, it didn't fair well in this group to be quite honest.
The blue you are getting costs in the 130 or so price point, and it's well known that the Red was not very good and best to skip anyway so in this case, very likely it'll be a significant jump up from the OM5E.
Cue lever up the whole time.
😂🤣😆
Attic Records in Millvale? Not Jerry's; Jerry's doesn't sell equipment.
No animals were harmed in the film----
I. Spanish we call the Stylus "Meddle" "Ajuja" because I don't think there is correct translation for Stylus in Spanish.
No es aguja con g de gato?
in english they also use needle or agulha(in portuguese) or aguja(in spanish, hope i´m correct ,i live near spain), regards
Great video. Thanks. I find that business of the spindle and platter all spinning on a single greasy ball bearing with, effectively, just a greased, brass, bush for alignment, all a bit unexpected and weird. I did not expect to see that. Still, if it works it works, I suppose.
And the condition of that tonearm wiring? That is a whodunit mystery of Agatha Christie-an proportions that would probably have me tearing my hair out for a fortnight wondering how the fuck that happened, or what kind of asshole could be so dumb as to do something like that.
Still, I had a girlfriend once who's radio/ cassette player in the car needed taken to a shop for decoding/ recoding as it wasn't working. I went at it and managed to get it out of the dash, only to discover that all the wiring at the back of it, to the 4 speakers, the stearing wheel controls, battery, etc (must have been about 10 or 12 wires) had been cut. Obviously all at the same time, in the exact same place, with some kind of big snips. Here's the kicker though: right behind a big white plastic multi-block connecting box with all the car wiring connected to one white plastic covered half and all the radio/cassette's corresponding wiring connected to the other white plastic covered half. All anyone would have had to have done was unclip the 2 halves of the connector block, to remove it from out of the dash but someone had snipped all of the wires!
That was a similar mystery that she didn't seem to know how it had happened. She was a major pot-head, though so I guess it was her, with the intention of taking it in for repair after the car battery had been out of charge or out of the car for 2 long.
Who knows, when the people in a repair shop, maybe, saw what she'd done, maybe they laughed her out of the shop, so she'd gone home and just, angrily, fucked it back in to the hole in the dashboard and decided to forget about it? I don't know. But I soldered all of the wires back on to the corresponding colours of wires on the connecting block, took the thing to a shop and got it recoded.
All of this was after I had valeted the whole car for her while she was away on a holiday with the kids, that her dad had booked and paid for before I had started seeing her, too and do you know what the cow did? Now that the car was a gleaming, sweet smelling car with a sound system that you could control with little buttons and paddles next to the stearing wheel, rather than a rolling ashtray with a whodunit, hatchet-job of an ex-radio stuck in a rectangular hole in the dash? SHE FUCKIN TRADED IT IN!
This is partly why I don't date stoner-boots, any more.
Your tonearm wiring problem reminded me of her. Hehe.
nice turntable but I gotta have pitch control and a strobe to get the speed perfect
I remember Tony talking about capacitors and that could be a can of worms. IMHO, turntables can be another big chapter of different opinions and preferences. I myself really like Direct Drive Quartz Locked turntables (I don't care about pitch control) -- it's my own preference and that's the type of turntables I have owned since the mid 1980's. Others say that belt drive is better because the motor's electromagnetic field interacts less with the coils of the cartridge -- good point but it is another can of worms to discuss. There are many good video clips about cartridges, styli, and how to clean records and keep them clean, and others about grounding the record with anti-static brushes, and it goes on and on. Everyone has different preferences about turntables and tape recorders as those usually require more care and maintenance than digital/modern sound equipment.
I could NEVER get used to calling it a stylus either
i didn´t either ,needle is the name, the other makes me remenber the knifes women use on their purses
Use classical music next time. Most of it, if composed before 1900, is long out of copyright status.
The music might be in the public domain, but the recording you are playing is still subject to copyright.
Don't adjust the speed, leave it. Back in my old FM radio days we used to run the LP's just a tad faster, it brightens the sound.
It's a bearing ball, not a ball bearing . . . :o)
Not north of the equator and east of the prime meridian. :-)
@@BobWiersema I used to work for a company that manufactured ball bearings and had it drilled into me that a bearing ball was a component of a ball bearing. Unfortunately every now and then I let that slip out. :o)
You cannot beat a direct drive turntable from pioneer
Yes you can: Technics DD.
Obviously, some fool cut those wires, hence the missing screws and the broken bottom plate.
I picked one of these up when someone was trying to throw it away over a year ago, it needs a headshell, cart, and stylus, the anti skate works, tonearm lifter needs fixed. I put a new belt on it and it does work so I'm probably going to try restoring it