Which Turntable??

I tend to agree with Schubert. One shouldn't have to mess with the bearings. And I'll take the Technics all day long over this Pioneer or any of the new direct drive 'tables (made in China) popping up in the last year or so.

Japanese DD tables from the bigger firms, Sony, Pioneer,
Sansui , Technics, Yamaha, Luxman, Micro-Seki, back in the 70's had the best QC ever seen in audio.
Top of the lines were works of art.

TW Acustic best sound.

03-16-15: Dave_72
... One shouldn't have to mess with the bearings. And I'll take the Technics all day long over this Pioneer or any of the new direct drive 'tables (made in China) popping up in the last year or so.

I thought I'd add a friendly counterpoint to this discussion:

With all the tweaks audiophiles do to get a component or system sounding right, a quick bearing adjustment seems pretty minor by comparison. There's also the possibility that this is simply a first-run occurrence that is or will be fixed soon. In the meantime, with Pioneer's warranty, you could probably get it adjusted at a dealer.

As for the China origin, China is where Well Tempered turntables are made now, and are also the country of manufacture of much of LOTS of high end equipment. It's the Chinese motors that have populated the latter day DJ machines including the Stantons, which are very rugged. This Chinese motor puts out twice the torque of the original Panasonic.

Reichert (the S'phile reviewer) *really* liked the Pioneer. It wound up as a Stereophile Recommended Class C turntable, and Reichert considered it "Borderline Class B." This is a turntable you can buy almost anywhere--Guitar Center, Best Buy, B&H, etc.-- for $699. Even if you pay a tech $50 to adjust the bearings, it's still a steal. There were no other Class C turntables anywhere near that low a price, let alone Class B.

Specifically, Reichert (and Guttenberg, who was also in the room and reviewing for C-Net) both felt it smoked the VPI Nomad where it counts--in pace, rhythm, transparency, and inner detail.

Bearing adjustment or no, for someone on a budget, I think it's still worth looking into.

Perhaps, but the Technics is a classic and has better resale value.

As far as Chinese made, I know that, but I don't have to like it, cool?

As for the review, it's just a review. To take with a grain of salt.

Too bad the high end press didn't review the Technics with a upper end MM cart

I suppose it is, but one must look very carefully, and look at the other options out there...