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Any Love for the Pioneer PLX-1000 Yet?

Early in the year, Steve Guttenberg (C-Net, formerly S'phile and others) and Herb Reichert (longtime high end figure; new to S'phile) posted favorable reviews of the new (released last year) Pioneer PLX-1000 direct drive turntable.

Although the PLX-1000 is obviously filling the gap left by the discontinued Technics SL12x0 series, Guttenberg and Reichert reviewed the table from an audiophile standpoint, and not as a DJ deck.

Reichert and Guttenberg auditioned the turntable together but wrote about it separately, so their reports mention the same electronics and cartridges as well as the other turntables they compared the Pioneer to. Both reviewers came away with an enthusiastic recommendation and consdiered this the one to beat at $2K and under. Not bad for $697.

Now in my latest issue of Stereophile, Reichert wrote a followup, where he revisited the turntable on his own, made sure he used LPs he's familiar with, tried out a bunch of his own cartridges, and compared the Pioneer with yet another group of turntables.

His conclusion? The Pioneer is even better than he thought the first time around.

I found it encouraging that the Pioneer improvements were very similar to what I did to my SL1210 M5G--damped the tonearm and replaced the feet. I also got the KAB fluid damper and record grip and a discontinued Oracle sorbothane mat. However, the Pioneer has a couple of other improvements I couldn't perform--a higher torque motor and extensive internal damping between (I think) the plinth and chassis. Also, the plinth is a zinc alloy now, which should be more rigid and sonically inert than the Technics' aluminum.

Has anyone here heard the deck yet? Thoughts? Feelings? Opinions?
johnnyb53
schubert
7,386 posts
 
Whats nice about it ? With a lowly Grado Red it plays a Symphony in my condo very near to live concert . And having been to thousands of classical concerts I know what they sound like . Simple
Only help I have given to it is a Orsonic head shell. and a Project Heavy base .
Two Orsonics actually, other one has a new Empire 3000 ME/X which has rock steady .placement and depth for jazz group or string quartet .Also have a Pro-ject perspex 6 with a Nagoka 200 and a Rega RP6 with a Rega Exact .All have their place but the tremendous torque and heavy zinc body of the Pioneer is outstanding on Symphony.Oh,and about 6 old Sony PS-X5 and 6 in storage . I have owned 5or 6 Technics over the years .Of the hundred or so TT's I ever owned my all -time favorite was the beautiful Sansui 929 .Worst sounding to me was the first one I ever had , a Linn12 .
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
Warning: BRAND NEW Technics SL1210 mk7 just announced
They won't stop!  So the Pioneer must die with their clones 


nrenter's avatar
nrenter
768 posts
 
Oooo....Interesting. Can't wait for someone to get their hands on one.
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
Technics killing us, there is another one coming later this year:
brand new Technics SL1500c 

more about it HERE
johnnyb53 OP
3,510 posts
 
invictus005:No love here. I don’t support fraudulent products that steal.

Steal?Nobody held a gun to Technics’ head to drop the SL12x0 series. Panasonic didn’t want to be bothered retooling the assembly line. In doing so, they created a gaping hole in their direct drive TT product line, a hole that Pioneer was all too happy to fill, with no complaints from Panasonic.
And to my knowledge, Matsushita/Technics/Panasonic never sued or issued a "Cease and Desist" order against Pioneer for reviving SL12x0-style turntables. If Technics lost product presence in DD turntables, they did it to themselves. One could even say that Pioneer invested the money to provide free "proof of concept" for the continuing viability of Panasonic style DD turntables. Panasonic’s response to Pioneer was to come out with a new DD turntable product line whose demand far exceeded Panasonic’s expectations.
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