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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
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
@roberjerman The fact that you have one does not make it good, even old SL1210 mkII is much better built (in japan) than plastic Pioneer PLX-1000 (made in china), i’ve tried both, the fairy tales that Pioneer made this turntable for audiophiles has nothing to do with reality. Pioneer is a DJ/Pro/Club oriented comany for decades. There is only one reason for Pioneer to make a clone of Technics is to sell it to the Club/DJs like everything else from Pioneer (as i said: mixers and CDJ digital players for deejays).

Audiophiles are free to buy it, but the pitch control is for DJs, copy paste of the Technics size is also for DJs. Audiohiles have no clue how it’s important for DJs, Pioneer knew it very well when they decided to make a clone of Technics instead of their own superior design from the past (developed primary for Audiophiles: Pioneer Exclussive series of turntables from the 70/80s).

Do you think Pioneer PLX1000 has a Coreless Motor ?
If you like quality and cheap DD designed for DJs then you can look at the Denon VL12 as well, Denon at least changed the design a bit. Can’t remember anyone mentioned it here. Zu Audio upgrading those Denon turntables and cartridges.

Anyway the originator of this iconic design is Technics and i have no idea why do we need all those clones if we have Technics again? Personally i have 22 years of experience with Technics DD (different models from dj to high-end) and never had any problem with them.

Technics has a Coreless DD Motor in all new models (which is amazing):

If you think Technics GR for $1800 is overpriced then look at two new models released in 2019: $1199 MK7 and $1399 SL1500C (with cartridge and phono stage included).
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lewm
13,171 posts
 
Chakster is not operating from a USA-centric prospective.
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andysf's avatar
andysf
269 posts
 
Malaysia does not have a million of its citizens in "reeducation" camps, many of whom are forced to work in factories producing goods for export.When you buy electronics made in China there is a very good chance that at least some part  was manufactured using slave/coerced/North Korean labor.  For some of us, the thought that our pleasure (and savings) comes at the price of another person's misery is too much of an "ick" factor to rationalize.  (And many companies are directly owned by the government so all profits go to support a vast system off repression.)
With a little effort and around $400 you can still buy a Technics 1200 MKII in good condition which is probably at least the equal to the Pioneer.  And if you don't like it, you can resell it for what you paid.All this IMO, of course.

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