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If you had to choose between the two, which would you choose? Assume both are original and working well, but need the electrolytic caps replaced just because of 30 years...
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The electronically controlled tonearm on the big Sony's (and some other competitors in that era) were works of art. I'm unaware of anyone making one today. If the system is working properly, the tonearm's effective mass should hypothetically become irrelevant. The arm's tiny servomotor should compensate for resonance effects in real time. The upshot being that these should accommodate any cartridge from the most compliant MM to the stiffest MC. Whether it does this without undesirable side-effect is the question.
I've never dug into this area in the Sony design. It seems a little too good to be true and it seems impossible to tell if it's working properly. I still say you need to match the effective mass of the arm to your cartridge compliance without regard to the presence of the biotracer. Most of the biotracer arms seem to be medium- to high- mass in appearance.
See the below old post for some discussion about the Denon variant called Servotracer. Seems like the same thing-- I have opened up and repaired one of those. A miracle of complexity!
I've been using an X5, which I got for next to nothing, for about a year and I really like it.
If the improvement I can expect is small, then I don't know if going through all of the expense and possible re-capping etc. is worth it.
The responses indicate the X65 is a little better than the X5, but maybe not enough to warrant a purchase. Even though the sale of the X5 would most likely make the total cost of the upgrade less than $100.
Hmmmm. Sigh.
Read the link below and click on the Sony PS-X50/70 and PS-X60/40 and PS-X55*/65(essentially the same pairs of models- with variations that are pretty minor tweaks). No shame in the even later PS-X600/700/800 series boitracers either- you see lots for sale.* The 55 is a non servo, low mass arm variant with similar motor to the siblings. I have the humble PS-X55 in my big rig right now and love the little darlin'. You won't go wrong with any of these series. I chose to avoid the servo-tracer arms because I wanted a very low mass arm for my ADC XLMii. Excellent sound warms the Bearcave and enchants the Bearette!
A sweet spot vintage Sony may be the earlier PS-X6, if you can tolerate the more massive (non servo) arm. That series, the X7 was TOTL, the X5 bottom. I don't like the cosmetics is all, I guess.
Listen carefully before plunking down the cash- scraping noises from the arm motor operation is bad juju. I had one of these where there was a creepy low-pitched, very low level, thumping electromagnetic noise coming from somewhere getting into the cart.
I'd love an X50 /60 /65 --when I go back to my MC carts I will find one. The sweet spot there is probably the X-50 in terms of cost/performance. There's one for sale on Craigsfencelist for $350 now in LA. Worth something like that if its' virginally clean and trouble-free. Just one Bear's opinion.
Edits: 12/05/16
I don't know anything about these turntables, but I looked them up in the Vinyl Engine website and the PS-X65 seems to be the more sophisticated model. It's specs for wow & flutter and signal-to-noise ratio are slightly better than the PS-X5. Also, the PS-X65 has an electronic tonearm with slightly longer effective length. The fact that it's electronic might be a reason to go with the PS-X5's less sophisticated statically balanced tonearm, but the PS-X65 appears to be the more expensive model.
I'd probably go with the PS-X65. What do you think?
Good luck,
John Elison
I would choose the PS-X65. I have a PS-X70, and I purchased a PS-X7 as present for a friend so I have compared two very similar tables. The PS-X65 is a few years younger, for one thing. For another the X65 is a much more substantial table with a much nicer tonearm which includes on the fly VTA adjustment.
thanks! I wasn't sure where they were in the hierarchy.
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