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A friend was cleaning out his attic while being hunkered down and knowing my love of vinyl dropped off three old turntables that I suspect need cleaning and tuning up. The cartridges are either gone or broken. I'd appreciate your thoughts on these three decks. The first is a Technics by Panasonic SL-1100A. The second is a Pioneer PL-500. The third is a Philips 202 electronic. I'd appreciate any thoughts, ideas, and recommendations. Thanks.
Sim
Follow Ups:
the 1100 makes a great platform for a linear arm like a modified Rabco (Shreve preferrably), or Eminent Technology. make sure the speed is stable and replacing the wire is a simple thing, power cable, easy peasy.
tonearm wire, will come with the linear arm so it's a non-problem.
i suggest selling the Philips 212, it will go fast and someone will be happy. you included as you will easily hear the superiority of the Technics.
...regards...tr
I started yesterday with a simple cosmetic clean up to remove the years of grime from these decks. I got through the Technics and the Pioneer and will clean up the last one today. The Pioneer and Technics are literal "heavyweights" each weighing a ton. The Technics has a clipped plug so I'll have to see what that's all about. I'll clean up the third deck today. Then I'll see if the turntables spin. I'm going to proceed methodically and am open to any suggestions you may have.
Sim
The Philips was a budget deck that punched above its weight. You can get a decent sound out of it, but as you see, lots of plastic.
Back in the day, I lusted after the Technics and it should be competitive today. Although the technology did improve, the Technics is extremely well built and also looks extremely cool in a pro-tech kind of way. I believe they were used by radio stations when current. Technics always had great bearing in their tonearm, so as long as you match the mass you should get great sound. Many of these had aftermarket tonearms. They were built like a tank and meant to take abuse. It is the most likely one to be functioning properly.
Don't no much about the Pioneer, but they were always competitive in their price range.
Dave
Here is info on the 1100 from Vintage Knob. http://www.thevintageknob.org/technics-SL-1100.html
Here is info on the Pioneer (also a lot newer) from Vinyl Engine. https://www.vinylengine.com/library/pioneer/pl-500.shtml
The Phillips is also old, and since you mention electronic, may be the MKII version with electronic speed regulation and semi shut off at end of record (semi auto perhaps). Was not finding a source that gives a production run but may well be from the 70's (mid to late), the arm looks like it may have derived from the Duals of the same vintage, at least style wise. You can read about it here. https://stereonomono.blogspot.com/2019/07/philips-ga-202-turntable.html, plus, it's also the only belt driven table of the three if I recall.
Thanks for the references. They're quite helpful. More to follow as I bring these old decks on line. They all need new cartridges. Not surprising.
Sim
The SL-1100A is still, to this day, an excellent turntable.
Wish someone would give one to me...
When turntables were cheap and easy to come by.....I had a Pioneer Pl-512 belt drive that was pretty decent as long as the correct belt was used. Because the original was aged and worn I found not all aftermarket belts are the same. I think the third try was a charm. I was using an Empire LTD 500 cart that I still have here somewhere.
That Phillips table seems to be worth a try too. Don't dismiss them because they are belt drive.
It sucks to get old. It really sucks to get old and bitter.
FYI, the Pioneer is direct drive, went back to look again at my search. The Phillips is the only one that's belt driven.
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