Pioneer PL71

[nenevalleyaudio]

Anyone any opinions on above t/t/

Has anyone modded one and has opinion on the tonearm.

Richard

[tonedef2]

No mods however this is a rare little gem, from a construction point of view.
They need new caps though.

I love the sound of the well built Pioneer's and this is one of Pioneer's best TT's

Tune it up and you'll love it!

ToneDef2

[hillman1]

tonedef2 is right the PL-71 is a gem & new caps would do it good.

Also if you are going to keep it and you can DIY, I would rewire the tone arm with silver plated copper wire & build some good shilded interconnects with a good ground wire.

I use Canare Star Quad L-4E6S cable and Canare F-09 RCA connectors when I rewire the hookup cables and for all my interconnects.

I have done this with great results on my PL-570.

Check out this thread at audiokarma.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=61442

[Helge Gundersen]

I got hold of a used PL-71 where the speed takes forever to stabilize, or at least more than an hour. It does stabilize in the end, and spot on, too, according to a strobe disc. Before that, I would have to adjust the speed a couple of times for each record to get it approximately correct. I wonder if it's caused by wear on the motor itself, or if this behaviour is typical of ageing caps?

[nenevalleyaudio]

I got hold of a used PL-71 where the speed takes forever to stabilize, or at least more than an hour. It does stabilize in the end, and spot on, too, according to a strobe disc. Before that, I would have to adjust the speed a couple of times for each record to get it approximately correct. I wonder if it's caused by wear on the motor itself, or if this behaviour is typical of ageing caps?

Well from my experience so far it just need capacitors changing. On the small psu board change the 330mfd/35v - 100mfd/25v - 33mfd/35v if that fails to sort it out then you have to go onto the motor board (circular one under the motor cap) and change electrolytic caps there. If that fails then clean or change the preset pots.

[Helge Gundersen]

Thanks, Richard. Will look into it when time permits (this is more of a long-term project, since I already have a good turntable or two).

[Alec124c41]

You could try cleaning all the pots first. The oxidation accumulated over years is enough to interfere with the contact. For small open pots, slide a piece of paper soaked in contact cleaner between the contact and the strip.

Cheers,
Alec

[speedysteve]

This is good stuff. I have a PL-71 arriving anytime now.

[speedysteve]

Very happy with it.

Found the 33 rpm on switch needed cleaning.

Headshell recommendations?

[speedysteve]

Well, the switch cleaner was not enough. The speed would vary depending on the power / 33&45 rpm buttons being touched.
I pulled out the switches and checked them - all over the place resistance wise def not a closed circuit.
£1.49 part from Maplin sorted it totally (I did think I'd done something stupid for a while as I ran the motor without the platter on and it only rotated 1/2 a turn at a time - apparently without the platter it messes up teh servo action.

No harm apparently done and it works just fine now.

I do like the sound it makes. Out strips my SL-1210 / Parallel tracking air arm for musicality and charm.

I tried the air arm on the PL-71.


Ok. but I'm back with the PL-71 arm again... It just boogies better somehow.

[superid]

I'm looking for a digital version of Pionner PL-71 Service Manual. Can anyone help me?

Obrigado!

superid[at]gmail.com

[chicks]

No mods however this is a rare little gem, from a construction point of view.
They need new caps though.

I love the sound of the well built Pioneer's and this is one of Pioneer's best TT's

Tune it up and you'll love it!

ToneDef2

Just stumbled onto this thread after posting in the TT forum. Sounds like my $20 GoodWill find really is a find

[speedysteve]

I just replaced the two pitch adjuster pots (already had done the two switches) and then went on to replace the 8 electrolytic caps on the motor control board. I'd already done the caps on the PSU board.

The pitch pots were easy to change as the mounting bracket unscrewed to give good access.

The 8 motor control board caps were more tricky. The first 4 were fairly easier to access. The four 4.7uF ones were pretty crowded in and 3 of them had leads off the bottom going to the motor unit. Still care and patience plus the odd hand from my daughter to hold the board for me and all are replaced and it's working very well.

The audible pitch on tricky music (e.g. piano where notes trail out) is more consistent / really first rate now.
It was well worth doing and cost less then £10 for the components all up.

Pic of new switches and old pitch pots


Pic after changing the pitch pots


Pic of a mates PL-71 that uses 3 switches instead of 2 as per mine and the service manual!


Pic after changing the caps on the motor control board


Pic of before caps were changed

[Helge Gundersen]

Thanks for the informative post. It might prove useful for my stored PL-71 some time in the future (I'm looking for cartridge and support for my PL-707 at the moment).

Did you replace everything while you were at it, in case some or all of the components mattered for the speed, or did you specifically believe that cleaning wasn't enough for the pots and switches, and that it was important to replace them?