Pioneer PL-71 Refurbishment

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Quarknosis
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Re: Pioneer PL-71 Refurbishment

Unread post by Quarknosis »

Firstly apologies to Savvy Paul for the lack of progress with this. Unfortunately due to various circumstances I haven't really had time to do much with the PL71.

I've done a bit of cleaning up of the water damage and fitted a cartridge and tested the table out but there is distortion present when playing some LPs no matter what I try to do with set up. The arm bearings do seem very loose, certainly looser than anything I've experienced before. I'm pretty good with mechanical fixes but I think the bearings would be beyond my capabilities.

As a result of the lack of time I am considering passing this on to another forum member who can give it the time and attention that it deserves. Any thoughts or advice before I make adecision. If I do go ahead and pass it on I'd be willing to pack it up and ship at cost.
Main System. Amp - Luxman LV-120, CD - Pioneer PDX505 & Hitachi DA 401. Turntable - Trio KD-2055/Denon DL-110 & Ortofon VMS20E. Cassette Deck - JVC KD A55. Speakers - Arcam Alpha connected with NVA LS3.

Headphone System - Little Dot Mkiii headphone amp, various vintage CD players into NVA P50 with Sennheiser HD600 and Beyer DT 880

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Dr Bunsen Honeydew
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Re: Pioneer PL-71 Refurbishment

Unread post by Dr Bunsen Honeydew »

They have little screws on the sides of the bearing that you tighten.

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Re: Pioneer PL-71 Refurbishment

Unread post by Vinyl-ant »

Re the plinth, i'd be tempted to strip the plinth down and then re veneer it. But you can sand the veneer that is on it more aggressively than you would think given its thickness, its worth giving it a go over with steel wool or paper around 320 grit. The steel wool might catch abit on the corners though.

By the looks of it, the motor, arm and strobe should lift out as whole units, having been inside plenty of jap decks id venture that the boards are connected with block connectors so to strip it should be pretty painless. Dont lose the screws though, ive found they tend to be a wierd size.

I have a jvc ql-y5f that I need to build a new plinth for, and it's built in a similar manner to the pioneers I've had in the past. Never had one of these though.
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Re: Pioneer PL-71 Refurbishment

Unread post by savvypaul »

Quarknosis wrote: Fri Jun 30, 2017 4:19 pm Firstly apologies to Savvy Paul for the lack of progress with this.
No problem, 'Quark'. It did take me 10 years just to get it down from the loft, after all!

Hope you are keeping well.
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Quarknosis
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Re: Pioneer PL-71 Refurbishment

Unread post by Quarknosis »

savvypaul wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2017 2:10 pm
Quarknosis wrote: Fri Jun 30, 2017 4:19 pm Firstly apologies to Savvy Paul for the lack of progress with this.
No problem, 'Quark'. It did take me 10 years just to get it down from the loft, after all!

Hope you are keeping well.
I'm fine thanks Paul :grin:

Doc, I tried adjusting the arm bearings one was tight and the other is seized on. I'll have to try some lubricant to see if it will penetrate and allow it to loosen.
Main System. Amp - Luxman LV-120, CD - Pioneer PDX505 & Hitachi DA 401. Turntable - Trio KD-2055/Denon DL-110 & Ortofon VMS20E. Cassette Deck - JVC KD A55. Speakers - Arcam Alpha connected with NVA LS3.

Headphone System - Little Dot Mkiii headphone amp, various vintage CD players into NVA P50 with Sennheiser HD600 and Beyer DT 880

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jayman67
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Re: Pioneer PL-71 Refurbishment

Unread post by jayman67 »

any updates?
Yamaha NS1000M speakers,Pioneer PLC-590 turntable,,Alphason HR-100S-MCS/Zeta tonearms,Denon 103sa cartridge ,Sony 700ES Amp,Sony X555ES CD Player, Nakamichi ca5 pre amp.

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Re: Pioneer PL-71 Refurbishment

Unread post by _D_S_J_R_ »

Late reply and it's probably fixed now anyway... there are two needle screws mainly to aid centring of the arm assembly in the bearing yoke. If this looks centred ok, then the one that can be adjusted could be progressively tightened a smidge at a time to minimise free-play. Overdo it and damage can result and the arm will go 'notchy' in the vertical plane, so it's always the best compromise and the mass of the tube assembly will load it all enough I think. Same I was told for the horizontal bearings, which if similar to the closely related but simpler Rega R200, are loaded primarily by gravity and when running with a cartridge, shouldn't rattle or buzz (other arms are different, the bearing races gripped in the pillar differently I understand. My R200 has some vertical free-play, but tracking a cartridge, some rotational force is needed at the headshell to cause any unsettling of these bearings.

The better Dual tonearms use four needle-roller pivots for the arm and the instructions were always to allow just a touch of play before re-locking them. The lower and earlier Duals had ball races for the horizontal bearings and these can be set pretty well for free movement and no slop.
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Re: Pioneer PL-71 Refurbishment

Unread post by karatestu »

Any progress with this deck ?

I hope i can get to hear one eventually.
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Quarknosis
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Re: Pioneer PL-71 Refurbishment

Unread post by Quarknosis »

karatestu wrote: Sun Nov 05, 2017 11:50 am Any progress with this deck ?

I hope i can get to hear one eventually.
That might be possible, I see that you are in N Yorks, not too far away from me.
Main System. Amp - Luxman LV-120, CD - Pioneer PDX505 & Hitachi DA 401. Turntable - Trio KD-2055/Denon DL-110 & Ortofon VMS20E. Cassette Deck - JVC KD A55. Speakers - Arcam Alpha connected with NVA LS3.

Headphone System - Little Dot Mkiii headphone amp, various vintage CD players into NVA P50 with Sennheiser HD600 and Beyer DT 880

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Re: Pioneer PL-71 Refurbishment

Unread post by karatestu »

Just to enlighten everyone, Paul (Quarknosis) has kindly passed this TT on to me. This is with Savvypaul's blessing (they have been in contact). I initially put my name on the list when savvy was doing the raffle so I was interested in it at the start (although that thread seems to have disappeared)?

Picked it up Monday afternoon and have had a little fiddle with it but I am currently without a cartridge to put on it.

I will start my own refurbishment thread in due course (not sure when). I must thank Paul (on forum) for passing it on to me and for meeting me half way. Paul has done a lovely job of tidying up the wooden plinth, fitting new dust cover hinges, levelling the sprung feet and generally cleaning it up.

Stu
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