Top positive review
2 people found this helpful
Just like the old days
By E on Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2015
After changing the cartridge to Shure M97xE, I am very pleased with the sound quality and clean high quality design. I wanted a record player with start and stop buttons, which I have heard can develop problems. I hope it lasts 40 years. Some people don't understand that 100 dollar USB turntables from Sony, audio-technica, etc. despite having good reviews on amazon, are not good record players and are basically toys. I understand that audio-technica makes great cartrdige/needles but, I was glad an item like this exists because it is of the same quality as turntables that were on the market in the 1980s. It always seems to me that most turntables people are happy with in the present day are not good turntables and that there are not a lot of good options currently. This turntable is great for the art of listening to music and doesn't require you to jump up and take the needle off the turntable as it has auto-return. It is also good that it has a start button so that vinyl beginners in the house can put on records without damaging them.
Top critical review
48 people found this helpful
Could have been great
By W. Jones on Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2016
The PL-30 has all the makings of a great turntable. A hefty, fully automatic unit with quality materials, good sound and plenty of features....except the one it probably needed most. More on that later. The first one I received had obviously been returned. It was partially assembled and questionably repacked. I even noticed a small piece of Christmas wrap taped to the box. Though I was not pleased that Amazon had sent this back out as new, I called and they immediately emailed me the prepaid return label and sent out a new unit. Two days later I was back in business....briefly. I set up the unit and was thrilled with the sound and ease of operation. For 3 days. Then the issue began. I thought I noticed a little problem with pitch, mostly with horns, then strings. I thought maybe it was just me. I tried two more albums and it got worse....and worse. By this time the speed was going up and down almost constantly. It sounded like a bad joke, not a $300 turntable. Remember I mentioned a missing feature above? No pitch control, therefore no way to even attempt to correct it. Sadly, this is going back too. I called Amazon again and they are issuing a full refund immediately before they even get my return. Kudos to Amazon. Several reviewers have mentioned this problem with the motors in this and another (cheaper) Pioneer turntable. Of course, when you see 95% of the reviews are praising it, you figure you'll never get one a bad one. Well, I did and I'm willing to bet that's why my first one had been returned, too. This model has been on the market for quite some time now and for Pioneer to keep selling them with this much of a failure rate is just inexcusable. I've had their products for years and I expect better. Amazon's customer service = 5 stars Pioneer = 0 stars
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