Pioneer DJ PLX-1000 Professional Turntable

All aluminum construction. Built like a tank. Must weigh nearly 50 pounds. Excellent and huge adjustable feet. The anti-skating, tracking weight, and tonearm height adjustments work perfectly. The best cueing lever I have ever used. Dead silent operation — you can’t even tell it’s on. The rotating on-off switch is a work of art. So is the round button that you press to make the platter start turning, which reaches the correct speed – and stops – in a quarter-turn. The heavy rubber-coated aluminum platter is completely flat. The rubber mat and felt slip pad are really nice. The blue lighting is really nice to look at. The LED cartridge light is invaluable when lowering the needle at night. This turntable is fabulous. My vinyl has never sounded better. Two minor gripes: No hinges on the dust cover and the tonearm wires should be of a larger gauge.

Update Nov 7, 2023. This was a major upgrade from the belt drive audiophile TT I was previously using. I just added a Fosi Box X2 Phono Preamp and an Ortofon Blue Cartridge. My 45 RPM Analogue Productions Doors LPs have come alive like never before. You really don’t need to spend $2500 plus on a Technics.

Update April 9, 2024. I upgraded to the Ortofon Black cartridge and Cambridge Audio Duo phono preamp – a combination that was able to extract more detail from loud/busy/complex musical passages. This turntable is not going to hold you back at all. The tube phono preamp is awesome for jazz but cannot keep up with the Duo on other types of music like JETHRO TULL.

Build quality was my first thought when buying a turntable, I didn’t want something flimsy and light, I wanted a unit that had some heft to it. The PLX 1000 is built like a tank, and its very heavy, it has a solid platter a thick rubber mat that does not just dampen vibration it eliminates them altogether. comes with 2 other mats, for scratching, it looks gorgeous and the sound quality from the deck is beautiful, I have a Nagaoka MP 110 cartridge I have not used yet, I got a second head shell as a spare and that came with an Audio Technica cartridge AT3600L and its a cheap cartridge but my god on this turntable sounds great, punchy, great bass and very clear, for the price Its a great cartridge. So even a £20.00 cartridge sounds fantastic, I cant recommend the Pioneer PLX 1000 enough, its a good solid unit, that looks great and sounds even better.

Macht sehr viel Spass..

I’ve recently returned to listening to vinyl records and conservatively started out with the entry-level, budget friendly Audio Technica LP-120 USB turntable. However I quickly outgrew it. In my search for a new one, I did a lot of reading and found audiophile reviews praising the qualities and features of the Pioneer PLX-1000. It’s built for DJ’s yet has all the features loved by audiophiles. It’s solid with very low vibration. In comparison to the AT LP-120, the PLX is much heavier AND quieter. The LP-120 is noisy. I instantaneously noticed there’s more bass and it’s deep, detailed and rich. The bass came alive. The LP-120 comes with a pre-amp and the PLX 1000 does not. The AT comes with a stock AT95E cartridge and head shell and the PLX provides a head shell but no cartridge. I actually didn’t mind because I never used the AT95E cart and immediately upgraded to a Sumiko Pearl and Nagaoka MP-110. I’m thinking about upgrading to the Nagaoka 200 now that I have a table worthy of it. The RCA cables are attached to the AT LP-120 and removable on the PLX. When I bought my first component stereo system decades ago, direct drive turntables were favored and more expensive than belt driven. I had a belt driven because I couldn’t afford the DD. Today, I personally don’t want to deal with belts when switching from 33 to 45 or spend more $$$ for the automated feature. Which reminds me, the AT has a 78 but the PLX does not. If you’re looking to upgrade your table, take a look at the Pioneer PLX 1000.

I was looking at a Technics or this turntable. After a lot of reviews said this sounded as good and was cheaper, I went with the Pioneer. So far it sounds fantastic. It’s a heavy unit, but takes up the same about of space as most Turntables. Setup isn’t hard, fine tuning is a little more difficult, but not to hard. It does not come with a cartridge. I paired it with a Audio Technics AT-VM95ML. You just connect to the 4 poles and slide it on the arm. Even with buying the Cartridge it was cheaper than the Technics of the same capabilities. Assembly of the table is as simple as putting in the table. You get different tops if you want to listen or DJ And scratch. So, something for any use. The player is well laid out and has slot for the 45 adapter. As I don’t need the DJ options I just reset everything to defaults and played records. The instructions included and online can walk you through a proper setup.
The player does not come with an equalizer or amplifier. My receiver has a Phono input so it plugs right in. If you don’t have a Phono input you’ll need an external device to get the sound to line level. It comes with a RCA cable and ground wire. It does not have auto return at the end of the record. Once everything was set I tried rock, jazz, classical, and it all sounds great. The lights blue record and a white needle light at not a distraction and the needle light can be turned off. Overall, a nice turntable for home use. I’m getting back into records and this was a nice compromise between a beginner turntable and spending over a $1K for a decent turntable. All seems good to me.