Pioneer PL-518 Handmade Quilted Maple Vintage Turntable Record Phono Audio Technica FREE Shipping!

Handmade record players my specialty! Check out my shop for custom turntables and receivers, hand-built speakers, radios, vinyl and other vintage audio goodies!

Pioneer PL-518 2-Speed Direct-Drive Turntable (1978-1979)

One-of-a-kind. Handmade. Gorgeous. Simply epic audio and aesthetics

New, hand-made plinth from MDF and hand-cut, applied, sanded, stained, UV protected, etc. genuine wood, Quilted Maple veneer. As evidenced by the photos, the wood takes on different golden shades in different lights.

Re-wired gold-plated RCA plugs, soldered into the original plug-in harness.

New vibration-absorbing feet.

Perfect working order. Near perfect physical condition. Cleaned, lubed, adjusted, tested, ready to spin some vinyl for years to come!

Dustcover has typical scuffs, scratches and hazing due to age, no cracks.  It is in overall good condition for the age.  These can be wet sanded, buffed and polished with headlight detail kits - to be done by the new owner!

Dead-on speed control. Smooth-as-butter arm control. Spot-on accurate auto-return.

Work performed on this turntable:
• Disasembled
• Dust blown out with a compressor
• Cleaned inside and out
• Electronics cleaned and lubed with DeoxIT
• Mechanicals lubed with lithium or silicone grease
• Tonearm lift lubed with 300,000 CST silicone damping fluid
• Reassembled ☺

Included:
• Turntable
• Tonearm
• Counterbalance Weight
• Platter & Matt
• Pioneer Headshell
• Audio Technica MG200E Cartridge
• NEW .2 X .7 mil Elliptical Stylus
• NEW feet
• Dustcover
• Gold-plated RCA plugs
• ORIGINAL owner's manual 

My custom tables come from donor tables that are very selectively hand-choosen. These are not yard-sale or thrift store beasts. These are picked to be the best-of-the-best, to provide a solid foundation for a beautiful custom table. These all look like new inside, and are very aesthetically pleasing outside, with perfect pitch and all functions working properly.  They do not smell like cigarette smoke, or grandma's basement. And that is before a complete tear-down.

I have owned and taken apart about every kind of turntable out there; this era of Pioneer are built like a brick outhouse and are superior to just about every brand of the era. Also, Pioneer used much more substantial motors than their competitors, with greater torque, more poles and slots, and higher build quality. A 1978 Pioneer weighs about twice as much as a similar 1978 Technics, Marantz, etc…

I dare you to find a nicer, better, prettier turntable at this price anywhere!

Description:

The Pioneer PL-518 is a 2-speed, direct-drive turntable fitted with a static balance type, S-shaped tonearm.

Although the PL-518 is technically a manual, single-play turntable, the kind traditionally preferred by audiophiles and professionals alike, it offers two welcome conveniences.

One is the Quick-Start function. The other is the Auto-Return function, which works like this: when the stylus enters the lead-out groove of your record, a special Pioneer-developed device detects the increased lateral speed of the tone arm and triggers the auto-return mechanism. This lifts the tone arm gently, returns it to its rest, and shuts off all power to the turntable. The mechanism is one that Pioneer has tested successfully for over 100,000 continuous operations, and one guaranteed to perform with minimum noise and maximum reliability.

The PL-518's platter does not begin to rotate until you lift the tone arm and move it toward the outer edge of the platter. This convenience is appreciated all the more when you use it in combination with the oil-damped Cue Lever that lets you lower the stylus to the record surface (at the point of your choice) without risk of dropping the arm or nicking the record.

All controls on the Pioneer PL-518 are grouped on the righthand side of the platter to make handling easier still. In addition to the adjustment controls for the tone arm there is the Cue Lever, the Speed Select Button, and the Fine Pitch Control. Also on the right is the built-in strobe with an attractively illuminated light/calibration arrangement so that you may keep a visual check on the platter's accurate speed.

Pioneer has developed a special 16-pole, 24-slot DC servomotor for the PL-518. This motor's magnetic circuit is twice as strong as conventional direct-drive types, a fact that contributes greatly to its improved resistance to torque ripple caused by uneven magnetic force.

Its switching frequency is also doubled, to 13.3Hz. Together these mean improved load characteristics, more accurate platter speeds at all times and, ultimately, better tonal quality results from your records.

You will find that few if any turntables offer such outstanding performance specifications: the signal-to-noise ratio achieved by the super-silent DC servo direct-drive motor is a high 73dB or less, while wow/flutter is an excellent 0.03% or less, and will stay that good over long years.

Specifications:

• Type: direct drive
• Motor: 16-pole, 24-slot, DC servo motor
• Platter: 320mm aluminium alloy diecast
• Speeds: 33 and 45rpm
• Speed control range: +-2%
• Wow and flutter: 0.03%
• Rumble: 73dB
• Tonearm: static-balanced type, s-shaped pipe arm
• Effective length: 221mm
• Overhang: 15.5mm
• Cartridge weight range: 4 to 10g
• Dimensions: 440 x 145 x 365mm
• Weight: 9.5kg

******Shipping is for the Contiguous United States ONLY. For shipping to Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. Territories, Canada, or the rest of the world, please contact me for a quote first!******



I DO NOT GUARANTEE VINTAGE EQUIPMENT. PLEASE BE AWARE THERE IS ALWAYS INHERENT RISK WHEN PURCHASING 40-50 YEAR OLD EQUIPMENT. THIS UNIT MAY WORK FOR YEARS TO COME WITHOUT ANY ISSUES, BUT MAY REQUIRE IMMEDIATE TO FUTURE SERVICING. THIS IS THE RISK ALL OF US TAKE WHEN PURCHASING ANY MECHANICAL OR ELECTRICAL VINTAGE ITEM.