Pioneer PL-518 Turntable, Serviced

A fully restored Pioneer PL-518, cleaned & serviced with new feet and dust cover. The power supply was recapped and it has an Empire 1000 QE/X cartridge with a new stylus. The dust cover has a crack near one of the hinges in the back and there is a small indentation at the front, see the pictures. This is a heavy, well made unit that will last for many years to come.

The Pioneer PL-518 is a well known high end vintage audiophile grade turntable. It is a direct drive two speed turntable with adjustable speed.

The restoration involved the following:

- New power supply capacitors

- Tone arm mechanism relubricated

- Replacement of all oil in the motor

- Cleaning and adjustment of the speed potentiometers

- Accurate calibration of the speed

- Anti-skate mechanism calibrated

- Cartridge correctly aligned

Skylabs did a turntable comparison and this model was the #1 choice -

Vinylengine.com reviews:

10/10 by aneumayr

"Just a great overall TT. I've had 2 different ones as my second player, and it's just perfect. Very happy with everything about it!"

10/10 by stuttgart stefan

"I have had my PL-518 since the summer of 1978. It has performed flawlessly since. Glad that I never parted ways with this TT over the years."

7/10 by KentT

"A classic, well built Pioneer DD semi automatic. Speed stability is excellent, excellent stock tonearm, isolated well, and nice looking and substantial plinth. A nice bargain when new. Hard to beat then, and still as fine now. Only real weakness is the rubber feet deteriorating with age. Sorbothane upgrades are out there. This PL 518 performs very well by any standard. I love mine. So fine I am on my second one."

9/10 by dhuss

"I have refurbished about 8 of these TT's and run two of them at my home. I have run a number of other decks, including Dual and Thorens, and I have found these PL-518's to be the most stable and best performing. With a little help of cleaning, lubricating, new real wood veneer, new connectors and either some work polishing or a new dust cover, these decks outperform new budget decks (IMHO) and are near the top of vintage decks."

The Pioneer PL-518 is a good solid turntable and is still in pretty high demand today. It s a two speed, DC Servo, direct drive turntable that incorporates an S shaped tonearm. It is not a quartz controlled motor. It is also technically, a manual, single play table but has a couple features that make it a little more convenient than other manual tables. First is the Quick Start mechanism that only starts spinning the platter after you ve lifted the tonearm and moved it towards the edge of the record. You can engage the oil damped cue lever as well which will allow you to lower the tonearm down onto the record smoothly.

Another feature is the Auto Return function. Once the stylus reaches the lead out groove of the record a special Pioneer developed device detects the increased lateral speed of the tonearm and triggers the auto-return mechanism. So, the tonearm with lift, return to it s rest and the turntable will shut down. The Pioneer PL-518 has the usual turntable controls such as anti-skate, arm elevation, speed selection of 33 or 45, and fine pitch control (speed adj). A built in strobe is also on the right side of the platter and allows for easy assessment of speed accuracy.

ALL ITEMS ARE DESCRIBED AS BEST AS POSSIBLE AND DUE TO THE NATURE OF USED ITEMS ALL SALES ARE FINAL. I treat buyers like I would expect to be treated. I am a hobbyist that buys items that need help, clean/fix them up, enjoy them for a while and sometimes sell them. I do not work on other people's equipment.

If you need help hooking up anything you buy from me, just message me and I would be more than happy to assist.

Check out the photos. The photos display exactly what this item is. I would like to guarantee this item. However, too many unprincipled buyers that strip parts and then wanted to return electronics as being defective force me to protect myself from this type of abuse. I will pack well and insure the package during shipping. One buyer stated that he thought that his unit could have been dropped from a truck at highway speed and still survived intact.

- Nothing else, no further warranties or guarantees are implied. This vintage item is being listed and sold AS-IS because of parts swappers, people hooking stuff up wrong and scammers.