Vintage Hi-Fi

As a followup to the BBS discussion around the refurb of my 1981 Pioneer PL-220 Turntable. I got this new as my first major life purchase. It was part of a complete rack system, Syscom 3300, that looked almost identical to this tall one (only pick I could find). This pic has the digital tuner (not analog), and a graphic EQ that I didnt have. Instead of the "720" components, mine had "520" components which were generally less featured. Example, the 720 cassette has auto reverse, the 520 didnt. The 720 tuner was digital, the 520 was analog. etc. One nice thing about this 81-83 era of Pioneer equipment is the blue guages referred to as the "blue line". They moved to green then orange as time went on, and the faces become increasing black in color over time too. The blue and silver looks fantastic IMHO, and you can see the design language implemented the same across the components (colors, button sizes, control locations, etc).

My mom used the system for a few years in the 90's after I upgraded to newer equipment, then she moved it around the country as they moved, except for the cabinet. I dont know what happened to the cabinet or the speakers. I know the cassette died and I replaced it with a newer one that was black which I still have somewhere (CT760 maybe?). About 20 years ago, I reclaimed what was left - the amp, and the turntable, before any more of it could disappear.

The SA-520 amplifier I've used on and off for various things since then. It was hooked up to the computer for many years, and I put it away (again) about 5 years ago. I hadnt opened the turntable since reclaiming it. That was a mistake. It needed some love, cleaning, and repair. I opened and cleaned up the amp before using it again as well.

So after people were talking about turntables on Fergs discord, I got interested in getting mine operational and playing some of my LP's. My wife has been asking to hook it up for many years too. I ordered new belt, new needle, Deoxit, etc. Took it apart, cleaned it all up, checked the caps, then gambled with the old needle on a crap record because the tonearm had been unlocked while boxed, and the platen wasnt secured. I was surprised the damage was only minimal and the needle was ok (repalced anyway before putting on a good record).

The bad news is, one of the mount points for the isolation feed is busted. I've tried to plastic weld 3 times, and each time, there is just too much torque when screwing it in and I feel it snap in the same place. I may look for a donor unit for the upper case and dust cover since mine has some deep scratches in it. The Novus polish kit didnt help much.

I had a Shure RXT5 cartridge and needle on it, an upgrade done many years ago. The RXT5 is a Radio Shack specific version of the XT5 IIRC. This has a charged fiber sweeper that cleans a few grooves ahead of the needle tracking in them. I bought an LP Gear replacement needle which sadly doesnt have the sweeper, but did plug right in. Shure no longer makes needles.

I need to take it apart one more time as well. I found that the auto start drops the needle RIGHT at the edge of the record, and if a record is pressed slightly smaller diameter, it will miss prompting a quick grab or raise of the handle before needle hitting the spinning platter. So it needs an adjustment. I had to buy a service manual because one wasnt available for download free. I'll scan and post it so others dont have to buy it.

Since then, I searched around and found the tuner I had (TX-520), made an offer for it, the guy accepted and sent it. Cleaned it up inside and out, and its in excellent condition. I also found the clock/timer (DT-510) that a guy just totally refurbed with new caps and cleaned inside out, and its case is like new too. If I come across a CT-720 cassette, I'll likely pick it up, but I'm not searching agressively as I really have no use for it.

To get sound out of it, I fed the tape outputs from the amp into an RCA to 1/8" stereo jack, and plugged that into the JBL 3.1 soundbar. You cant see it in the pics, but the 10" sub is behind the entertainment center, and it pounds! So line level out and the JBL power itself with volume control through the JBL. I set the speakers OFF on the amp, and the volume at 3 (not required, just so the VU meters are active).

Now we are looking for a small rack, not necessarily Pioneer. I have a huge sentimental attachment to the equipment, maybe more than my Atari. LOL. I'm pretty proud how nice my original components look as well - take care of your stuff! And I'm glad I was able to find replacement components that look great as well. It almost looks new!

Right after I got the turntable working, with a new needle:

With all re-acquired components: