Pioneer Elite PL 90 HiFi Turntable - High End Audio

[@AudioElectronicsChicago]

Masterpiece, Pioneer put some quality in this turntable

[@stereoniche]

She is a beauty.

[@richardwhite2344]

Such a beautiful classic turntable

[@stereoniche]

A stunner!

[@fabieneldridge3414]

I didn’t know Pioneer made such a nice turntable. Absolutely beautiful ! 👍

[@stereoniche]

She is a beauty.

[@giuseppelavecchia775]

Pioneer ha sempre fatto apparecchiature al top,ottimo giradischi!

[@VINTAGEO]

Beautiful table Scott! I love that suspension! This table reminds me a bit of the high end Denons!

[@stereoniche]

It does!

[@jpaleas]

Beautiful turntable, But what I like even more is that you found and bought the whole Elite line ! Which is what I would have done ! 👍🏻

[@stereoniche]

As they say, when the opportunity arises, take it!

[@mikecampbell5856]

Thanks for bringing us yet another piece of audio history.Turntables can be such beautiful works of art. Too bad I hate vinyl. LOL I don't really hate vinyl, I think it's cool but I hate the snaps, clicks, pops and surface noise. I received my first CD player from my wife on my birthday in 1985 and never looked back.

[@stereoniche]

I hear ya. Lots to be said for then CD format. After college, I gave up my table and records and went all in on CDs, but I did make it back to vinyl. Just so satisfying on many fronts.

[@wayneg296]

👍👍😎✌️🤟 Great equipment. Out of my price range at the time. Thanks for the memories.

[@stereoniche]

You bet!

[@watdanuqta-mf5ms]

Kind of busy looking. Personally I love the clean elegant lines of the Exclusive P3, P3a, probably the best table Pioneer ever made. I don't know what it sounds like but as for myself, I never cared for the sound of old dreck-drive turntables. But the latest Technics SP-10 kind of changing my mind. It's the first DD table that I noticed had any drift in the speed stability. I watched on spinning for like twenty minutes set with a half of a dot on the edge of display and it did not budge, not at all.

[@bbfoto7248]

@stereoniche Scott, that PL-90 is in beautiful condition. Unfortunately, except for very few models such as Pioneer's pinnacle 1983 Exclusive P3a DD TT, even this top tier PL-90 and other PL-series with the "Rosewood" finish are made out of incredibly cheap particle board/chipboard. I am the original owner of a 1980's "rosewood" finish Pioneer PL-707 that has the straight carbon-fiber anti-resonance tonearm, and while it is a really nice TT for the price I paid, when I discovered that the "rosewood" was just an extremely thin heat-fused vinyl "wrap" veneer, I was hugely disappointed. Even more so when I saw that these PL-90 were the same. You can see the "orange peel" or "pebble" surface of the underlying particle board in some of the closeup top view shots in your video with the light reflection. These TTs still look and play great, but these were made to a cost-cutting price point at this stage when CDs were quickly overtaking vinyl. I used a Denon DL160 pickup on the 707 and that combination certainly performed well above its modest price. Curious what this PL-90 sold for, ha!? Cheers

[@chrisnovakowski9827]

Thank you for another great video. I wonder how this Pioneer would compare to the Kenwood KD-770D turntable? I have a pristine KD-770D turntable with a Denon DL-110 high output moving coil cartridge. It was a great find; local & low price.

[@stereoniche]

I've not had that table first hand, but I'd say they are comparable. All of the major vendors were putting out some very nice high end tables around this timeframe. I don't think you can go wrong with any of them really.

[@melovemusic69]

Hey wandering if you did the cartridge setup on this PL-90? I have one myself and would like to know if you have the overhang gauge? My service manual says it is a pioneer pec-012 which i found were supplied with some pioneer s-shaped tt's. This pec-012 has a 49mm overhang, at least what i have found on audiokarma. Seems like many Pioneer specs show a 15.5mm overhang and this number is on some of the gauges for sale on ebay specifically for the 49 mm overhang. Any help you can give would be great. What cart do tou have on this setup?

[@stereoniche]

Hey there! Unfortunately, I have not made any adjustments to the cartridge that was already installed. It is currently stored away, so I cannot confirm what cartridge is on it at the moment. As well, and unfortunately, I do not have the gauge with my unit, sadly.

[@melovemusic69]

​@@stereoniche thanks for getting back with me. What is your main TT? Have a Great year.

[@stereoniche]

@@melovemusic69 I have several different setups, so it depends on location, but currently a Denon DP-62L, JVC QL-Y66f and a Technics SL-1200 mkII

[@vinylcabasse]

would want the PL-L1000 instead myself!

[@stereoniche]

Yes, that is a very nice table. I am a big fan of the linear arm. Sadly, I had one years ago that had been wrecked and abused.

[@damirhlobik6488]

I wonder what Mr. Villchur would say The AR-AX is an example of perfect simplicity focused solely on sound quality, at an extremely reasonable price

[@stereoniche]

I have a couple of AR tables that are in need of some TLC. They are certainly a great example of less is more.

[@jameslaidler2152]

Can that thing play transcription discs? Looks like it could.

[@stereoniche]

The platter itself is 14". Not sure how large are most transcription records.

[@jameslaidler2152]

@@stereoniche 16" even if only 1.5" of space between the tonearm base and platter, which this looks to have more than that, it should play them alright.

[@claudechasle4154]

Very nice. Would be nice to compare with my Kenwood L07D. Purchased in 1981 it is Still an exceptional TT today.

[@rickyblair8802]

A piece of gear that just sits there is a whatnot. I was hoping to hear it.

[@sidesup8286]

So what is the Pioneer turntable's ranking compared to the Advent Scott? I'm just kidding. But where were you in the early to mid 1990s? I can think of at least 60 companies that were still going strong & still making turntables then. Plenty that were still being manufactured; and I don't even know nearly every single one that was out there. Linn, the turntable manufacturer that is credited with starting the whole high end audio scene, was still making turntables and continues to do so to this day. VPI was still making them; in fact the 1990s was considered part of VPI's heydey, when they were really improving their product. The famous well known original Technics SL 1200 turntable continued to be manufactured throughout the 1990s until 2011. In 2016 they started making them again. In the early to late 1990s Wilson Benesch turntables were making a big splash, along with The Well Tempered turntable, which instead of a counterweight, it used pulleys at the back of the tonearm. Micro Sekei was still on duty making turntables non-interrupted, as was Goldmund, Logic, Sota, Ariston, Denon, Systemdek, Merrill, Clearaudio, Pink Triangle, Sonograhe, Thorens, Rega and many others. I didn't see vinyl really in it's apparent death throes till about 2002. Then some time after that it slowly started coming back. If anyone thinks the Pioneer might be a contender for the world's best turntable, ask Google to show Goldmund Turntable pics. Take some some close up glances. Yes, it sounds as impressive as it looks. Many hundreds of pounds; or is it a thousand?

[@stereoniche]

Where was I in the mid-1990's? I was listening to CDs like most everyone else. :-) In 1980, there were 12 pages of turntables in the annual stereo guides. By 1992, there were only 3, so yes, it had waned quite a bit since the CD was introduced.

[@sidesup8286]

Not everybody was playing cds in 1992. Interest in lps/turntables did lessen, but there were dozens of turntable companies galore circa mid 1990s still glad that even though the major labels stopped pressing lps,there were still many out there wanting new turntables and cartridges, and that there were still a significant amount of people not jumping on the cd bandwagon. Many had large vinyl collections and stayed loyal to vinyl, and those who had "ears" weren't all that sure that they liked what they heard from cds. One very serious audiophile & record collector with ultra high end equip. said to me in his home, "cds have sound that is messed up and not right." HP, the then editor of The Absolute Sound only thought cds did bass transient response well, and virtually nothing else. Of course in retrospect it was the players not the cds for the most part. Cds played on the best equip. may or may not be better than vinyl played on the best equip. We know that now, or at least I know that now. When sound reproduction starts approaching "real" in both formats, you can infer that there's not that big a deal between the formats as far as sound quality. I think if many lp collectors ever heard cds played on near state of the art cd players, they would stop spending so much time finding, and money on just the right lp pressings. If someone with great cd sound would hear lps played on something near state of the art, they probably wouldn't bother to go to all that trouble of finding best pressings etc. Nor the expense.

[@Trojan0304]

Arm looks like my Technics M1A

[@Licoricedisc]

Early 2001 or 2002 I purchased a nice condition PL90... but was very disappointed in its design and how cheap it was put together for a turntable costing that much. If you remove the platter you will see one of its fatal flaws... the cheap, low power direct drive motor mounted on a circuit board. The suspended plinth is also not very solid made, pretty much just cheap press board and plastic. A few months later, for about the same as I paid for the PL90, I replaced it with a Technics SL1000 MK2 which is 10 times the turntable... no comparison. A few years later, I bought a Technics SL1000 MK3 and still have both.

[@JeffN-A]

I wish things like this were talked about in the review. How bout it?

[@melovemusic69]

​@@JeffN-A Well sir this was a video not to down talk someone's own investment. He obviously likes the TT and likes Pioneer elite gear which I don't blame him. These are pretty nice turntables if you're a Pioneer guy like myself which I also have an entire setup from 1990 myself using Pioneer DD-9 speaker setup. Usually people that are jealous try to talk down about people's collections.

[@JeffN-A]

@@melovemusic69 wasn't trying to be elitist, or snobby. Just more info to learn from

[@adrianoamatucci989]

Bello da vedere. Senza dubbio di qualità però è bene ricordare che il suono è quasi totalmente dovuto alla qualità del fonorivelatore. Resta comunque certo che un ottimo giradischi e migliore di uno scadente.

[@QoraxAudio]

Nah the SL-1000R is the best turntable ever.

[@andrefortune8278]

Hens teeth

[@stereoniche]

Yes it is, especially with the original box.

[@cnhhnc]

But how much does it weigh? More than a Shxt Brickhouse I hope, lol. Only 38 lbs? Really? (Of course I"m being ironic, as I've always been amused with the Super HiEnd TT boys, lol). TT aficiandos have tables that weigh hundreds of pounds and/or sit on granite slabs that are 2-300 lbs. Then there is that $500,000 German table that looks like you'd need a forklift to move! Atlas shrugged, not because he was a Capitalist Libertarian but because he had to move one of those tables, lol. What would Ayn Rand say, I wonder. Would she embrace the half million dollar table and revel in its free market sound, I wonder. Sorry, I can't help myself. I once spent an afternoon with a guy who had a fabulously expensive TT setup he went on and on about. It sounded fine, but it did NOT sound leaps and bounds better than more modestly priced systems. That said, the Pioneer looks nice and is definitely not in the stratospheric price range. Probably within the reach of most of us. And that is what is GREAT about vintage. Oh, I do have the ever popular and once ubiquitous Pioneer PL-12D with its Shure cart. around here. The VALUE vintage table from them.

[@stereoniche]

LOL, yes, it is a light 38 pounder compared to others. I also have a 70 lb TT which is still in the middle weight class compared to some of those exotic monsters. I once saw one of those exotic turntables setup on a massive steel table, with granite, then an air bladder, then something, something, etc. to prevent ANY vibrations. The table was setup behind the listening room in essentially a large closet with shelves to hold the albums. So you had to run back there, find and play the record, then run out to the front room to listen to it. I had one of the Pioneer PL-12D as well. I used it for some time and even had the box! Eventually, I sold it to someone that wanted to get into vintage.

[@AnthonyToth-t5v]

Don’t make them like this anymore