Skip to main content

Pioneer PL-A35 Turntable

This is a very retro looking turntable by Pioneer.  It was made during the early to mid 70s and really well made too.  It has a beautiful real wood veneer plinth, a smoked dust cover with a handle at the front (classy!) and suspended platform.  It has a nice sized motor, good platter weight and a pretty neat looking tone arm.  It's not your typical S-shaped arm but rather a J-shaped tone arm.

It's a 2-speed, belt-drive and fully automatic turntable with repeat.  It also features the lead in option for 7, 10 and 12 inch records.  It's completely serviced and comes with a brand new belt and a new Shure M75 Type 2 stylus from Jico Japan.  The cartridge is a Realistic R47EDT, which was a re-badged version.  Plays great, tracks great and looks great.  It's a very sharp looking turntable.

Because it's a Shure there are plenty of replacement stylus out there, beware of low quality ones, in case the stylus breaks.  As well, from Jico they have their SAS stylus which brings the cartridge to a whole new level.  I have 3 Shures with SAS styli and they sound great!

One minor quibble, the tone arm rest has no clamp or clasp of any kind.  I looked at several pictures online and all of them are the same, none have the clamp.  I checked and read through the manuals and nothing is mentioned about it either.  Really weird, but not a deal breaker by any means.  We got something to help secure it!

This table does prefer a nice and stable platform due to suspended platform.  Actually, all turntables prefer a stable platform.

Overall, it's in great shape, however, there is a stress mark near one of the hinges.

Nonetheless, this table is ready to go to a new and loving home!


Popular posts from this blog

Micro Seiki MR-622 Turntable

This is one of my greatest prize possessions, well for turntables.  The Micro Seiki MR-622 is a fabulous turntable, and definitely has been one of my favourite tables that I had the pleasure of owning. Everything about this turntable screams quality.  Even the 45rpm adapter seemed to be milled aluminum.  It has adjustable feet, a side pocket for accessories , a nice heavy die cast platter and even the top part of the plinth is cast.  All wrapped in a beautiful smoked dustcover and real wood sides. The Micro Seiki MR-622 is a fully manual, 2-speed, direct drive turntable.  This means, it's low maintenance and high reliability as there is less moving parts within the turntable.  It's just a huge motor, speed controls and Micro Seiki MA-202 tone arm, placed in a overly built plinth just like what one would expect from Micro Seiki. The MA-202 tone arm is a S-shaped tone arm with excellent tracking ability.  It has an adjustable counterweight and the...

Sanyo TP-1020 Turntable

That's right, I got myself a Sanyo! It's actually not a bad unit when you start stripping it down. I know, the overall black motif isn't awe-inspiring but, it is quite the performer. It's definitely better built than some other turntable I've come across. The motor, especially, is quite good. So, what can I say about this Sanyo? Well, it's definitely a CEC built table. Apparently, it as a twin called the Grundig PS-1020, tonearm looks different but, probably performs the same. It's your typical Japanese made direct drive turntable, 2-speed, pitch control and automatic return/reject (semi-automatic). It was a quite easy to work, everything was laid out nicely and everything was within reach to get too. Definitely better built than some of the Japanese turntables of the late 70s and into the 80s. I think one of the more common features with the Sanyo is the mirror at the base of the platter. It's an inspection mirror for the needle and I like it! I f...

C.E.C. BD-6000 Turntable

Finally!  A 100% badged C.E.C. turntable!  What does C.E.C. mean?  It means Chou Denki Company, Denki is the Japanese word for "Electric."  Just a play on words and translations.  Not to mention they still exist today and still make audio equipment!  http://www.cec-web.co.jp/ C.E.C. was also an OEM company for many several different Japanese companies, like Hitachi, Marantz, Radio Shack, Taya, Sanyo, and many others.  The tonearm has a striking resemblance to the tonearm on the Marantz 6300 that many go gaga after! That's right this is a fabulous table and super nice looking too!  I really enjoy the plateau look in the dark wood finish, I'm guessing maybe mahogany as it was dirt cheap back in the 70s.  This table was made between the early 70s to mid 70s as it's a pure manual belt drive turntable. This is simplicity at it's best!  Good size motor (pretty beefy), beautiful looking plinth, pure manual and an excellent tonearm.  ...