Skip to main content

Sony PS-1700 Turntable

This has had to be one of the cleanest turntable I've ever serviced.  It looked as if it was well cared for and the interior e.g. guts were really clean.  I was very impressed and happy that I didn't need to take out the gloves!

Sony made good turntable, excellent turntables and awful turntables.  I would have to say the PS-1700 is your typical, average (which means good) turntable.  Considering the design I will assuming it's from the mid to late 70s.  Aesthetically, it is very appealing, very retro looking.  So, I am sure it will not last long.

Overall, it's a well made turntable as are any Sony turntables of that era.  The dust cover is one of the nicer design I've seen and usually Sony puts a nice effort in having some really sleek dustcover designs.  For example, on the PS-1700 the dustcover is curved in the front.  As well, the two tone colour, the wood vinyl plinth with the grey top.  It is a very sharp table as well for those who are looking for the retro design.

For build quality, it's pretty good, nice sized motor and fancy platter mat to absorb vibrations.  This turntable is in excellent shape.  Servicing was pretty easy, had to do quite a bit to it but, it all went smoothly.  It has a new belt, a Shure M75ED (Realistic R1000EDT) with a new stylus and a brand new headshell. 

It is a 2-speed, belt drive, semi-automatic turntable for those who like the arm to come back at the end.  Apparently, there isn't a lot of additional information out there but, there's a lot of pictures!  But, we have some of our own.




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...

ADS L690 Tower Speakers

Yep, tower speakers or rather they have their own "built in" speaker stands.  They are essentially the tower speakers of the ever popular ADS L570 bookshelf speakers.  They are a two way featuring an 8" woofer with rubber surrounds and 0.75" soft dome (sticky) tweeter.  All wrapped in real oak veneer cabinet.  They also had a metal grill which looks awful in the picture but a lot better in person.  Maybe it's time to get a better lens to take better pictures of "black grills!" I don't know the ADS and Braun connection but these are all Braun drivers.  Braun is a German company which still exist, for those who have Braun electric shavers.  However, these were built in the USA.  These are great drivers.  If you're not familiar with German made speakers or how they sound they're quite distinctive.  I've had heard several German speakers like Canton, Braun, Magnat, Isophon, RFT, etc. and they all have similar characteristics in their pr...