Pioneer PL990 Fully Automatic Turntable

I bought this turntable for my birthday after getting my hands on an uncommon record that I was really excited to hear. After reading various reviews for two days, I decided it was worth the extra money to go with the Pioneer over the Sony PSLX250H. This model *has pitch control* unlike the Sony models. The stylus is cheap to replace, but the cartridge isn't replaceable. Sound quality was good, but not great. I'm no audio expert, and even on my cheap speakers it sounded flat. As a comparison I had a friend bring his Stanton over to play the same record. His sounded noticeably crisper and clearer. The other major problem is that if the record is a little bigger than most or not quite a circle then it probably won't play. This may sound confusing, but it's the truth. The back end around the platter is raised, and the tonearm holder is placed directly next to the platter. Non-perfectly circular records tend to hang and rub on the raised backend, the tonearm holder, or both. After ownin... Read more

I own a high end Technics turntable (which I still have hooked up to another receiver) so I could compare. While the build quality of the Pioneer is no where near the Technics, the sound quality is impressively close. I swapped the rubber mat with the Technics (which is twice as thick) to help cut back on needle weight to the album. Now the true test recording, the first song I tried was Bob Seger's, Night Moves because it contains some quiet parts (I wanted to see if the Pioneer would output any additional noise). I used Roxio's recording software and told it to detect and clip any spots without sound. The Pioneer passed with flying colors. It detected both quiet spots !!! I didn't think it would. Final thought: While the sound quality doesn't match that of high end big buck turntables, for the money and casual listener/recorder (cause after you record a song with the software out these days, you can make it sound how ever you like). I'd have to give it 2 thumbs up.

Needed to replace my Pioneer PLA-25 turntable from 1972 to play my vinyl. This turntable works very well for low price and a lot of plastic. It is fully auto with a dampened dust cover and a metal turntable with rubber mat. Be forewarned that RC wires to A/V are short and you may need to have to add extensions. The preamp cannot be turned off either. It sounds great and I should be able to replace the needle for under 10 dollars. Has a speed adjust but have not had to use it. Very happy with it.

advertised as fully automatic and is not fully automatic. does not repeat automaticlly to play record over and over. does not play more than one 45 record at a time there for you have to do it manually. so advertising it as fully automatic is a false advertisment. player ok if you have nothing better to do to change 45 records every 3 min.

I was on the fence between this and a more expensive, manual audio technica turntable. I went with this one since it was automatic and less expensive. The second I played some new LP's I ordered, I could tell the sound was very flat and dull. I am no audiophile, but I am picky about how things sound. I figured it would at-least come close to listening to an .mp3, but it was far from it. I wanted to start a collection of my favorite CD albums on vinyl and have a half decent turntable to listen to them, but this turntable disappointed me. I dont know what I was expecting, but I thought it would sound as good as if I were listening to it on my computer. I enjoy the idea of listening to an album the whole way through and not being able to skip songs, but its annoying when the sound isnt very rich. I have returned it and I am ordering the better audio technica, hoping it delivers better on the sound. Its a good player if you just want to hear your LP's, but dont expect it to deliver good or... Read more