IF ALL $200 TURNTABLES HAVE THE SAME SPECS, HOW CAME THE PL-400 SOUNDS BETTER?

INTRODUCING THE NEW PIONEER PL-400.

----PIONEER'S COAXIAL SUSPENSION SYSTEM. IT VIRTUALLY ELIMINATES VIBRATION AND RUMBLE.

THE PIONEER QUARTZ PHASE LOCK LOOP SYSTEM. BY AUTOMATIC MONITORING, ROTATIONAL SPEED IS KEPT CONSTANT TO REDUCE WOW AND FLUTTER.

THE PIONEER COMPUTER-DESIGNED HOWL-PROOF ENCASEMENT BY SL MMING DOWN THE SIZE, WE SLIMMED DOWN ACOUSTIC RESONANCE.

PIONEER'S BEST-SOUNDING REASON OF ALL: THE PRICE. UNDER $200.

Today, most turntables in the same price range look practically the same on paper. But they don't sound at all alike in your home.

Because equal specs don't necessarily mean equal sound. In fact, specs are just a measure of the distortion caused by your turntable itself. They tell nothing about how your machine pre vents distortion caused by your environment.

Pioneer's new PL-400 turntable was designed to also keep external interference from coming between you and great sound.

Much of the success of our new PL-400 turntable revolves around our all new "Stable Hanging Rotor" The world's thinnest direct drive motor.

Unlike more massive conventional motors, the motor in the PL-400 is so thin, it allows the center of gravity to be at the pivot point of the rotating mechanism. So instead of the platter wobbling like a top, the platter on the PL-400 acts like a gyroscope to stabilize itself.

Although this technology is very difficult to understand, the result of it is very easily appreciated. You no longer are bothered by distortion caused by stylus mistracking or speed deviations. So you get just what's on your record. Nothing added to it. And nothing taken away.

But this super thin motor does more than eliminate distortion. It also eliminates any space wasting elements used in conventional motors. And because it's SO much thinner than any other motor, the cabinet around the PL-400 is also a lot thinner. This 20% reduction in cabinet size means the PL-400 is 20% less likely to suffer from acoustic distortion.

Many turntables in this price range are direct drive. Some of them offer DC motors. Some of them have servo motors aimed at eliminating drift caused by changes in temperature. But even the best of them just seem to reduce drift instead of eliminate it.

The Pioneer PL-400, on the other hand, has a Quartz PLL servo system that keeps rotational speed at a constant. And keeps the PL-400 unaffected by temperature changes, voltage fluctuations and other powerline anomalies.

These features work to keep the PL-400 sounding like a much more expensive turntable. But without our specially designed Coaxial Suspension system, they wouldn't be nearly as effective.

This free-floating suspension system isolates the platter and tonearm from the rest of the turntable. So even if base vibrates, the platter and tonearm don't.

This means you can shake, rattle and roll a lot more with a lot less worry that your turntable is doing the same thing.

Even the tonearm of the PL-400 is designed to give you better sound. Its new "Mass Concentrated" design improves cross-modulation distortion and tracking accuracy. So you get more sound clarity and better channel separation.

All these features on a turntable the price of the PL-400 is unheard of. But Pioneer didn't stop there. The PL-400 also has full automatic controls. Including automatic lead-in, viscous damped cueing, automatic return, and automatic repeat. An easy to read one-stripe strobe that confirms platter speed accuracy. A quick start mechanism that starts the platter revolving as soon as the tonearm begins to move. And more.

So if you want to buy a $200 turn table and are just interested in great specs, there are any number you can buy. But if you're interested in a $200 turntable that will give you great sound, there's only one.

The Pioneer PL-400.

PIONEER---We bring it back alive ©1979 US. Pioneer Electronics Corp.

(adapted from Audio magazine, Jul. 1980)

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Also see:

Pioneer PL-630 direct-drive turntable (ad, Dec. 1979)

Pioneer SL-518 direct-drive turntable technology (ad, Jan. 1979)

Pioneer Model 510A Direct-Drive Manual Turntable (Equip. Profile, Aug. 1977)