Vintage

Pioneer's Hall effect direct-drive motor gets the heavyweight platter (with a claimed inertial mass of 330kg/cm2) up to speed within 2secs but this high-torque drive has its drawbacks. Specifically, the motor is 'nested' within the PL-600's four-point sprung suspension and appears to precipitate a very low frequency oscillation in the horizontal plane where the 'rubber sleeve' damping is not entirely effective. This is realised in what looks like [see Graph 1, below] the low-rate drift more commonly associated with sub-optimal belt-driven DC motor solutions. A discrete ±5Hz wow is also visible on this W&F plot, contributing to a cumulative peak-wtd total of ~0.1%. Otherwise, the PL-600 has much to recommend it, not least because of its freedom from transmitted motor noise. The 'through bearing' figure of –70.2dB (20Hz-20kHz, DIN-B wtd) is improved still further by the supplied rubber mat, bringing the through-groove rumble down to a very respectable –72.8dB. The unweighted spectrum (not shown) is free of any >20Hz cogging artifacts while hum and noise is as low as anticipated at –60dBV.

The partnering S-shaped tonearm has an effective length of 237mm and an effective mass of ~13g with the standard headshell. The arm incorporates an automated lift/lower mechanism that may be responsible for some of the higher (midrange) resonances observed on the CSD waterfall [see Graph 2, below]. Otherwise the main resonance – likely a combination of bending and twisting modes – is typically broad but deferred to a usefully high 130Hz. Lateral friction/stiction was fractionally higher than we normally observe with new tonearms at ~80mg but this should not prove problematic. PM