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Topic: Pioneer PL-990 - Distorted Sound (Read 10079 times) previous topic - next topic
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Pioneer PL-990 - Distorted Sound

Well, I bought the PL-990 because it was cheap, had good reviews and also was said to cater for the beginners when it comes to record playing. As you've probably gathered I'm not too educated in the world of vinyls. The distorted sound* was being played from the phono cable situated at the back of the player, I plugged it into my Numark M6- 4 channel usb mixer phono input and then had my headphones plugged into the mixer; could this be the reason for the distorted sound? Am I crossing over both an analog signal and a digital signal? There is nothing wrong with the vinyls I was playing apart from the odd spec of dust on the record. Could it be something to do with stylus/needle? MY TOP PRIORITY IS TO PLAY THE RECORDS BOTH FOR LEISURE PURPOSES AND MIXING/DJING!

*the sound is very bassy and crackly, I tried fiddling with the EQ on my mixer to improve the sound but this had no due effect.

Thank you for your interest and help,

Antony

Pioneer PL-990 - Distorted Sound

Reply #1
A quick look at the specs for the turntable mentions something called "Phono EQ" and the ability for the PL-990 to connect to line in.

I assume that the distortion would disappear if you instead use a line-in if you have available connectors there. Another thing to do when you have distorted sound is to check all the cables for bad connectors that can give a distorted signal.

To my knowledge there is no such thing as crossing over an analog and a digital signal. Mixers are very robust in regards to "unwarranted" signal mixing and should not have any effect on distortion as long as it is not defective or has bad switches or pots that can give crackle and bad sound quality when jiggled.

Pioneer PL-990 - Distorted Sound

Reply #2
A quick look at the specs for the turntable mentions something called "Phono EQ" and the ability for the PL-990 to connect to line in.

I'm not familiar with the PL990, but if as audiofiend says it has a line-out facility, then if you connect the PL990's line output into a phono input, then you will get (i) excessive bass and reduced treble; and (ii) lots of distortion due to the line level signal overdriving the phono input.

You can try two things:
1. Use the phono level output on the PL990 into the phono input on your mixer.
2. Feed the PL990's line output into a line level input on the mixer.
Either way should fix the problem - try both to see which phono preamp you prefer the sound of (ie. the one in the PL990 or the one in the mixer).

Pioneer PL-990 - Distorted Sound

Reply #3
Thank you for both your replies, I have managed to fix the problem! I thought the cable coming from the PL-990 was a phono output, but it turned out to be a regular line in cable, so I just plugged it into my mixers line in!!

Pioneer PL-990 - Distorted Sound

Reply #4
Glad to hear your problem got sorted. One afterthough from me is to be careful when you use the player for mixing dj'ing. It seems to be well sorted for just leisurly listening, but when you add the stress of cueing like you would when mixing it might in worst case break the drive mechanism and/or the stylus. If you absolutely MUST use it to DJ you would at least need a slipmat. But as I experienced with an unfortunate mishap on an integrated turntable quite some years ago a Hi-Fi stylus can be fragile. The stylus needle broke right off when backspinning a record to find a cue point.

If you have some kind of hardware controller you can just rip the vinyls you want to use and instead mix in tractor or something similar. But if you are adamant about vinyl DJ'ing I would suggest getting some turntables designed for that purpouse with a large pitch slider and magnetic drive mechanism designed for manual platter manipulation. Technics seems to be the holy grail but you can buy some considerably cheaper ones from other manufacturers for practice and home use since you don't really need the tank-like durability of a Technics outside a club setting.

I personally own 3 KAM turntables and they have served their purpouse well over some years even with the odd transport to a venue. And if I recall correctly I paid less for two discounted new KAM's than a used Technics 1210 or similar would cost.

Pioneer PL-990 - Distorted Sound

Reply #5
@audiofiend

Thank you for all the brilliant advice, for the time being ill probably stick to this player but just not search for cue points etc. In the near future I will take your advice and buy a technic or a KAM as you put it.

Again I can't thank you enough!

Antony