Dilshan R Jayakody’s Web Log

I recently had the opportunity to work on another Pioneer PL-250 turntable. The previous owner was having an issue with the platter moving back and forth without continuously rotating, which can be a frustrating problem to deal with.  After a quick inspection, I found that the issue was caused by some faulty electrolytic capacitors (3 × 470µF) near PA2005 and a bad bridge rectifier. These components were preventing the platter from spinning smoothly in the right direction. Fortunately, I had the necessary replacement parts on hand, so I quickly swapped out the bad components. Once the new capacitors and rectifier were in place, I gave the turntable a full service to ensure that everything was working as it should. After completing the repairs and maintenance, I tested the turntable and was pleased to see that it was now spinning smoothly and continuously in the correct direction.

Pioneer PL-250 is direct drive auto-return turntable with the s-shaped tonearm. This turntable is manufactured by Pioneer in around 1979 - 1982. The PL-250 which we got had many electronic and mechanical issues. The main electronic problem in this unit is it's varying speed. The speed controller of this turntable is based on PA2004 and PA2005 ICs. After checking each an every electronic component in speed controller PCB, we figure out that the problem is in the " Pitch Control " potentiometer (VR1) of this unit. After replacing VR1 with 5K (log) potentiometer, the speed problem got resolved and the motor starts to spin with correct speed(s). Servo motor and speed control assembly of Pioneer PL-250 turntable. The turntable which we got comes with original Pioneer cartridge with "broken" stylus. We test several cartridges with this player including cheap US $ 3.00 cartridges (which are available on eBay), Audio Technica AT-91 and Audio Technica AT-95E ...