Pioneer PL-530

The Pioneer PL-530 was offered from about 1976-1978. It was also known as the PL-A500s in Japan and the PL-530x in the U.S. which had a dark gray/black plinth as opposed to the wood plinth on the regular PL-530. It utilizes a DC brushless Hall direct drive motor and a separate motor for the tonearm as well. It’s two speed fully automatic. It’s probably considered a mid range turntable due to the fact that when it was issued in 1976 there were two other Pioneer turntables above it in price and quality. The PL-570 which was a automatic quartz model and the PL-550 which was a manual quartz model.

Still, the Pioneer PL-530 is a reliable, good looking turntable. One weakness is its plastic tonearm base which does have a tendency to crack over time. The PL-530 is pretty common and can be purchased relatively cheaply. It will generally sell from $450 for an average unit to over $1100 for a restored unit. The unit pictured above has a custom dustcover as opposed to the original slightly lower dust cover.