ELAC PC-870 Belt drive Turntable

Pricing & History

Sold for
Start Free Trial or Sign In to see what it's worth.
Sold Date
Source eBay

ELAC PC-870 TURNTABLE SHURE CARTRIDGE NEEDS STYLUS The Equiptment: ELAC PC-870, a two-speed (33 and 45 rpm) turntable with integral arm, supplied with wooden base and hinged dust cover. Dimensions: 18 1/2 by 14 1/3 inches; 6 1/4 inches high with cover closed, 17 1/8 inches fully open. Claiming the longest effective length of any integrated turntable on the market, the Elac PC-870 tops the lone of this well-respected German manufacturer. It is a two-speed model using a combination belt and rim drive and purportedly encompassing the best features of each. This ingenious belt-drive-plus design manages to provide constant-speed AC motor. A narrow rubber idler engages the motor shaft and rotates a pulley that is then belt-coupled to an inner rim of the platter. Raising or lowering the idler so that it contacts the appropriate section of the motor shaft determines the speed; a slight taper in each of these two sections permits the fine tuning---simply, elegantly, and effectively.This is a fully automatic single-disc player. On start up the arm positions itself automatically in the lead-in groove of a 12-inch disc (at 33 rpm) or that of a 7-inch disc (at 45). You can adjust the set-down point at the arm pivot. The PC-870 continues to repeat the record side until you press the stop bar, at which time the arm returns to rest and the system shuts off. Actuating the cue lever raises and lowers the tone arm in a fairly rapid but well-damped manner; the arm returns one to two grooves early. You also can adjust the cue height to accommodate a variety of cartridges.The arm is a straight, low-mass tubular design with an offset, removable head shell. Mounting the cartridge and adjusting it for overhang is quite simple. The mounting screws slip through slots in the head shell so that the pickup can be slid back and forth to set the stylus position. With the tone arm locked in its rest, the optimum stylus position in indicated by a conical gauge that pulls up out of the turntable base. Move the cartridge in its slotted mount until the stylus lines up with the tip of the gauge, tighten, and this critical adjustment is complete.The arm mounts in ball-bearing raceways whose pivot friction is negligible. A two-section counterweight balances the system: The main counterweight clicks into a detent, while a second section slides over the first to provide fine adjustment. Achievement if balance is problem-free, if not quite as easy as on tone arms with screw-type counterweights.The stylus force gauge, calibrated from 0 to 3 grams in 1/4-gram increments, is quite accurate, the measured force being 0.1 gram higher than indicated. Two sets of calibrations are included in the anti skating control-- one for spherical styli, the other from elliptical and CD-4 styli. With a Shure V-15 Type III cartridge, the tonearm resonance is fairly well situated at 7 Hz and very well damped, exhibiting only a 1-dB rise. With this combination the PC-870 should be above average to track warped records. One set for 120 volts in the line current, the platter speed remains exact for either 33 or 45 rpm at 105 and 120 volts, though changing from one speed to the other does require a touch up with the vernier. The well illuminated hole pattern on the outer flange of the platter conveniently acts as a strobe. The vernier range is fully adequate; about a semitone is provided: -1.7% to +3.8% at 33, -1.8% to +5.0% at 45 in the labs sample. The maximum weighted peak flutter is exceptionally good at +0.06% with the average readings lower than that (+0.04%). Rumble, at -58 1/2 dB using the Arll weighting, is passable.The PC-870 proves that it is indeed possible to attain excellent speed stability and low flutter without resorting to a direct drive system; That is, with engineering as imaginative as ELAC's read more

Items in the Price Guide are obtained exclusively from licensors and partners solely for our members’ research needs.

Flag item for content or copyright

If this item contains incorrect or inappropriate information please contact us here to flag it for review.

If you are the originator/copyright holder of this photo/item and would prefer it be excluded from our community, contact us here for removal.