PDX-8000 (Vestax PDX-8000)

Member Name: danball

Product:	Vestax PDX-8000
Date:	09/02/09 (64 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: LED display

Disadvantages: too gimimcky

We all know that Technics turntables are the industry standard. In radio stations, bars, clubs and homes up and down the land Technics are the choice that most people make when selection a turntable. At one point, however, Vestax were challenging Technics to their crown. The PDX-8000 was one of their flagship products and was the one that was a direct threat to the Technics SL1210.

There are a few functions of this turntable that make it stand out from the rest:

1 - The LED display. As far as I am aware, this was one of the first turntables to have an LED display built in. The screen shows you what the current pitch range is (this can be set to -3 to +3, -6 to +6 or -12 to +12), it also displays the current pitch.

2 - Control stick. You can move the control stick to speed up or slow down the speed of the platter temporarily. This is useful if you are mixing two records together and one has become slightly out of synch with the other. I really like this feature and wish more turntables had it to be honest.

3 - Reverse switch. A bit of a gimmick really but one that, if used correctly, sounds great. This allows you to spin the platter in reverse, therefore playing your track backwards. I once heard a DJ play a whole song with this feature switched on (it was an instrumental track) and it souned brilliant. The crowd went nuts.

The one major thing that caused me problems when using this turntable was when setting up the stylus. This is a fiddly thing on any turntable but I found that this one gave me alot more problems than usual. Worth considering for those with chubby fingers like myself.

The PDX-8000 is a well built and solid turntable that works perfectly.

This is an expensive turntable so it's only really worth buying if you think the gimmcky type features will help you. Otherwise I would get one of the more basic models or take a look at the Technics series.

Summary: Good quality turntable that relies on gimmicks too much.

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