Kyocera PL-910

Part of the Kyocera 900 Series, the PL-910 was not built by Kyocera but by, yes, of course, as ever, Micro Seiki.

Luxman in 1982 had asked Micro to prototype a super-ultra turntable which finally wasn't produced as CD was then getting pretty close.
The design and engineering of the Luxman X-5P was very close to the Kyocera PL-910 and PL-901 and it is in fact where the latter two come from :)

Built like all first generation Kyoceras on a composite compound that efficiently suppresses most of the vibrations : Ceramic Compound Resin (CCR).
The top platter is full ceramic powder, as used by Audio Technica for its famed AT600 ceramic mat (the best turntable mat ever ?) and Sony for the feet of all of its high-end CD players starting in 1987.

As per Micro's then reversed trend (belt-drive vs. direct drive), the PL-901 (and the Luxman X-5P !) is belt-driven with a sub-platter/platter arrangement. Big shaft, big motor, big power-supply and Star Trek-ish looks which Kyocera indulged into - with success.

The motor in the PL-910 is the same brushless FG servo DC 15V as that in the PL-901, Luxman PD555 or Micro SX-111FV : Matsushita-sourced DAX-10A1PM (rotating at 666 or 900rpm) and DAX-10A1CL rotor.

Gun metal is used for the 26cm / 1,4kg sub-platter ; the ceramic shaft's sleeve, ball bearing (16mm Ø with 0,5µ tolerance) and 30cm ceramic platter are the same as that of the PL-901 : 3,6kg for a 1,72cm thickness.

The PL-910 being the small one, it also has ± 3% pitch controls and even a switchable stroboscope lighting.

At 298,000¥, Kyocera previsibly didn't sell many PL-910 but the production run should nevertheless be of about 150.

Needless to say... I want one.


A real PL-910 here here ; another one here.