Pioneer PL-88F

Nicely designed LP turntable from the short-lived "Communication Components" series from which the A-9 remains well remembered.

Not a linear tracker as one might believe but the pivoted tonearm has a direct induction linear motor of its own ; the wand is made of Polymer Graphite, a low-resonance material which Pioneer used extensively and almost everywhere throughout the early 1980s.

The headshell sports two IR sensors to "see" the different tracks and allow programming, indexing, repeating and even synchronizing to the CT-9R cassette recorder.

The drive system is of the Stable Hanging Rotor kind for a gravity center much closer to the platter ; the specifications are identical to those of the PL-L800 - tangential tracking error excepted.

Available later on, briefly, in silver color :
PL-88FS.