So the Pioneer pl l1000 was sold only in Europe and Asia. Since Pioneer had bought Phase Linear it wanted this top of the line turntable sold in North America under this brand and called the Phase Linear 8000. Both the Pioneer Pl l1000 and Phase Linear 8000 upgraded to the “A“ version . It has some sales gimmic but the thing I see is the motor assembly had been down grade to use a cheaper and lighter unit found in the Pioneer pl 8000 and pl 500. as pictured. This supports my feeling 1980 was the top for Pioneer tables.
some also stated their differences as follows
The later PL-L1000A had a carbon fibre arm and was sold in the U.S.A. under the Phase Linear model 8000A.
In actual fact there are some four distinctly differing versions of this turntable. The original Pioneer PL-L1000 which is black, and the nearly-identical Phase Linear 8000 Series 2 which is silver. The next generation was the black Pioneer PL-L1000A and the nearly-identical silver Phase Linear 8000A. There are several differences between the original and next-generation 'A' models. The original 1000/8000 models had a 'jog dial' which you spun around either left or right to cue the tonearm above the record. The later 1000A/8000A models have a rocker-type switch that you press to the left or right to cue the tonearm. The motor and platter assemblies are a bit different between the 2 models also. The original versions had a heavier-looking motor assembly and larger main circuit board, which look smaller and a bit cheaper in the 1000A/8000A models, although they are supposed to perform to the same specs.
Pioneer did not offer the PL-L1000 for sale in the US so most of the PL-L1000's that have shown up in the U.S.A. were brought back by servicemen stationed overseas."
here is a review and note what the summary has to say
to
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here is the more robust motor
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here is the light weight a motor as used in othe models
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