Turntable Reviews

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Turntable Reviews
Cambridge Audio’s Alva—A Serious Plug’n’Play Direct Drive Turntable
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 26, 2020  |  15 comments
Cambridge Audio’s $1699 Direct-Drive Alva (named after Thomas Alva Edison) is not the first “plug’n’play turntable, but it’s the first serious, well-engineered one that combines set up ease with high performance, both mechanical and sonic. An added attraction is high resolution Bluetooth SBC [lowest resolution 320 bit MP3]/apt X/apt X HD [up to 24 bit/48kHz Hi-res] functionality that allows wireless connectivity to a Bluetooth loudspeaker or headphones.

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Turntable Reviews
Fluance’s RT85 Turntable Is a High Value Proposition
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 31, 2020  |  16 comments
Canada-based Fluance’s $250 RT81 reviewed here a little over three years ago was a pleasant surprise. It offered reasonably good mechanical and sonic performance as well as useful convenience features and attractive looks. Fluance’s new RT85 Reference turntable doubles the cost to $499.95. Is it twice as good?

It doesn’t take a turntable forensic genius to note that the RT81 is manufactured at the same Taiwanese factory that produced the $1099.99 Thorens TD 402 Direct Drive Semi-Automatic turntable that back in November took a review beating here.

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Turntable Reviews
With the SL-1500C Technics Cuts the Price But Not the Sound Quality
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 01, 2019  |  22 comments
Technics follows up on its successful re-entry into the turntable business (SL-1200 series, SP10R, SL1000R) with the SL1500C, a lower cost ($1199) direct drive turntable that features a version of the sophisticated coreless, single rotor direct drive motor used on its more costly turntables.

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Turntable Reviews
The Thorens TD402 DD Direct Drive Semi-Automatic Turntable
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 20, 2019  |  29 comments
Hermann Thorens founded his company in 1883 to manufacture music boxes in Switzerland. Cylinder-based phonograph manufacturing began around the turn of the century. In 1956 the company introduced the TD-124—the company’s first high performance turntable and one that among collectors is still in demand. The company moved to Germany in 1966 and merged with EMT. The classic TD-125 followed in 1968.

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Turntable Reviews
Pro-Ject’s $899 X1: Best Under $1000 Turntable Package? (updated 10/29/19)
Michael Fremer  |  Oct 24, 2019  |  28 comments
Pro-Ject’s Heinz Lichtenegger is not shy about expressing his contempt for el-cheapo turntables coming from China and elsewhere. He thinks these mediocre-sounding turntables ruin the sonic experience for a young generation getting into vinyl.

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Turntable Reviews
Rega Research’s Less Is Much More Planar 8 (Plus Exclusive Interview)
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 06, 2019  |  44 comments
Call it “P8” or “Planar 8” but do not call this new Rega turntable “RP8”. That was the previous 8. Despite the obvious superficial Rega similarities the new Planar 8 differs greatly from its predecessor.

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Turntable Reviews
Gearbox’s Vinyl “Compact Disc” Player
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 27, 2018  |  14 comments
U.K. based Gearbox, best known for its restored vintage all-tubed Westrex mastering system (Haeco Scully lathe with Westrex RA1700 series amps, Westrex 3DIIA cutting head and Telefunken U73B tube limiter) and eclectic all-analog vinyl record catalog recently entered the hardware business with this cool “compact disc” player it calls “The Gearbox Automatic” though it’s a manual player.

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Tonearm ReviewsTurntable Reviews
Pro-Ject’s New “Juke Box E” System Is A Decent Entry Into Analog (Manufacturer's Response Added)
Malachi Lui  |  Oct 07, 2018  |  7 comments
The all-in-one turntable market has one gargantuan issue looming over it: the Crosley Cruiser. With everything an analog neophyte thinks he or she needs, these $70 “turntables” sell by the boatload, only to seriously damage records after but a few plays with their five grams of tracking force. Why are they so popular then? Because they’re small, inexpensive and the purchaser doesn’t have to think about piecing together an entire system; it’s right in front of them. Even so, it still feels extremely wrong to spend $100 on a vinyl box set and subject it to the evils of a $70 turntable.

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Tonearm ReviewsTurntable Reviews
Oracle Audio Swings For the Middle Deck With the Origine MkII Turntable
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 01, 2018  |  6 comments
Best known for its sexy looking Delphi turntable first introduced in 1979 and currently in its MK VI iteration ($8850), Canada-based Oracle Audio recently updated its lowest priced Origine turntable to MKII status.

The upgraded version includes a new “wall-wart” powered 16V AC synchronous motor (the original was 24V AC—customers with that motor can get a free upgrade, paying for shipping one way) and a new silicon damped cueing mechanism replacing the original’s “direct action” cueing system (which for original Origine owners can be upgraded for $85). It uses a knob rather than a traditional lever, that you turn to raise and lower the arm.

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NewsTurntable Reviews
Updates and Corrections to Recent Technics SL-1000R Preview Story
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 21, 2018  |  37 comments
In the recent story about the week I spent with Technics' new SL-1000R turntable, the difference between what's commonly referred to as an arm's "effective length" and how Technics uses the term in its literature led to some confusion and a series of conceptual errors on my part for which I take full responsibility.

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Turntable Reviews
The EAT B-Sharp Is An Attractive, Well-Performing Plug'n'Play Turntable
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 08, 2018  |  7 comments
The European Audio Team’s entry into the under $2000 turntable market includes for $1595 a factory-installed Ortofon 2M Blue moving magnet phono cartridge that alone costs around $240. Something like the $100 2M Red is more often found packaged at this price point.

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Analog Gear NewsTonearm ReviewsTurntable Reviews
Exclusive: One Week With Technics' New SL-1000R Direct Drive Turntable (See update posted 2/21/18)
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 30, 2018  |  139 comments
Shortly after the conclusion of the 2018 International Consumer Electronics Show, Technics CTO/Chief Engineer Tetsuya (Tony) Itan, Yoshiyuki Sumida, Assistant Manager Technics Team, and Technics Business Development Manager Bill Voss brought over and installed the new Technics SL-1000R turntable and tone arm for a week's stay. While this was a pre-production sample and not suitable for a full review, I thought you would be interested in first impressions that is not a review.

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Analog CornerTurntable Reviews
Analog Corner #60
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 20, 2017  |  First Published: Jul 01, 2000  |  15 comments
A pleasant surprise arrived at my door the other day: the 180gm vinyl edition of Companion, the Patricia Barber album released last year on Premonition/Blue Note. According to the jacket, the six-track set, impeccably recorded live in Chicago last July by Jim Anderson, was mastered from a 24-bit transfer of an analog recording. You can bet the vinyl sounds better than the 16-bit CD—at less than 20 minutes a side, there's plenty of room for the recording's full dynamics.
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Turntable Reviews
The Pro-Ject Classic SB Superpack Turntable: “Brains” and Good Looks Too
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 29, 2017  |  17 comments
It’s doubtful Pro-Ject could have produced a high performance, feature packed, beautiful to look at turntable like the Classic SB Superpack and priced it so reasonably ($1499 including $449 Blue Point No. 2 cartridge) were it not for surging turntable sales and Pro-Ject’s place at the top of the high performance turntable market (“high performance” meaning not counting the plastic mass market cheapies).

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Tonearm ReviewsTurntable Reviews
The Pear Audio Blue Robin Hood SE Turntable and Coronet 1 Tone Arm (Speed Issue Explained)
Michael Fremer  |  Jul 24, 2017  |  19 comments
Editor's note: AnalogPlanet (and Stereophile) policy is to review products as sent to us unless they are broken and/or clearly defective. In this case the speed was "off" but the 'table was neither "broken" nor "defective" so we chose to review "as sent".

The importer wrote to say the unit was sent with "the wrong pulley" and as stated in the review, we allowed for the possibility that the 'table had been previously used for reviews or for some other purpose. However, without trying to sound too harsh, if you're going to send out a product for review, it's important to check out its functioning before shipping and that would include making sure it's running at the right speed.

As the importer points out, the Kid Thomas previously reviewed ran at the correct speed but clearly this one did not and it was what was sent so there was an obligation to review "as sent" just as there was an obligation to ship a properly functioning review sample! I know this might sound "harsh" but I'm always thinking of the consumer who buys and uses without checking speed accuracy and ends up listening at the wrong speed.

AnalogPlanet readers' thoughts on this are most welcome.

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