Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I did quite a bit of research into turntables before buying this model. This unit seemed relatively solidly constructed, and had a handsome appearance. I was a bit put off at the prospect of spending $500-$1000 on a new turntable and wasn't sure if all that fuss was really necessary.
The turntable only takes a few minutes to set up, and comes with a mediocre pre-mounted moving magnet cartridge.
After set up, I switched on the built in phono amp and connected the unit directly to my receiver. The sound was not bad, but was also not exactly what I had expected. Surface noise was relatively high, bass and low mids were muddy and broke up a bit, and highs sounded a bit rolled off. I then hooked the turntable up to my backup 20-year old Onkyo receiver in my office with a built in phono preamp, and I noticed an improvement in sound quality. However, I was still not happy with the overall sound of the unit, it was lacking in overall detail. I thought that the cartridge might be a bit lame, so I picked up an audio technica 440mla and installed it.
Following installation and alignment of the 440mla, which has a significantly higher output voltage than the stock cartridge, I noticed an immediate improvement in quality - but I also noticed a distinct background hum that increased as the needle progressed through the record. Further investigation revealed that the motor or power supply, located within the turntable, was not well shielded, and the cartridge was picking up fairly significant electromagnetic field interference. I did not want to go through opening up the table to try and fix the problem by installing ground wires or shielding transformers. I reinstalled the old cartridge, and realized that the hum was still present, but I had written it off as surface or background noise associated with an inferior cartridge. This was a deal-breaker for me. It had to go back.
Another important point was that I noticed that the platter was not very well isolated. Any small knock or tap on the table was painfully audible. I could see how this would cause problems at moderate volume levels.
If you're looking for a nice looking turntable with mediocre sound that seems to be well constructed, then I think that this might be for you. It is more robustly constructed than the cheaper units. If you're top concern is sound quality, I'm afraid that you might want to save at least a few hundred additional dollars and look into a more serious unit. Mine is on its way back, and the refund will be used for that purpose.
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