Review Details

RT81 Elite High Fidelity Vinyl Turntable

Product Rating:

Product Review (submitted on June 9, 2018):

If you’re like me you are likely considering the purchase of your first turntable or at least your first turntable in a long while. If you’re also like me you might be paralyzed by all the choices information and reviews out there. So I bought this one and this is why.

I am not an “audiophile” but I like everyone want something that’s going to sound good and more importantly work as it should. Since this is my first purchase I wanted to keep it reasonably priced so I was targeting the $300-400 range. That left me with a few options to compare the AT-LP120 the U-Turn Orbit and the Music Hall 1.3. In my research people who want to listen to records and not DJ choose a belt drive. The direct drive is said to pass along a “rumble” that can be heard. However I really was intrigued by the ability to control the speed or pitch of the AT-LP120. But the things that ruled it out for me were the fixed RCA cables and the fact that you can’t really bypass the internal pre-amp (if you choose to upgrade).
As much as I wanted to buy the American made U-Turn Orbit I was turned off by the fact that the tonearm does not have a detachable head and the counterweight seemed like a really cut corner. It’s delicate enough to balance the tonearm using a threaded weight. I seemed like a real pain to do it with the set-screw method that they use. Also the dust cover is not really hinged it is attached by plastic pieces that bend in the middle. I just thought that would really annoy me. They say their AC motor will always spin at the correct rate but there is no adjustment available. I did like the fact you can choose your cartridge but didn’t like that you have to pay $40 to get a lever that lowers the tonearm. That seems like it should be standard on any decent turntable.

I visited a dealer to inspect the Music Hall turntables. Of all of these I think the Music Hall are probably the most well made. However to get the model that allows you to adjust the speed you have to spend $400 which was really more than I wanted to. Otherwise I would say give them a long look.

The only thing that kept me from buying the Fluance right away was the reviews complaining of inconsistent playback speed. This is something that would bother me greatly. I have owned the unit for 30 days now listened to multiple records daily and have not experienced this. I bought the unit direct from Fluance so that I could get free return shipping within the first 30 days. I called to ask a few questions and they even gave me a discount code to use which knocked the price down a bit.

So I love this turntable. You can tell it is very well thought out. First I love the design. It looks beautiful and is reminiscent of the 70’s turntables. I like that the dust cover is tinted and the hinges hold it up effortlessly. There are rubber feet that dampen vibrations. It has an S-shaped tonearm (which may or may not affect playback) and the threaded counterweight and anti-skate were solid. It comes with a descent cartridge and has a detachable head. The thick rubber mat is nice and frankly the only thing that feels cheap is the plastic 45 RPM adapter. Some reviewers complained about the quality of the internal pre-amp and let’s face it the included RCA cables are cheap.

How does it sound? There are too many variables to answer that question. The answer largely depends on everything else your turntable plugs into. I have a small space and am using this with a pair of Edifier R17000BT bookshelf speakers (from Amazon). At first some rock songs sounded muddled during the loudest parts but others were great. I bought a Behringer PP400 external pre-amp and some KabelDirekt RCA cables (also from Amazon). I do think this improved the sound and overall performance of the turntable. In the end I am happy with my purchase. I was able to buy a turntable speakers pre-amp and cables for a little more than the Music Hall turntable alone. The experience and enjoyment I get out of hunting for old records and sitting down to listen to them with my wife and kids is well worth the endeavor. - Verified Store