Review Details
RT85 Reference High Fidelity Vinyl Turntable
Product Rating:
| Overall Performance |
Product Review (submitted on March 24, 2022):
What do multi-decade audio enthusiasts like me use to benchmark the RT-85? Decades ago I bought a complete high end Bang & Olufsen system and became immersed in the fidelity and stage presence of the music.
Like many others, I eventually ditched turntables in favor of CDs and, in turn, in favor of streaming. I recently decided to return to the vinyl world, and had in my mind some remembered greatness of the B&O Beogram turntables. So with a faulty (and subjective) memory, how does the RT-85 stand up?
To my ears, this is a great sounding turntable out of the box. It is helping me to rediscover the magic of a plastic spinning thingy wiggling a needle and making sound.
I am running with an 85-watt-per-channel Yamaha A-S500 and a pair of Vandersteen Series One tower speakers. The sound is superb with really good channel separation. The Ortofon seems like it has a bright sound but I am using the Bass/Treble/Loudness controls on the receiver to adjust the sound to my liking.
My only complaint about the RT-85 is that the auto-stop feature DOES NOT WORK. I have run through about 40 albums and none of them engage the auto-stop feature that Fluance advertises. This is a common complaint and it perplexes me that engineering can't seem to make what would appear to be a very minor adjustment to their mechanism.
Overall, I give this turntable a 4.672 rating (I am deducting for the auto-stop failure).
One other item to mention: when I initially set up the turntable it would not rotate. Turns out the motor cover was rubbing on the motor shaft despite my proper installation. At some point in the future I may take my dremel tool and enlarge the center hole, but for now I am using the turntable without the defective cover installed.