Review Details

RT85 Reference High Fidelity Vinyl Turntable

Product Rating:

Product Review (submitted on April 25, 2022):

I gave 4 stars because this review won't let me give 4.5. The turntable is almost perfect but not quite. I'm doing this review because I hope the Fluance people are reading and want to improve their product. The Fluance line of turntables is excellent and just a few details could put them head and shoulders above the rest. I also think that many reviews focus on the sound of a turntable but the real job of a turntable is to provide a blank slate for the phono cartridge to do it's job and a review of the sound is really a review of the cartridge. Years ago when you bought a new turntable the cartridge was purchased separately. I have bought and replaced many cartridges in my time and they are all very different in sound and configuration. I will try to focus on the turntable itself.
I bought a new Fluance RT85 turntable to replace my trusty Dual 1229Q bought new in 1975. Don't get me wrong I've owned many turntables over the years but the Dual was that tank that was all metal and made in Germany. There just isn't anything like it but even though I thought it would be my lifetime turntable it broke and I was told it was irrepairable because no parts are available. I was drawn to the fluance because of it's feature of stopping at the end of the record. I searched high and low for a decent automatic turntable but it seems that if you want a fully automatic turntable you must compromise on quality. I purchased the fluance RT85 thinking I would just have to live with the compromise of a basically manual turntable. After using it for about a month I don't really feel like it's a compromise at all. If fact I've come to like this turntable very much and don't miss my old turntable as much as I thought I would.
I will start with the pros.
1. This turntable is very nice to look at. Whatever finish you choose (I chose bamboo) it looks well made, almost like a piece of furniture. And that polycarbonate platter really makes it look high tech. Your friends will notice and your wife won't complain about it's presense in the living room.
2. The servo motor. Constant accurate speed. Enough said.
3. The aforementioned mechanism to stop the turntable at the end of the record. It isn't perfect in it's operation but it's nice to have something to stop things when you can't get back to it in a timely manner. While I wouldn't consider this a semi-automatic turntable because the tonearm isn't lifted and I would prefer that things were fully automatic this is much better than fully manual.
4. The mass. Finally a substantial turntable. That heft adds to the quality feel and doesn't hurt the sound isolation either. The platter on my Dual was a 9 pound machined piece of aluminum.
5.The silence. One of the first things I noticed was how quiet things were when I played a record. Between tracks is just slience (except for the occasional snap crackle pop, but that is the record's fault). I've been listening to records for many years and this really stood out to me. Who knew that a 50 year old record could sound so quiet.
6. The tonearm pivot. The specifications say that the tonearm pivot has actual ball bearings for low friction. One thing I've noticed about turntables with lesser tonearm mechanisms is that the don't track well and this causes distortion, especially close to the center of the record. No audible distortion here.
7. No phono stage. I know many think this is a con but the simple fact is that most phono stages these days aren't very good and buying you own or using the one in your amplifier is far superior to any that might come with a turntable. I think a lot of people don't realize just how important the phono stage is. It's usually called a preamp but it does much more. The recording on the record is compressed and must be restored using the RIAA equalization curve. Most modern phono stages fail to do this well so choose wisely. I use a Shitt Mani. That clear signal path fluance lists as a feature is indeed so.
8. The pointy rubber feet. How nice to have such substantial feet that are adjustable. The turntable stays planted and level. I threw away all the little pieces of cardboard I used to level my old turntable.
9. The packaging. OK I realize that the box it came in might seem like the least important thing here but I do appreciate that someone spent a good deal of time thinking about how to package things. All came undamaged, was easy to remove from the box, and the turntable assembled quickly and easily. My cat also appreciated the box once I was done.

Now for the cons (warning: nitpicking to follow).
1. What is up with that cueing mechanism? First of all the cueing lever is the same color of black as the rest of the tonearm base and becomes virtually invisible and difficult to find when you need it, especially when the lights are low. Second, lifting the cue lever barely lifts the tonearm off of it's perch and the tonearm doesn't rise until moved toward the platter. At this point the arm is so high that it's difficult to determine weather it's over the lead in groove or not. This often results in missing the record lead in groove. If the tonearm would rise to it's height when the lever is lifted it would be easy to judge how height to lift the tonearm before moving it over to the platter. Or the cueing height could be adjustable like many I've used in the past.
2. Plastic back panel. The panel in the back that holds all the connections seems thin and flexes quite a bit. When attaching the cables and the power connection I was concerned that I would break it. Also the power plug lacked that positive click to let you know that it is in place. Perhaps thicker plastic and slightly more premium connectors would bring this up to the standard of the rest of the plinth.
3. The tonearm. The tonearm works well and seems to be of good quality but definitely doesn't look as premium as the plinth. Being S shaped, with a headshell much like many lesser turntables, and painted black it looks like a generic Japanese tonearm. It's obvious that this setup is not low mass (however I played a very warped record with no issue proving that it's not high mass) and is perhaps a cost saving measure. Even a headshell of a different color or maybe carbon fiber would potentially help this look and function.
4. The tiny coarsely marked anti-skate wheel. Now I realize that fluance isn't the only manufacturer to have this but it doesn't make sense to me. When I set the anti-skate I would like to know that I am setting it to correctly match the tracking force and when the anti-skate wheel is so small I can hardly read it and the markings are .2 grams apart with no numbers this can be frustrating. I know I keep going back to my old turntables but they generally had larger wheels with precision markings and sometimes with scales for both elliptical and cd4 styli.
5. The cartridge. Everybody seems to think that the Ortofon 2m blue is a great cartridge and the price (if purchased outright) certainly would seem to reflect it's desirability and while I do think it sounds good it doesn't blow me away and a tracking force of 1.8 grams seems excessive. I'm used to my old shure cartridges that tracked at 1.25 grams. Too bad they went out of business. It would be nice if Fluance offered the option of purchasing the turntable without a cartridge at a reduced price so the end user could use one they already posses or purchase one of their choice.

Other thoughts
1. The motor cover plate. The plate that covers the motor seems to be an after thought. I've seen several unboxings on utube where the person assembling the turntable didn't put the plate on before installing the belt on the motor and then wondering why there were two 45 adapters. It should be fastened with screws or snapped on, perhaps at the factory. I have a picture in my mind of the engineer at the factory seeing the first turntables rolling off the line and thinking the motor needed a plate and when it was too late to install it decided to put it in the box for the end user to install.
2. It sure would be nice to see a fully automatic or semi-automatic turntable. Perhaps it's already in the works.

Finally if your on the fence about purchasing go ahead and buy. You won't be disappointed.