Fluance RT80 Classic High Fidelity Vinyl Turntable Record Player with Audio Technica AT91 Cartridge, Belt Drive, Built-in Preamp, Adjustable Counterweight, Solid Wood Plinth - Piano Black

I hardly ever write Amazon reviews but I am so thrilled with this, I just had to. I’ve had the same cheap record player for 20 years and now that my collection has grown and I have records that are valuable and don’t want them getting damaged over time. I did a month of research, originally bought a Sony LP LX310BT which just didn’t work at all, then an Audio Technica AT-LP60XBT and both were just made of cheap plastic and didn’t really seem like a true upgrade. I returned both after discovering this option which was actually less expensive than both aforementioned models and is of far superior quality. It’s sleek, sexy, and sounds amazing. The setup was a breeze - instructions were clear and packaging was well thought out. Running it through a Sony receiver and Sansui vintage passive speakers and I’m thrilled with it. Going to add a higher quality pre-amp and see how that improves the sound as typically built in pre-amps are pretty low quality. My ONLY complaint is that the RCA cable provided is very short so you better have your receiver right next to your turntable, although the attached ground wire is a huge plus.

I've got a bit of a story to tell about this record player, but for those needing a quick "is this any good?" the answer is "Oh yes, this record player is great." So my parents had been holding onto all these old vinyl records from the 60's, 70's, and 80's. Mostly Beatles and Elton John LPs, and a handful of other stuff, as well as a few 45s. Also, they had a little Sony stereo that had L/R channel RCA input, so all they were missing was a turntable. I spent some time (almost 6 months) searching for the best turntable in my price range (~$200 to ~$300) that had stereo RCA output, a clam shell cover, and multiple speed settings. I discovered a lot of trash, and learned to avoid Bluetooth, integrated speakers, portable record players, and other unnecessary gimmicks. However, removing those aforementioned gimmicks left me with record players as expensive as $1000 or more, so i cut out the need for multiple speeds and voila, Fluance RT80 Turntable appeared. Which, strangely, has 2 speed functions! I bought it and got it delivered just in time for Christmas. Now, I'm a 20-something, never even handled a vinyl record before. So when I did all the set up and breaking in, I had to learn a ton of stuff, and it was nice to connect to my parents with something they cared a lot about growing up. Then, the time came to unveil this thing, and was very surprised by my parents love of this machine. Remember, they grew up in the 60's, graduated highschool in 75, and went to college in the 80's. They really now record players, and the quality of sound blew them away. They remarked about the lack of static, lack of needle bump, the auto stop feature, and even the mere fact that they could hear it in crystal-clear stereo. It's being used for hours everyday with no problems, and the sound quality just gets better and better, as we try and listen to all these records that hadn't been played in decades. Now, to talk more about the turntable itself. Its not to heavy, easy to move around, but it has enough weight that it feels good. There is some assembly required, but the instructions walk you through it. Also, you need to "burn in" the record player for 24 hours before you really set it up, it helps get everything settled in from shipping. The turntable is glossy black, with a clear black-smoked plastic clam shell that covers the entire top of the machine. It has a built in amplifier, which can be turned off if need be. It has 2 speed setting, 33.5 and 45 rpm, an auto stop feature, and an anti-skate control. The tone arm needs to be balanced before use, and is a rather precision instrument. the drive is very quiet, and operation is very smooth. Everything from putting the tone-arm down to setting the speed is as easy as easy gets, and, just to reiterate, smooth. the only real "demerits" are that the supplied cord are rather short, the auto-stop doesn't always work, and that they only painted the top part of the metal plate the record sits on. All in all, at the time of this posting (2/2/2019) this turntable is an absolute joy, 10/10, would buy again.

Turntable required some basic assembly, but it was very easy. Love the ability to balance the tone-arm. Sound quality is outstanding.

This turntable is proof that you don't need to spend almost $1000 for a good quality turntable. Unless you're a DJ or someone looking for that absolute perfection, there is no need to spend hundreds more for a turntable. I have this one connected to my Denon mixer with Klipsch R-51M bookshelf speakers and a Klipsch SUB-100 subwoofer, which this system alone will shake my house to bits. Pair the clarity of the signal from this turntable with it and you get dang near CD quality sound outside of the usual vinyl clicks and pops, but still retain the warm sound of a true vinyl. It's practically perfection at a fraction of what other brands charge. Fluance outdid themselves with this one and I'm blown away at the value of this thing. If you want a pro sounding turntable to listen to your vinyl collection but don't want to break the bank, definitely get this one! Just make sure to get yourself a set of quality speakers. As an alternative to what I have, I recommend the R-51PM as these are powered without the need of a mixer and still has a subwoofer output to add low end. To add: this turntable does have a built in preamp, so no need to include one of those unless you're picky and want to, which it does have a bypass option for that. This thing plays my original 1979 Pink Floyd - The Wall album as if it were as good as the day they were made 46 years ago. Clear sound, very easy to use, it's perfect!!! If you were to call this a "budget" turntable, it's about the best out there in that sense. Great job, Fluance!

The sound, when it all works well, is great (for a LP player at this price point and my old ears). The problem is in its cartridge. Sometimes I'll hear the album well, then, in the middle of a song, the right channel (and it's always the right channel) will go out. Tried re-seating the cartridge and needle but it's really spotty. It works most of the time. I've not contacted Fluance or the seller yet. --- Update: I've had this thing for about 5 months now. And in that time, I had issues initially with the cartridge/head-shell needing to be re-seated more than a few times. This does not have the AT95e on it as others have stated. I believe it's the AT81, but can't be exactly sure on that. It's a dark-yellow stylus/cart. Not as good as the AT95e. But it's not a bad cart for a beginner, either. The headshell and cart are replacable with just about any modern standard unit. I've used several Ortofon (2M Red & Blue, S120), Shure M97xE, Nakagoa MP110. So far my favorite is either the Ortofon Red or the Shure M97xE. Oh, I also added two sets of the Amazon basics RCA cables (gold plated) - and set my TT to bypass it's internal pre-amp (set switch from Line to Phono), and I added a reasonably priced phono pre-stage preamp from Behringer for about $40. Works great. Tried a few others in the price range and they were returned. I buy records from all over, but mainly used records. Have had all sorts of positive and some negative experiences there in terms of record quality. This turntable handles them all better than I could have expected. The trick is to follow the flipping instructions on tonearm balance and anti-skate settings. That, and clean your records properly. Maybe someday I'll be replacing this unit, but it's served me very well. Because of the initial issues with the cart, I took off one star. But The support people were very attentive and good to me. Wish I could give 4-1/2!. The problems I encountered with motor speed have gone away - my thoughts are that it could have been debris on the LPs themselves, or my inexperience in cleaning the cart/needle. Also, could have been the motor itself was needing to self-adjust. Either way, I'm not having any L/R channel issues, or motor speed issues. And I didn't have to do anything but balance the tonearm, set the anti-skate properly, clean my records and talk to other turntable nerds. I would buy again if I were getting started and wanted something good for a reasonable price.

First off, I wouldn't call myself a true audiophile. I care about good sound and have a reasonably nice setup--but nothing that a stereo store junkie would get all excited about. So I'm not going to make an argument about how this unit performs compared to those that will set you back several times more cash. I got back into vinyl six or seven years ago and had been slogging along with an acceptable but basic entry level turntable and was looking to upgrade. I caught a deal on this one and jumped at it. For the most part, I couldn't be happier. The build and mechanics are a big upgrade and there's a noticeable difference in background noise. As for some of the tech-y stuff--I haven't encountered (or, perhaps, haven't noticed) any issues with speed inconsistency. The cartridge is the same one used in my basic Audio Technica unit. It's fine for my purposes. The headshell is removable so there might be opportunities to upgrade. I'm running it through my Onkyo receiver, so I cannot really say much about the quality of the pre-amp on this machine. The only minor annoyance I've found is the felt slipmat that came with the unit was definitely on the cheap side. Thin and showed wrinkles/crease marks. I replaced it with Fluance's rubber upgrade. Problem solved. Overall, if not top-of-the line, this is a really nice machine that totally stands out at this pricepoint. If the price deal I caught is permanent, then there's a compelling reason to choose this over Audio-Technica's LP60 series. The price also provides a reason to pick this over the next step up (Fluance RT81 or Audio-Technica LP120) although those are better units. I'll leave that argument for the experts. All I can say is after two weeks of moderately heavy use, I'm really happy with my choice.

I am totally impressed with this manual turntable. Wanting to revisit my old vinyl collection, I pulled my old Phillips turntable out of the closet where it had sat, peacefully, for 15 years as I slwly became solely dependent on digital tunes. (I loved the convenience of CD's, and then I loved the convenience of streamed music, and essentially consumed a strict diet of digital for years). Anyway, the turntable worked for 2 albums and then quit. Just died. It wouldn't even start to turn. I did some basic troubleshooting and then gave up. At 35 years old it wasn't worth the effort. So, I did some research and bought this one, with zero regrets. No, it has no auto features - at the end of the record, it just turns off - but it is an impressive player nonetheless. I chose to use a small tube preamp (not super expensive, but better than the TI inbuilt preamps) and turned the inbuilt preamp to bypass. I replaced the included Audio Technical cartridge with my old Grace F9 and wow, the sound is amazing. I had forgotten how warm and cozy a good vinyl pressing can be! I did install the included AT cartridge in another headshell and use it for older albums. It is a good conical cartridge and very forgiving, unlike my Grace which sounds great but picks up every flaw. The turntable is an excellent buy and I would highly recommend for those who are returning to their old vinyl collection, or anyone wanting an excellent basic turntable that is easily upgraded with any level cartridge you might want.

Third time is a charm! After two misses with "entry level" models of two other brands this one worked great! History on others was a humming noise, tone arm balancing/adjustment and anti-skating problems, and an apparent needle problem. Some of the setup steps were just way too cumbersome. First of all, this Fluance model has superb instructions. Easy to set up, install tone arm weight, balance, then set dial marker to zero and weight to 2 grams, same with anti-skating - so easy. Nice looking unit and seems to be a lower profile than some others as well. Packaging, though not double boxed, was very adequate. My only very small suggestion would be for the balance weight dial and anti-skating markings be a bit more visible. Having said that, a flashlight solved it. And normally those will be set once and forget it operations anyway. The darker color probably gives the unit an overall cleaner look. Finally my Boston "test" album sounds crisp, treble and bass are just as they should be, and NO background noises! Very happy!