U-Turn Audio’s $150 Orbit turntable- pic

thedelihaus

Nocturnal transmissions
U-Turn Audio’s $150 Orbit turntable

Wonder how this will pan out.

Online at Stereophile, August 10, 2012

"...Stereophile’s editorial assistant, Ariel Bitran, directed my attention to this USA Today article on an interesting turntable from U-Turn Audio, a company founded by three close friends—Ben Carter, Bob Hertig, and Peter Maltzan—all in their early 20s, who were tired of playing records on cheap USB turntables.
Their first model, the Orbit, forgoes modern-day conveniences like a USB output and built-in speakers, but concentrates on quality and longevity. Unlike the many inexpensive USB turntables prevalent today—models whose low-quality styli are potentially dangerous to your precious LPs—the Orbit appears to use an Ortofon phono cartridge (perhaps an OM5E?), similar to the ones found on entry-level Regas and Pro-Jects.

Judging from the photos alone, the Orbit is a serious turntable. If all goes as planned, the ’table will be available this fall.

The price? Just $150!

I’ll be keeping my eyes on this one.


http://www.stereophile.com/content/u-turn-audio’s-150-orbit-turntable



orbit2.jpg
 
if this does pan out I wonder how long it will take project and rega to come out with a $150 table. not long I suspect.

looks like a nice entry level turntable for the person getting into vinyl for the first time.
 
wow nice might have i thought about start looking for a tt this might be a good starter. might still get a good techinques dont know though.
 
I've known about this for a while...comes with an O-fon Omega. Unipivot tonearm? Hell yeah! :D


Ben aka MacKat
 
U-Turns website mentions custom colours, etc.
So I've e-mailed them asking whether they are going to be sold directly or thru distributors.
 
That thread about whether or not vintage turntables are better then new has just gotten sunk by this.

If other manufactorers follow suit there'll be more then a few affordable options for quality vinyl playblack on a budget :)
 
OK...I'm interested (even though I have several turntables already).

-D
 
I've been curious about this for a long time and had my eye on it for the past several months. Their website has stated "Coming Summer 2012" the whole time. Now it says "Coming Fall 2012". I'm really wondering if there's just been legitimate unexpected delays, or if this is ever actually going to come out. I've tried contacting them a few times and never gotten a response.

I'd like to see what one of these turntables looks like up close. Those aren't real photos of the turntable; they're renderings. There was a thread about this a while back, and someone pointed out that there's not a tonearm lift in the pics...maybe it was just overlooked in the rendering? I'm curious if there's some sort of plastic veneer on these, or if they're spraypainted, or what.

Any guesses as to what these are made of, besides the MDF plinth? Anything on there that implies these might be cobbled together from parts that might be found at Home Depot? I know I've read that some carbon fiber arms look similar to the tubing that's used in arrow shafts, etc.

Headshell looks like one that could easily be sourced. Interesting that there's definitely a string weight there on the arm. For this to be so inexpensive, I guess I'm just fascinated with how they've been able to cut corners on these. It's a group of 3 college students making these, and it would be nice to see how detail-oriented they've been with their research. If these are as good as they're being hyped up to be, I'd love to have one.
 
Well, if this represents a $50 increase from an Ion, thats a heck of an improvement for not much money.
 
I don't know why a simple, decent player should cost more than a Sawzall anyway. Maybe Milwaukee Tools should go in the record player business.
 
Hmm...

I would rather have one of these

Although amazon has already raised the price 20 bucks since the other day...sheesh
 
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