• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

Is Crosley a problem for Vinyl revival?

This thread is filled with all types of opinions and hatred for the Crosley. What's funny is if the Crosley was from the 1960's it'd be accepted on this site as mediocre but ok. This thread is the classic example of why the rest of the audio internet sites think we're audio-elitests. No one person in this thread has any true proof that the Crosley has ever damaged a record (besides making it sound bad). There are plenty of 60's TT's that had what looked like windshield wipers for tonearms, and don't get me started with record changers, but they'll never get classified as "total crap" because they're old.

If someone buys a Crosley to start off they might gain more interest in the hobby, search the internet, find Audiokarma then never post anything for fear of ridicule or bullying; or just say f' it and screw these audio snob a-holes. Someone new tried to sell a fricking crosley in BT a couple months ago, some were kind and some posts, I'm sure, made him feel like a douche for posting it.

We as a whole, myself included, need to support any and all audio styles and preferences.
 
Get accepted to the closed vinyl junkies Facebook group. Almost zero judgement and elitism. Mainly people just post what they're listening to but it's a great place for help and advice as well. One of our moderators moderates that page.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Hajidub said:
We as a whole, myself included, need to support any and all audio styles and preferences.
Click to expand...

Amen to that.

It's fun to make fun of them, but as I said earlier, my first TT was a Crosley much worse than the one I made fun of a few posts ago. I'd never call it a good turntable, but it did get me started in the vinyl hobby. There's something I am truly thankful for.
 
Last edited:
I feel bad for making the Crosley "joke." In retrospect, it was in poor taste. Sometimes I can't resist a punchline - regardless of the topic. This just doesn't translate well in text. So, I'm sorry for that. For what it's worth, if I were discovering vinyl today, I can almost guarantee I would go the Crosley route. I basically took that path when I made my original purchase.

So, to future Crosley owning readers, I apologize in advance. Bad joke.
 
1) Crosley stinks... Just like crappy TTs in the old day (we all know we had one)
2) Hipsters created the revival, they may not be sustaining it but ads I see for crosley tables are clearly marketing to hipster-esque people.
3) Hipsters are weird

ergo, weird people created the vinyl revival which probably led to crosley crap tables. A decent table could be made probably inexpensively without a built in preamp and cartridge that would blow this junk away.

Like I've said, I've spent plenty of time in Williamsburg and Sileverlake so I have a feel for the new youth movement on both shores and it is as shallow as any youth movement in the past. There were cool hippies and not cool ones. Now is no different. I have no idea what this has to do with TTs though...
 
stevantr said:
2) Hipsters created the revival, they may not be sustaining it but ads I see for crosley tables are clearly marketing to hipster-esque people.
3) Hipsters are weird
Click to expand...

Huh? In my neck of the woods it was music fans. As for "Hipsters" being weird...relative to what? Can we see an example of this Crosley marketing directed at "Hipster-esque people?"

Look at some of these positive reviews on this Kohl's page (Kohl's is sorta like TJ Maxx - the OPPOSITE of what a stereotypical "Hipster" is painted as). Sure there are lots of negative reviews - it IS a Crosley - but it sure doesn't look like "Hipsters" are the ones seeking out and then buying it from this retailer.

This thing is so cool - I bought it for my husband for his birthday to replace our old dinosaur record player. It's sleek, it's snazzy, it looks awesome in our living room. It sounds amazing - works great! Love it.

This Turntable is great. My 15 year old loves it!

Perfect for bringing out the old vinyl. Works great.

We bought this for a Christmas present for my 18 year old granddaughter, at her request. She had done the research and sent me the link.
She LOVES it. Taking it back to college with her.
 
stevantr said:
1) 3) Hipsters are weird

ergo, weird people created the vinyl revival which probably led to crosley crap tables...
Click to expand...

You say weird like it's a bad thing!

I wouldn't call myself a hipster, but I'm certainly weird and proud of it!
:rockon: :rockon:
 
mg196 said:
This thing is so cool - I bought it for my husband for his birthday to replace our old dinosaur record player. It's sleek, it's snazzy, it looks awesome in our living room. It sounds amazing - works great! Love it.

[/I]
Click to expand...

Any guesses on what the "old dinosaur" was? It probably got placed on top of the trash can followed the next day by a post on AK about a "big scroe."
 
mg196 said:
Huh? In my neck of the woods it was music fans. As for "Hipsters" being weird...relative to what? Can we see an example of this Crosley marketing directed at "Hipster-esque people?"

Look at some of these positive reviews on this Kohl's page (Kohl's is sorta like TJ Maxx - the OPPOSITE of what a stereotypical "Hipster" is painted as). Sure there are lots of negative reviews - it IS a Crosley - but it sure doesn't look like "Hipsters" are the ones seeking out and then buying it from this retailer.
[/I]
Click to expand...

Unfortunatly, either I am too lazy or it is to hard to get ads from the past, but I'm having trouble finding the good 2010 vintage stuff, but here. http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urba...p?id=32096505&color=046&parentid=MORE_IDEAS#/ not super hipster like, but I assure you that is where the revival started. Probably at a thrift store somewhere.
 
stevantr said:
1)
ergo, weird people created the vinyl revival which probably led to crosley crap tables. A decent table could be made probably inexpensively without a built in preamp and cartridge that would blow this junk away.
Yeah, it's called an Orbit U-turn; created by weird college kids (oh wait Hipsters).
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hajidub said:
Yeah, it's called an Orbit U-turn; created by weird college kids (oh wait Hipsters).
Click to expand...

Wow. This one statement really ties in nicely to this whole thread. I wonder if any of the original U-Turn three ever owned a Crosley. I want to say I doubt it, but I'm afraid I'm not objective and I'm just putting these guys on a pedestal.

But this is a very telling statement - you can connect the dots between Crosley buyers and these guys stepping up the game. It's kind of a poster child story supporting the argument for Crosley being good for the vinyl revival.

Or maybe I'm reading too much into this.
 
You know, it's funny how the design of these Crosley TTs is being regarded as some recent plague... But looking at these things closely, you'll see that they use the same TT mechanism that has been around for decades. My first "stereo" was one of those cheap narrow dual cassette Yorx Newave bookshelf systems in the late 80s. Guess what? It had the exact same belt drive mechanism, tonearm, undersized plastic platter, and ceramic cartridge as today's Crosleys. Seemed pretty good after the suitcase player I owned before it. My best friend had an Emerson system with the exact same TT, and a few years later I dated a girl that had a GPX system with the exact same TT as well. That TT mechanism was everywhere. Brands like Soundesign, GE, Electro-Brand, Craig, Magnavox, etc., as well as store brand generics like Realistic, MCS, LXI, and SR2000 all used the same thing that you'll find on a Crosley, Ion, or Emerson today. As with the Crosleys of today, that was the stuff that parents bought their teenage kids.

I wouldn't be surprised if that has been the most widely mass produced turntable design, ever. I would put money on it. Funny thing is, they work. They don't sound great and they are not the best thing for records, but they make music. I used my Yorx for at least four years, and it never broke. Sure, most of my records were pretty trashed, but mostly by me. I still have several records from back them that play pretty damn good today.

Oh, and another funny thing... The early turntables with that design had BSR stamped into them. Pretty sure it was their design that was outsourced to Asia after they stopped making those precious changers of yore in Great Britain. BSR is the root of all evil with regard to vinyl playback. (With the minor exception of ADC carts, that is..) Crosley is just a cheesy name tag.

So I can say that I had the equivalent of a Crosley, and I moved on. I enjoy my Thorens, Duals, and Technics today, but like most of us here, I started with a cheap no-name ceramic player.
 
Last edited:
What is with the Crosley name?

In the 1950's a Crosley was a cheap, little, crappy car and in 2014 a Crosley is cheap, little, crappy turntable.

Charlie
 
While it sucks that companies like Crosley make such mediocre junk and market it as something else.Like Multiplex said its nothing new. I find for me its not all about sound quality or the equipment. More so the Ritual of buying a record thats awesome. Rummaging through the new arrivals at the shop, bringing it home, Pull that wax out of it sleeve, Put it on and read the lyrics of the sleeve and/or look at the pics while it plays. ITs amazing!!! Having tangible media just gives it more value. Mp3s made music cheap. Most people just download 1 or 2 songs of an album and thats it. You buy vinyl for an album not 1 song (98% of the time) Its an experience no matter what you play it on. So i think its less Crosley ruining vinyl revival but bringng to light how vinyl is reviving music. Just my 2cents :)
 
the only fly in the ointment is that when one hears the sound from a Crosley or equivalent, and that the vinyl is possibly ruined in the process, the buyer may feel that vinyl isn't worth the effort.

just sayin'.
 
boostedb18 said:
While it sucks that companies like Crosley make such mediocre junk and market it as something else.Like Multiplex said its nothing new. I find for me its not all about sound quality or the equipment. More so the Ritual of buying a record thats awesome. Rummaging through the new arrivals at the shop, bringing it home, Pull that wax out of it sleeve, Put it on and read the lyrics of the sleeve and/or look at the pics while it plays. ITs amazing!!! Having tangible media just gives it more value. Mp3s made music cheap. Most people just download 1 or 2 songs of an album and thats it. You buy vinyl for an album not 1 song (98% of the time) Its an experience no matter what you play it on. So i think its less Crosley ruining vinyl revival but bringng to light how vinyl is reviving music. Just my 2cents :)
Click to expand...

How different people are, I made a careful effort to take a sharp knife and slit the shrink wrap so I could get the vinyl out. Left the shrink wrap on as sometimes it had stickers and other info on them, plus I wanted to keep the jacket in top shape. Then I would put a brand new outer sleeve over the shrink. All my records that I purchase from back in the early 70's till now still have their original shrinks on them. I didn't care about what was inside the gatefolds, my only concern was what was in the grooves.
 
Friends don't let friends buy Crosley with one exception (the new Pro-Ject built model with the Ortofon OM 5 fitted, a legitimately good turntable)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom