U Turn Orbit Plus or Fluane rt81?
- Thread starter Dion Fan
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Lavane
Lunatic Member
I went with the walnut also.
DaaDaa
Set the controls for the heart of the pun
it is not about some source of info. it is that i have heard this 250 dollar table with my own ears and it sounds pretty good, looks good and has support and is packaged well enough to withstand a nuclear explosion. but you can spend 500 on vintage on ebay and then it arrives in pieces.
SA-708
Appalachian-American
I don't know where you get this folderol, but based on my experience, everything electronic made in China is not built with the same level of design and quality control. There is good and there is bad as well as different shades in between, but you are incapable of acknowledging the difference in your endless China bashing.
Gary Francks
Well-Known Member
Best not tell all the I- Phone owners then!
Or the owners of other products manufactured in China by multinational companies operating there.
Yes, you can buy a pile of crap too but from what I've witnessed there's an awful lot of good stuff too!I
And that Fluance looks really well made for the price, as indeed so does the Orbit.
savatage1973
Addicted Member
So you are legally deaf--my least expensive cart is ~$250, and as for stuff arriving in pieces--that is the seller and the packing and shipping that they chose. As for Chinese being the "end-all-be-all" in low cost, but high-spec gear, I suggest you take off your rose colored glasses.
Dion Fan
New Member
Lots of problems with that route though. No warrenty like you would get on new stuff. Lifespan, a brand new tt will usually last longer if taken good care of. Its just hard to find a good vintage tt in good condition for a nice price. Although... I may just buy another one along with a new tt and see if i like it better. Thanks for ur insight. Btw my problem with one of my vintage tts is that it was pretty cheaply built. I trust the guy i bought it from. But after a week the platter rewarped due to it falling out of place. I was gonna try to fix it up but it was like $100 so i said whatever and thats a main reason why im looking for new stuff. Because i bought a pioneer pl250 and it was made alright but it was an bad condition. To get a vintage tt to last a long time, be in good condition, AND be cheap. A real struggle in my opinion. And ive been looking for months. -Dylan
torchblu65
New Member
Dylan,
Did you make a decision yet?
Did you make a decision yet?
I posted upstream already, but I'll add that I own both the Fluance RT81 and the U-Turn Orbit. I recommend the Orbit primarily because it is made by a group of great young Americans in Boston and includes their outstanding and direct-from-the-factory customer service. However, the RT81 has been bullet proof for me and will no doubt be cranking away years from now. The idea that a Chinese product is "lesser than" is bullshiiit in 2018. It's a well-performing and great-sounding winner at $250.
Dion Fan
New Member
Man its a tough one. But im leaning towards the rt81. Thanks for all the help. If you guys have anymore opinions im all ears. Thanks -Dylan
This is probably beside the point, but is the 'genuine walnut' actually a hunk of wood? Plain wood is variable in composition, warps and splits, absorbs moisture and changes size, and doesn't always look nice and uniform. Most 'wood' plinths, cases, and enclosures are actually particle board, medite, or something similar covered with veneer.
I say this not to condemn the veneer models, but to suggest that there is probably little difference, if any, in the sound produced by the 'wood' one and the painted one.
I say this not to condemn the veneer models, but to suggest that there is probably little difference, if any, in the sound produced by the 'wood' one and the painted one.
I have stopped giving advice on this subject. For some reason no one seems to take the advice of people who have used tables all their lives. The newbies would rather tell you how great cheap products will outperform great quality made products because today we have advanced so much in technology, look we have cell phones. 
Can't disagree with you, but I have some sympathy with people who try to learn about a new field, and have opinions based on their necessarily limited experience, but then get told, often in imperious tones, that there are hundreds of tables (that they will probably never see, and almost certainly never seen in top operating condition) that are potentially better, and cheaper, than the tables they have experienced.
I'm guilty of talking down to newcomers - it's impossible to share a lifetime of experience without coming off as a know-it-all - and I'm aware that that lifetime of experience doesn't mean I have golden ears (the longer that lifetime goes on, the more circumspect I get about what I think I know), and, of course, since I like and have old tables, I actually haven't heard many of the new ones. I doubt very much if an entry level new table is going to be as good as a similarly priced vintage table, but I don't actually know.
And that's before we get the the difficulty of buying used tables when you are new and don't know what is good, where to find it, or how to evaluate or fix it.
I do not mean this as any sort of rebuke to Ken or the rest of us. Obviously everyone should be open minded and willing to listen, but I know I'm not always that way, and I try to not to expect others to be as interested in my opinions as I am. But often I fail, and get annoyed. So I get Ken's rueful feelings.
I'm guilty of talking down to newcomers - it's impossible to share a lifetime of experience without coming off as a know-it-all - and I'm aware that that lifetime of experience doesn't mean I have golden ears (the longer that lifetime goes on, the more circumspect I get about what I think I know), and, of course, since I like and have old tables, I actually haven't heard many of the new ones. I doubt very much if an entry level new table is going to be as good as a similarly priced vintage table, but I don't actually know.
And that's before we get the the difficulty of buying used tables when you are new and don't know what is good, where to find it, or how to evaluate or fix it.
I do not mean this as any sort of rebuke to Ken or the rest of us. Obviously everyone should be open minded and willing to listen, but I know I'm not always that way, and I try to not to expect others to be as interested in my opinions as I am. But often I fail, and get annoyed. So I get Ken's rueful feelings.
likebike23
Addicted Member
Umm. Huh? I can't figure out what happened to that poor table from that, lol.
No offense, but based on the above quote I think that buying new is the way to go for you. Jus sayin'.
You might want to rethink that statement. I have restored a few idler drive tables from the 60's. They are currently about 55 years old and I would wager that they will be around longer than most new tables made today. There are no electronics to speak of, they are made mostly of metal, and the wear parts are still available. Most of the time all they need is cleaning and relubing and they work great.
Edit: Dylan, I hope I'm not coming across harsh, I actually am getting a kick out of this thread. I have only been at this for 3 years and would like to think I've learned a lot. There is a huge amount of info here and at VE from a lot of knowledgeable people. The thing is, we all go as far with this as we want to.
Vintage isn't for everybody, and that's fine. If there are problems you are on your own, good techs are hard to find. You have to be willing and able to learn how your machine works and how to fix it. Not everybody can do that. I was an office machine tech for 8 or so years, so I've had a huge head start on most.
Anyway, keep asking questions, read on your own, and practice on those machines you have. There is nothing to lose and you'll learn a lot.
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RamblinE
(╯°□°)╯彡┻━┻
Vintage turntables: Sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes they need parts. Sometimes to get it to work you need to be take a crash course in the basics and fast, before you start damaging your records.
I got lucky after a few vintage duds and got a good one at a good price below it's local used market value.
New tables: Plug and play. Warranty if broken.
If I hadn't found my Technics SL-D2 for $20, I'd have eventually bought a U-Turn.
I got lucky after a few vintage duds and got a good one at a good price below it's local used market value.
New tables: Plug and play. Warranty if broken.
If I hadn't found my Technics SL-D2 for $20, I'd have eventually bought a U-Turn.
Today, like back in the days that vinyl was king, they make good tables and they make cheap tables. Things are no different. Back then many people had cheap tables, and the more well to do and serious music lovers had really good tables.
Today is the same, you can buy a really good table, brand new just like in the past, with a full warrantee, or your can buy a brand new budget table, just like in the past. Todays budget tables, are quite similar as those in the past, poor performance and poor specs. The only difference that I see is that back in the days you could get a nice table for 300 or 400 dollars, while today it takes thousands. Many people today think of buying a turntable that cost 300 or 400 dollars as a major outlay, but in truth, it is about equal to a 30 dollar turntable of the past, You make at least ten times the money per hour and the tables are at least ten times the cost, You can't expect to make a lot more money per hour and then not expect to pay a lot more for goods, it simply doesn't usually work that way. The really nice used turntables that you see, would be like the new $3000 or $4000 dollar tables made today, due to inflation. So you can spend a little on a old table try to get it back in shape, or you can buy a new table of equal performance for the high dollar equivalent price, but don't kid yourself and think that a 300 dollar table today is going to be anywhere near equal to that of a table that cost that much 40 or 50 years ago.
Today is the same, you can buy a really good table, brand new just like in the past, with a full warrantee, or your can buy a brand new budget table, just like in the past. Todays budget tables, are quite similar as those in the past, poor performance and poor specs. The only difference that I see is that back in the days you could get a nice table for 300 or 400 dollars, while today it takes thousands. Many people today think of buying a turntable that cost 300 or 400 dollars as a major outlay, but in truth, it is about equal to a 30 dollar turntable of the past, You make at least ten times the money per hour and the tables are at least ten times the cost, You can't expect to make a lot more money per hour and then not expect to pay a lot more for goods, it simply doesn't usually work that way. The really nice used turntables that you see, would be like the new $3000 or $4000 dollar tables made today, due to inflation. So you can spend a little on a old table try to get it back in shape, or you can buy a new table of equal performance for the high dollar equivalent price, but don't kid yourself and think that a 300 dollar table today is going to be anywhere near equal to that of a table that cost that much 40 or 50 years ago.
It always goes this same direction. If it's from China, its bad. This is just untrue. The crappy products from China are meant to be crappy. These are tables at a price point based on the needs of the nameplate. All manufacturers have to hit an area of entry level products. Now, I am all for buying American, but the U-Turn is not even on my radar. It's entry level which I don't need, but it felt cheap when I played with one at a local record store. So I wouldn't even consider it. IMHO, if that table had a "Made in China" tag on it, I would not have been surprised.
I have been very lucky I guess with vintage. All need some work, most very little ( a belt and new stylus and lube). But keep in mind, crappy tables from back in the day existed just like today. Those tables will not get better because they are now vintage.
I have been very lucky I guess with vintage. All need some work, most very little ( a belt and new stylus and lube). But keep in mind, crappy tables from back in the day existed just like today. Those tables will not get better because they are now vintage.
hbucker
Well-Known Member
I appreciate your self reflection and honesty. Knowledge and experience (in many contexts of life) gets obliterated behind a mask of "I'm smart and you're not." When this is experienced by the listener it is off-putting and the instinct is to walk away.
There is also what I call the Civic vs. Porsche argument. On paper nobody can argue that a Civic is better than a Porsche (Lexus, Mercedes, etc). Unless you're supporting a family on a modest budget and simply need something that's comfortable and easy to drive to the grocery store. Then how good a car is on paper suddenly matters less than how it fits into someone's life. Frequenlty, good enough is good enough.
"Good enough" too often seems to get translated into "garbage", which I think is unnecessary, especially within the context of this thread.
Dion Fan
New Member
Well, im really hearing it loud and clear. Clearly you guys want me to get a vintage table. And thats probably the best option. I already have a dual 1209 but i CONSTANTLY hear that voice in my head saying to get rid of it. Sometimes its hard to play stuff on it. So I will try to replace it with something nice
. Thanks guys
. Thanks guys