Fluance RT85 Reference High Fidelity Vinyl Turntable Record Player with Ortofon 2M Blue Cartridge, Acrylic Platter, Speed Control Motor High Mass MDF Wood Plinth Vibration Isolation Feet - Piano White

I’ve had the Fluance RT85 now for a week, I went for the piano black one. I wanted something to upgrade and replace my very old (1981) Technics SLB-210 that works fine and sounds OK. I liked the look of the specs for the Fluance RT85, the simplicity and raw features seem to offer a lot for the money when compared to many others that seemed to come with all the snake oil I didn’t want! But it wasn’t available in the UK so I was looking at a few options including the, Sony PSHX 500, the Project Classics and Debut Carbon, and the Technics SL1500B. I’d decided that if the RT85 became available I’d go for that, otherwise I’d step up to the Technics SL1500B in April but consider upgrading the stylus to the Ortofon 2M Blue (as on the RT85).Packaging and unboxing: The product box arrived within a larger Amazon box with a good amount of packing material. Product box showed no signs of any transportation damage and was confirmed while unboxing the turntable. Everything in the box was there and well packed and protected in perfect condition. As others have noted the inclusion of a pair of cotton gloves is a nice thought.Assembly: Set-up instructions are very clear and simple to follow but I did have trouble following the instructions for the tone arm balancing. Balancing the tone arm was the most time consuming bit, I fiddled and tried to do it for a while following the instructions but just couldn’t get it right. Fortunately, I’d also ordered a Stylus Force Scale so as soon as I made use of that the balancing was done and set to the recommended 1.8g in no time. The included phono leads seem to be a decent quality and they are shorter than the Cambridge ones I was intending to use so I used those into my Project Phono Box USB V. The turntable sits high on its three legs, well feet, and it’s nice and stable. I didn’t even need to make any adjustments to level it, popped the supplied mini bubble level on the deck and it was already spot on!Play and Sound: Well it’s a step-up in the gramophone stakes, makes me think of an old “Not the Nine O’Clock News” sketch so I might be heading to upgrade my speakers and amp et-up too. No sign of any vibrations getting through to the tone arm and pick-up from the motor or bits of kit in the rack. The old Technics did introduce some motor noise and a bit of artefact on the left channel into the mix that were evident when recording using Audacity. Neither are evident with the Fluance, no addition of anything that’s not on the vinyl, the sprung feet, MDF, acrylic platter, and external power source all doing their job well. The dusk cover doesn’t have soft close but it’s not problem to close it gently while the tonearm drops slowly onto the vinyl which is so gentle you’ll only notice it has actually made any contact when the music starts. Keep a hold of the dust cover when opening it though, it will want spring open if you don’t. When the music does start you will not be disappointed, it’s clear and clean and I’m hearing little details I’ve not heard before. It handles all the vinyl I’ve thrown it’s way so far, and it’s been fed a variety, even my very old and well payed Tubular Bells which has lots of clicks and crackles seemed to actually play better on the Fluance, perhaps the Blue doesn’t pick up as much of the surface noise. I can’t detect any issues across the range, it seems very precise from the highs to the base, percussion on the Police LPs sounds really precise and sharp. I’ve got this really annoying whisper in my head though… Turn me up…. Turn me up… it’s so tempting but I don’t think the neighbours will appreciate it too much! Although next up might be ELO and Out of the Blue so that could all change, no one could have an issue with that. At the end of the record the auto stop feature is nice, occasionally it’s stopped the turntable before I’ve got to it. All my vinyl gets a good rub down with a velvet brush before dropping the tone arm. The dive motor does seem to have less grunt than my old Technics (which is probably comparable to the torque of a Land Rover Defender given that it’s ripped the brush from my hand more than once!), it’s not going to pull the brush from your fingers and slows to a stop if you apply too much pressure. As I tend to just let the brush rest with very light pressure to hold it in place, I don’t think this is going to be an issue for me.Overall: The Fluance is a very good package and I believe offers very good value for money in terms of components/features and performance. It does have some small deficiencies; the dustcover hinges could be better with a softer close action and not spring open as you lift the cover up, the drive motor could have a bit more torque, and the queuing arm could be a bit longer and substantial. However, for me these are very minor things and don’t detract from the actual music experience. If I was going to buy again, would I buy the Fluance RT85? Yes I would. By the way yes ELO’s Out of the Blue (1977 original) did play very well and did get turned up! Next up Queen Live Killers or Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon.

I haven’t had it long so I can’t talk about longevity or even sound quality after its run in period. However, I can say that I was a little concerned about buying from what was to me an unknown internet brand. Trusting Amazon’s return policy I decided to chance it. First impressions are excellent - maybe I’m spoiled by never having owned a nicer one but it’s hard for me to imagine how a turntable could feel much higher quality than this - fit and finish are exceptional, firm and sturdy, shiny and solid-feeling. Compared to my previous turntable (I’ve owned a couple of affordable ProJects since I’ve been able to afford my own kit, before that I had a couple of 70s hand-me-downs), it’s a really slick and luxurious package. Sound wise, so far it’s coming across as modern hifi - perhaps not as warm as my favourite memories of that 70s kit, but compared to the outgoing ProJect it is a definite upgrade - I never managed to get that thing to play well, there were always issues with low bass hum and a lot of crackling despite having upgraded to roughly the same cartridge and needle the Fluance has. This new fellow’s manners are impeccable so far. I’m having no trouble with the belt drive (another thing I didn’t like about the ProJect was that the belt was a nightmare, constantly falling off every time I put a new disc on the platter; this one it taut, thick and seems dependable). My ears aren’t experts, and my listening room is imperfect. I know good sound quality when I hear it but I can’t hear the difference between this or that interconnect. This is plenty good enough for me is all I can say. From high to low frequencies, there’s no exaggeration anywhere I can hear. The image is broad and positions of instruments and voices stable. It’s transparent enough across a range of records for me to assume any problems I can hear must be in the recording rather than the equipment. Set up was straightforward, though I was glad I have a stylus scale as I wasn’t clear on how the manual’s suggestion for setting the tracking force could produce accurate results (but perhaps I just didn’t understand!) I hope it turns out to be reliable so that I can enjoy it for years to come - so far I can’t imagine finding a genuine reason to upgrade again.

The media could not be loaded.  Gran tornamesa, excelentes prestaciones y materiales de alta calidad, fonocaptor Ortofon 2m blue suena muy bien.Muy recomendable, el único detalle a tener en cuenta es que no hace auto stop al terminar el vinyl, considerarlo para evitar dañar la aguja con la galleta o etiqueta.

Una ganga por la aguja que trae

When I purchased this turntable, I really didn't know what I was getting. I thought it would be fully automatic. Well it wasn't. one needs to turn the tuntable on to start. Then when you move the arm over the record, the T-table starts to spin. Then you drop the arm & needle onto to LP. When LP finishes playing, the T-table stops after about 30 seconds. So theres no auto start, no repeating & no returning. All functions are 100% manual. The turntable is belt driven, not direct drive.The lever for lifting & lowering the arm works very smoothly, and easily takes a good amount of time to drop on the LP so that you can close the lid BEFORE the 1st song on the LP starts to play. To me, the lever is black and really difficult to see as the arm & armlock are also black. The arm lock works excellently and is so smooth to lock/unlock. I ordered the dark wood option, so like I mentioned, the black hardware hardly contrasts from the T-table body. I keep a light by my stereo so that I can see what I'm doing. I'm tempted to put dayglo paint on the Lift/Lower lever handle so that I can see it without an external light.Bottom of the line is, even though the T-table DOESN'T have any automatic features, is belt driven, and is tough to see the arm control lever & lock mechanism, I got over that really fast. This Fluance RT85 also comes with a ceramic platter & doesn't require a mat. The mass & and turning of the platter is quite heavy but so smooth. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that there is no variable speed control to fine tune the speed of the platter. So with these missing options, why do I like it so much? First and foremost, this is a quality piece of stereo equipment. 2ndly the sound is killer. I put on a 50 year old album from Led Zepplin and I put on a CD of the same album & ran them both through my amp. Gosh!!! There was NO COMPARISON!!!! The LP sound was WAY WAY WAY warmer, richer, deeper (and I don't mean Bassier). It was like the needle was reaching deep down into the record grooves and was reproducing sound that just is not noticable on the same album of the digital CD copy. The stereo sound quality of the album was way wider than the compressed CD version. I've played many of my old LP's now & i must admit, I've been missing that sound.Another cool thing about using a T-table is that the record sides run about 15-20 minutes making it easier to just sit & relax and LISTEN to the music, as opposed to loading up a CD player and have it play continously just making noise in the room, and repeating over & over. Sure I still play CD's but when I want to really get intimate with my music and have a pleasant experiance...Records man!!! All the way.I am very pleased with this RT85 and highly recommend this Affluance Turn Table. If you don't want or need automatic features grab this puppy.Oh Yeah, I Love the pops & crackles of the old vinyl records. This brings back many memories.

Ich wollte meinen DJ Plattenspieler, einen Omnitronic DD-2520, gegen ein optisch gut aussehendes Hifi Gerät austauschen. Nachdem ich im Netz ein wenig herum geforscht habe fiel meine Wahl auf den Fluance RT85. Er ist optisch schlicht aber technisch für seine Preisklasse hervorragend ausgestattet. Der schwere Acryl Plattenteller und das Tonabnehmersystem Ortofon 2m blue sind preislich schon die halbe Miete. Darauf möchte ich aber nicht weiter eingehen denn auf YouTube findet man ausreichend Informationen.Ich benutze meinen bisherigen Audio-Technica AT-VM95SH Tonabnehmer weiter. Komfortabel da sich die Headshell dank des Bajonettverschlusses ganz easy wechseln läßt. Aber auch mit dem Ortofon 2m blue läßt sich wunderbar Musik hören. Das 2m blue ist sehr dynamisch und macht Spaß, genau wie der ganze Plattenspieler. Der Motor kann dank seiner Technik die gewählte Geschwindigkeit sehr gut halten. Ich habe bei meinem Gerät mit semi-wissenschaftlichen Methoden 33,5 und 45,2 U/min ermittelt. Damit liegt die Geschwindigkeit im vom Hersteller angegebenen Toleranzbereich.Die glänzend schwarze Oberfläche des Korpus sieht wunderbar aus. Einziger Wermutstropfen, jedes Staubkorn und jeder Fussel ist deutlich sichtbar. Die mitgelieferten Baumwollhandschuhe verhindern wenigstens Fingerabdrücke. Zweites Manko ist die Tatsache, daß ein Netzteil beiliegt das man nicht in eine deutsche Steckdose stecken kann. Zumindest nicht ohne rohe Gewalt und dann ist es hin. Klar, die Geräte wurden nicht für den deutschen Markt produziert und so muß man diesen Makel in Kauf nehmen. Aber adäquater Ersatz ist für einen kleinen Obolus bei Amazon zu bekommen. Alternativ nutzt man das mitgelieferte Netzteil mit einem Reisestecker.Mein persönliches Fazit: Ich möchte den Fluance RT85 nicht missen. Es ist ein toller Plattenspieler und klingt, in Verbindung mit meinem Tonabnehmer, genau so wie ich es erwartet habe. Aber auch mit dem mitgelieferten Ortofon 2m blue ist der Sound stattlich. Die Verarbeitungsqualität ist top und der Autostop am Ende der Platte ein sehr gutes Feature dessen Nutzen bei mir nicht zu gering ausfällt. Ich bin nicht der Typ der immer sofort aufspringt wenn die Musik aufhört. Insgesamt komme ich zu dem Schluß, daß ich den Fluance RT85 immer wieder kaufen würde, so zufrieden bin ich mit ihm. Definitiv ein Star unter den Plattenspielern in diesem Preissegment.

Schöner Plattenspieler mit Ortofon 2M Blue. Versand erfolgte aus England innerhalb von 5 Tagen via Prime. Die Verzollung übernahm Amazon.Die drei Füße sind gedämpft und laufen spitz zu um Resonanzen zu vermeiden. Die Ausrichtung ist mit der mitgelieferten Libelle/Wasserwaage einfach, da nur drei Füße. Das Gesamtgewicht beträgt knapp 8 kg.Der Motor läuft für mich unhörbar und treibt den äußeren Riemen an. Die Geschwindigkeit wird mittels Schalter eingestellt. Eine Elektronik überwacht die konstante Geschwindigkeit (angeblich 500x in der Sekunde). Der Tonarm ist aus Alu. Der Plattenteller aus durchsichtigem Acryl und wiegt alleine über 1 kg. Die Haube ist leicht schwarz getönt. Der Schalter für die Geschwindigkeit ist aus schwarz eloxiertem gebürstem Metall. Ebenso auch die Abdeckung für den Motor. Das Antriebsrad ist ebenfalls aus gebürstetem Metall. Sehr chick: Im Außenring des Drehknopfs ist eine kleine weiße LED enthalten, die zeigt, dass der Plattenspieler angeschaltet ist. Es liegen sogar ein hochwertiges Audiokabel, ein Erdungskabel, eine Wasserwaage und weiße Handschuhe bei. Der Tonabnehmer ist vorausgerichtet. In der (englischen) Anleitung steht der notwendige Anpressdruck und das Anti-Skating und ist auch für Einsteiger erklärt, wie man den Tonarm einstellt. Mitgliefert wird ein Netzteil mit UK-Netzstecker. Alternativ zu einem UK-Adapter kann man auch anderweitiges Netzteil mit 12V und 0,5A (6W) und innen plus/außen minus verwenden, wie es beispielsweise hier angeboten wird: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B01M1DR19X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1Klanglich gefällt mir der Plattenspieler im Zusammenhang mit einem Marantz PM8005 (eingebauter MM-Vorverstärker) und B&W CM9. Ein Vorverstärker ist im Plattenspieler nicht eingebaut.Bzgl. des Auto-Stops: Es dauert eine Weile in der Auslaufrille, bis der Plattenteller tatsächlich stehen bleibt. Der Tonarm wird jedoch nicht angehoben. Beim Zurückschwenken dreht der Plattenteller wieder an. Bei angeschaltetem Auto-Stop springt zusätzlich der Motor erst an, wenn man den Tonarm aus der Halterung bewegt. Wenn der Auto-Stop-Schalter ausgeschaltet ist, startet der Motor direkt nach dem Drehen des Schalters auf 33 bzw. 45, unabhängig vom Tonarm.Ich habe Walnuss bestellt, auf dem Karton steht Walnuss aber drinnen war Bambus (siehe Foto), was (derzeit) so bei Amazon garnicht angeboten wird. Jetzt muss ich mir noch überlegen, ob ich damit leben kann oder nicht... das Bambus ist matt lackiert während Walnuss glänzend lackiert ist. Ich bin kein Bambus Fan, aber da der Tonarm komplett in (matt) schwarz gehalten ist bildet es einen guten Kontrast zur hellen Chassis. Das matte Holz passt auch gut zum Acryl-Teller.Ein Umtausch könnte ohne Rücksendungskosten vollzogen werden. Auch hierfür 5 Sterne für Amazon!