If you don't like reading long reviews than the short answer is: Just buy it, you won't be disappointed.
Now for the longer review and why I took off 1 star.
Price, it's one of the more pricey units out there, and I would have like to see it perform better in a couple of areas. The amplifier and volume control. The volume knob has to be at the 10 o'clock position to get any sound out at all, below that does nothing. By the time you get to 2 o'clock your really pushing the limits of volume before distortion. Sometimes I could get higher without but the recording needed to be quieter coming in, then the overall volume was about the same. The amp has a slight hiss sound over the speakers, once you start playing music it isn't noticeable at all, but this should have been addresses for this price. It needs just a bit more power, at times with certain music I wanted to turn it up a bit, but there was nothing left. The tone arm, when down, is right against the case, so it's a bit hard to get your finger under it to lift it. The "Line in" on the back is still a bit too high gain to be considered a full line input. I had to run a line stage and turn it down a bit. Some songs and equipment were fine but others were not. It's really more of an AUX IN, for headphone out of a phone or MP3 player.
The good:
Looks: Fit and finish is quite good, it comes very well packaged and was in perfect shape. It is just the simulated wood vinyl, but it's well done, you can't see particle board anywhere. The overall esthetics are nice, I love the watt meters on the front. The speakers have little rubber feet on the bottom, they keep the bottom from getting scratched or scratching anything, and keep the speaker from vibrating around. The grills are removable which is nice for those who want that look. When the unit is turned on, the turntable rotates near silently, no grumble or bearing noise.
Sound: This is where it all comes together. I first put on a record to give this a try. The video is of Tears for Fears and you are listening to the small speakers that came with the player. They have surprising mid base and deep extension. They are not room shaking, but you hear all the music. This album is well recorded and has a lot of depth. The amp and speakers made this sound great. The tone of the whole system is musical, warm and inviting and the speakers image quite well. Something I thought I would never say when describing a system like this. Hooking up to the KLH-5 speakers present in the video brought another level to the sound. It was louder with better low frequency extension, it really showed what this amplifier sounded like.
Technical: I tried all the functions and everything worked as it should. The pitch control allowed me to fine tune the rotation speed with my strobe disk. Once set it stayed stable. My FiiO MP3 music streamer connected via BT and kept connecting when switched back and forth, as soon as I powered back on it paired and played great. The line in worked, except for above.
Overall a great setup.
I’m trying to the stylus back on but it just won’t go back on. I don’t wanna press too hard hard in case I break it. Any tips for this ?
I tried to change cartridge to an AT-VM95E and all I get is some light static. I can not get any music. When I switch back to the AT3600L I get perfect sound. I did adjust the tracking force and balanced the tone arm. Is this cartridge compatible with this tone arm?
It would be super handy if you had a link right here on the instructional video page to where in your store I can buy this stylus. I’ve used the search function at the top of the page and entered the word stylus several times and still I can’t find it. I imagine if I keep looking I’ll find it.
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