New Monoprice Monolith Turnatble $250

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Lebowski, Feb 13, 2018.

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  1. Lebowski

    Lebowski Hey, careful man, there's a beverage here! Thread Starter

    Location:
    Greater Boston
    Did not see any other threads about this yet.

    Monoprice is now offering a $250 "Monolith" turntable. Says it comes with an AT100E cartridge, but looks more like the AT95E. Also, I thought the AT100E was discontinued? Maybe they revived the model number for Monoprice's exclusive use.

    Anyhow, it's a belt-drive table with switchable speed control, aluminum platter, dust cover, and a built-in phono stage (with bypass).

    Product page is here.

    [​IMG]

    "A true audiophile experience" LOL.

    Actually, I can think of worse ways to spend $250.



    :-popcorn:
     
    33na3rd, troggy and Mister Charlie like this.
  2. It looks to me to be the latest cheap-o turntable out of China. There appears to be no speed fine tuning adjustment, so you're stuck with whatever speed it plays at. Electric switching between 33 and 45 reminds me of the China BSR turntables Crosley uses. My experience with these is that the speed isn't stable and can even switch basic speeds without warning. The external AC adapter is pretty cheap-o. The cartridge in the pictures of the turntable indeed looks like AT 95E, but doesn't have any AT markings. If you scroll down the companies page you will find a cartridge resembling the AT100E, but again no markings. LP Gear has the genuine AT100E in stock and you can see what a real one looks like.
    Audio-Technica AT100E phono cartridge
     
  3. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    Wow and flutter is insanely high. Looks like a cheaper version of something out of the same Taiwanese factory that makes the TEAC and Fluance TTs. AT100E is probably a typo, looks like a 95E and the 100E is of course discontinued.
     
    PhilBiker, TheVinylAddict and nosliw like this.
  4. GroovyGuy

    GroovyGuy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Halifax, NS Canada
    You get what you pay for so .....
     
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  5. nosliw

    nosliw Delivering parcels throughout Teyvat! Meow~!

    Location:
    Ottawa, ON, Canada
    Yup, this one is derived from an OEM turntable built by Ya Horng Electronics Co.
     
  6. telemike

    telemike Forum Resident

    Location:
    Greensboro, NC
    Uturn for me at that budget
     
  7. displayname

    displayname Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dallas
    TEAC and Fluance is exactly what came to mind for me. But I'm sure they'll sell plenty.
     
    PhilBiker and patient_ot like this.
  8. One thing I also noticed is that there is a slot where the cue lever should be, but no cue lever. Maybe they'll sell an upgrade for $100. and throw in the cue lever.
     
  9. PhilBiker

    PhilBiker sh.tv member number 666

    Location:
    Northern VA, USA
    Yup. Same ubiquitous design. From what I understand the motors are inconsistent - if you get a good one they are decent spinners, but if you get a bad one they can be horrible. Monoprice I hope they have a good return policy. Fluance is much nicer aesthetically in the same price point, and for this specific family of turntables I prefer their curved tonearm design to their straight design. Something about the headshell on just looks wrong on their straight arm designs.
     
    patient_ot and nosliw like this.
  10. Fluance looks like a better cheap-o turntable. I've found the "S" arms to be superior to the straight ones. Atleast they give you a cue lever and the similar model is cheaper. If you like fake wood, it's $50. more.
     
  11. BayouTiger

    BayouTiger Forum Resident

    I still think Monoprice is a great option for many bulk, commodity items. But I see them bringing their model to many other pieces of tech with mixed results. Their premium audio cables seem very nice until they put their deathgrip on your RCA jacks. Seems that in todays economy it is more important to look good than to be good. (Cue Billy Crystal/Fernando's Hideaway!)
     
    forthlin and PhilBiker like this.
  12. Rolltide

    Rolltide Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vallejo, CA
    I kind of agree. I wouldn't think anything of Wal-Mart selling this for $250, but I consider Monoprice to be the top of the Globalization pyramid, so if they're going to do something like this it needs to be ~$175-ish tops.
     
    nosliw and MrRom92 like this.
  13. ti-triodes

    ti-triodes Senior Member

    Location:
    Paz Chin-in
    That is one clunky looking arm.
     
    PhilBiker likes this.
  14. MrRom92

    MrRom92 Forum Supermodel

    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    This looks to be worse than the Orbit in every respect. Even at $175 I’d have a hard time recommending this to someone over that. They really need to ease up on the price if they expect to stay competitive.
     
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  15. PhilBiker

    PhilBiker sh.tv member number 666

    Location:
    Northern VA, USA
    In every respect? The Monoprice table has a 33/45 switch instead of a clunky belt change, a proper counterweight with tracking force indicator, adjustable (not fixed) anti-skating, auto-stop built in not an add-on, cue lever built in not an add-on, switchable phono preamp built-in not an add-on, and a removable headshell. Those are not meaningless upgrades over the Orbit's uber basic approach. My money at this price point would be on an Orbit personally, but does the Orbit beat it "in every respect"? - far from it IMO.
     
  16. TheVU

    TheVU Forum Resident

    Yuck.
     
  17. MrRom92

    MrRom92 Forum Supermodel

    Location:
    Long Island, NY

    I’ll give it a thumbs up for more user-friendly speed control, but there’s a lot we don’t know about the other functions yet. Exactly how useful or useless is the antiskate (as is the case with certain OEM tables) and is the phonostage truly bypassable or can it only be switched to a false “off” ( as is also the case with certain OEM tables)


    Removable headshell is also a plus but with the needs of the typical user looking for a table at this price point, and the fact that this has no three speed operation, im having a hard time seeing why anyone would need or even desire to swap cartridges on the reg.


    The auto-stop and the built in phono are my only real gripes with this, but if they are truly defeatable without modification and the price dropped a bit then we may be on to something here… I however have my doubts. I can’t see this being one of my go-to recommendations when it’s priced so close into the LP120’s territory. Even if the Orbit is only a close competitor, the LP120 prevents this one from even competing.
     
    nosliw likes this.
  18. T'mershi Duween

    T'mershi Duween Forum Resident

    Location:
    Y'allywood
    Cheap throw-away crap like everything else they make.

    That includes cables.
     
    TheVU likes this.
  19. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    I’m afraid it might remind me of that submarine I sent away for from the back of a comic book.
     
    TimB likes this.
  20. hbucker

    hbucker Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver
    Hi,

    I'm reviving this old thread - sorry - but it's relevant.

    This topic brought me here with a Google search. I'm active on another forum but this is my first post here. I'm not a troll... :D I have no comments on opinions already offered. But this product is intriguing to me because appears to be IDENTICAL, except for the brand badging and maybe the cart, to the $499, Elac Miracord 50, which people don't seem to have a problem with categorizing as a legit TT.

    Elac: ELAC Miracord 50 Turntable

    Monolith: Monolith by Monoprice Turntable with Audio-Technica AT100E Cartridge - Monoprice.com

    Just curious about your opinions on these similarities and the huge price difference.

    Thx!
     
    displayname likes this.
  21. Looks to be pretty much the same turntable. Both made in China at the same factory. The Monolith has a much better cartridge and separately, costs about 1/2 of the whole TT setup. Why is the Elac turntable so much higher in price? You are paying for the name. They both have 12v. inputs so you can take them in your car and plug them in to your radio's aux. inputs!
     
    action pact likes this.
  22. PhilBiker

    PhilBiker sh.tv member number 666

    Location:
    Northern VA, USA
    Wow they do look identical! Elac has a rubber mat and the Monoprice has a felt one. Cartridges are different (Monoprice appears to be the better cart!). The platter finish is different between the two.
     
  23. CraigVC

    CraigVC Senior Member

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    The $500 Elac's specs seem worse than the Monoprice's specs (which is as of this writing on sale for about $180)?

    Monoprice:
    Wow and Flutter 0.2%
    Signal-to-Noise Ratio (weighted) 68dB or higher (A-weighted, 20kHz LPF)
    Signal-to-Noise Ratio (unweighted) 62dB or higher (unweighted, 20kHz LPF)

    Elac:
    Wow and Flutter: 1%
    Signal-to-Noise Ratio: -67 dB or higher (A-weighted) -60 dB or higher (unweighted)
     
    PhilBiker likes this.
  24. PhilBiker

    PhilBiker sh.tv member number 666

    Location:
    Northern VA, USA
    S/N difference could possibly be explained by the different cartridge, and would confirm the superior unit on the Monoprice table.

    The ELAC has an Audio Technica AT91, the Monoprice has an AT-100E. The AT91 I am sure is a competent cartridge. Nobody makes a budget cart better than A-T IME, and this cart is used by Rega and many others on budget turntables. However, the AT100E is a substantially superior cart to the AT91!

    Also - I stand corrected - the Monoprice has a rubber slip mat, not felt. It has felt in some of the pictures on the site, but has rubber in the specs and in other pictures.
     
    Last edited: Feb 7, 2019
  25. hbucker

    hbucker Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver
    I believe the Monolith comes with both: rubber and felt. Rubber first. Then the felt goes on top.
     
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