The love/mostly hate here for Crosley

The upgrade path is elsewhere. But I still think there is a market for a better Crosley or Crosley like player.

Could they upgrade the arm head stylus a bit ?

 

If they would just put a diamond on 'em. A cheap $20 retail cart would add maybe $10 to their cost (?). Just something that would not eat up the record!

 

That's What I wanted to hear a suggestion to improve. We already know about the hatred here.

 

I've got the solution; we get a nice arm on it, perhaps direct drive, have Grado, Ortofon, or Lyra build an OEM cartridge for it, get a nice tube front end/phono stage with a little see-through window so you can groove on the tubes; nice leatherette case and old fashioned beaded trim over a substantial woodframe like suitcase with a pair of single drivers ala mini-Lowthers. Killer entry level. Price. Oh, 10 grand.

 

I don't hate them, as a concept, although I do hate what they do. All it would take is a simple upgrade so these folks could play their vinyl for years and use them on on other tables as they upgrade. First, do no harm, is what I say.

 

What you need (and there were vintage portables that did it this way) is a lid that pulls off and detaches into two speakers. Then you can use a magnetic cart with a reasonable tracking force.

I'm old enough to have started out with machines that abused the records. At some point I realized I had spent a hell of a lot of money on records, and it was worth buying better gear to protect that investment. And I wasn't buying 30-dollar LPs!

 

Sure, the upgrade path is elsewhere. But how are they gonna know about it? That's my point ... the crappy record changer with an 8-track built in which I got at Radio Shack when I was 11 years old was right down the shelf from their top of the line $300 or $400 TT. These kids buying Crosley don't see that option.

 

People should hate them if they tear up the records, and they do.

I've bought better old portable record players at yard sales simply to demolish them so they would not tear up any more records. There is no reason that a decent entry level table could not be made for a couple hundred bucks retail if they were made in quantity. With a decent arm and cart AND a phono stage in the table. Quantity would have to be high though.

 

Doesn't anybody make a decent record player now?

When I was a kid, I heard some pretty good ones (Philips, P/E, Grundig?) …

 

They didn't have a receiver or speakers. They got an Audio Technica AT-PL60USB to play through their computer. Not a terrible choice, considering the alternative.

 

Yeah, the idea is good for entry-level vinyl playing especially without anything to play it through. There is nothing wrong with a portable record player that doesn't eat records. Maybe someday.

 

There continues to be a market for an inexpensive, fairly easy to use entry level turntable. Orbit is a good start. Crosley is not. If Urban Outfitters understood this at all they would work with Orbit, or somebody else, to get decent quality tables in their store AND people who could come to the store once/twice a week as a start to show people how to do vinyl the right way. People who go to Urban Outfitters are not budget conscience. There's money for those that want to do this the right way. The only thing that will happen to those people who buy Crosley will be frustration that the tables suck and ruined their new, $25 Black Keys album.

 

As opposed to the stuffed shirts on this forum who are primarily interested in listening to their systems.

 

These things ruin the discs while they spin. Stupid. 'Audiophilia' aside, its just plain and simple a horrible investment. Buying records requires some long term care and consideration, and presuming in the 21st century that we have access to pretty great sounding digital, I would so much rather potential 'crosley' buyers invest in a good dac than these stupid things. Go get an audioquest dragonfly or something and see! I'm pretty much all vinyl, but please don't munch the grooves with these Pieces of S***.

 

I don't think the people who shop at Urban Outfitters for audio gear/records will know the difference.

 

The real Crosley products were well made, great tube table radios and one of the best kitchen refrigerators money could buy!

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3549/3341039586_32f4433844_z.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3036/2956964396_b470846fef.jpg

http://file.vintageadbrowser.com/vmom0w8h6naa3x.jpg

http://ejay.com.au/cacImage/2003/08/11/100_3166.jpg

 

I have a Numark portable that is no different than those Crosleys. Actually the cheapo effect seems to suppress pops, clicks and surface noise. It sounds like crap, but not for those reasons.

 

It would be nice if they had a 1, 2, 3 better player level for an upgrade path. That being said, no matter how bad they are it certainly is not a bad thing to have budget players available in 2014. Consider the other alternative, none at all, is that a good answer?

 

I don't know Guild, I see it as a tool of destruction in the hands of the unknowing! It's not as if records in 2014 are consumer items meant to be used up and worn out; They are collectibles! Can we just head to the record shop to replace a mint 1st press copy of Light My Fire? It seems that no amount of money can replace certain records. Some original master tapes that pressed them no longer exist!

 

Oh my gosh...

 

My intention was to make one post on this thread and move on....now I seem to be caught up in this parlor game. No way we will change anything here, but......
I think some seem to forgot, a lot of these units are "do it all" things. They have preamps and some have speakers. Heck, I've seen some with CD players and I thought mp3 hookups(?). A lot of these buyers probably only have i-thingies and ear buds to listen to music on. These units do fill a need/hole. They just don't do it well. I have seen the U-Turn mentioned, I feel that is not what these purchasers are looking for. Even that unit is too complicated. Th put a diamond on the Crosley would be enough - IMO. It would then stop the accelerated wear to the vinyl.
As an upgrade to a stand alone table, I still think a table with a P-Mount cart is the way to go. Simple upkeep, no special tools needed to change carts, few adjustments, and there would be more carts available if they were to be somewhat successful. These buyers from the digital age don't want tables they have to fiddle with, and there is very little support out there if one needs turntable maintenance, in most areas.

 

But don't forget Henry Kloss and his creation of smaller, all in one stereos, in the form of record players and high quality table radios. Getting better than a Crosley will require more funds applied to the design, but something that plays LPs, sounds halfway decent and goes for $299 should not be impossible. The Crosleys are selling because they are plug and play. If there's something better that's as easy to use it will sell.

 

Good point.

 

I've seen some real cheap junk lately - $40.00 players at Target, $60.00 players that look identical to the Target players at Australia Post of all places. People who buy this junk hoping to get into vinyl are going to give up pretty quickly and wonder what the fuss is about!
http://www.target.com.au/p/target-turntable-919pc/55384896

 

I don't think people who buy these things get it. They're modeled after all the ancient players people have posted pics of, the things they had as kids and teens in the '60s.

Thing is, that's when records, especially rock and pop records, were thought of as temporary fad, disposible, consumable entertainment. And for that you had temporary, disposible, consumable players with no upgrade path because why upgrade something that'll wear out and and get tossed anyway? Like all the $25 and $30 LPs that people play on those Crosleys soon will be.

I thought hipsters were supposed to be all enviromental/sustainable conscious. This flies in the face of that.

Gotta think of some throwaway junk I can peddle to that demographic so I can exploit it out of some of their mom and dad's cash.