I'll probably be banned for this: I bought a Crosley

I found an almost new Crosley Crusier in a thrift store today for $5. And, yes, I bought it. Wait, let me explain: I saw it on the shelf and recognized it. Ha! Crosley! I played with it, admiring the wonderful construction. Four dollars and ninety eight cents was tempting for a new record player.... but I walked away. I went to another store and thought...."Hmmmm. Five bucks for a turntable?" Okay, so I walked back and bought it.



The Crosley Cruiser. I mean, really, who designed this thing. It looks like something designed by the Yugoslavian Army. Or the Yugo. Weird awkward design. Old fashion knobs protruding out of nowhere.

And now my proud new owner exprience.

1) Construction. It's surprisingly heavy. Why? Everything is made out of plastic (well, the tonearm I must admit is a solid steel rod). Ah, but that utilitarian case. It's made out of vinyl-covered fiberboard. Heavy, clunky. Why so much bulk to hold two ounces of plastic parts? The Yugo factor.

2) I play the first record (a 1-dollar DOKKEN record I bought for a laugh. My first Dokken record) and it skips. I eye the needle and notice the azimuth is off by about 30 degrees--- I kid you not. Try to adjust the headshell, but there's a screw holding it in place. The hole to hold the headshell in place was drilled at the wrong place and its holding the headshell tilted way out of whack. I try shortening the screw to hold the headshell at the right angle, but the plastic hold strips out. I glue it in place. Oh, well.

3) It hums. For some inexplicable reason, a ground wire runs from inside the turntable OUT to the headshell. I've never seen anything like it. I tighten the wire. It hums a little less.

4) The tone controls are amazing: By adjusting the tone control knob, you can practically make the vocal VANISH. The lead singer's voice disappears if you roll down the treble. The human voice is has to be piercing bright to cut through the balance. Yikes.

All in all, it's a weird little table. Yugoslavian Army issue. They sell this for 70 bucks on Amazon. I almost feel like I got ripped off for $5.

My first Crosley.

 

Will you be the first person in the history of hipsters to put a LOMC cartridge on a Crosley? I'm sure that putting an MC cart on a Crosley would require some modding to bypass the internal phono preamp. I'm sure you'd be up to that sort of modding. Someone needs to do it. The TT was only 5 bucks. What do you have to loose if the experiment doesn't work out?

 

You have time to lose, and never get it back. Quit fussing with this pos.

 

It's nothing that a new tonearm, bearing, platter, plinth, and motor wouldn't fix . . . Go for it!

 

That beast is not meant to play records. It is designed to cut records. It has also been used to cut spiral patters on sun dial faces. You can also use it to almost completely remove all grooves in a record and produce shiny black discs to use to scare birds from fruit trees.

 

I would have bought it for $5 and use it when I apply wood glue as step 1 when deep cleaning really dirty records.

 

Probably more work than it's worth, but it probably would make a pretty sweet rcm if you gutted it. A cooler looking Nitty Gritty with a handle.

 

I love how these Crosleys piss so many people off here. It's fun to read the comments on the various Crosley threads.

 

If it's got a decent spherical on it and doesn't track at 369 grams, I don't see what the problem is. It would be very handy for vacations. I am going to buy records on vacations. If I'm dying to hear them before I get home, a good condition spherical stylus at even 3 grams is not going to hurt any record, as far as I'm aware. I mean, the recommended VTF for an Ortofon SPU Classic GM Mk II is...........................


...at the very least, it's a conversation starter for audiophile get togethers...

 

It is gorgeous though.

 

Actually theres a couple videos on youtube that show a crosley trudging out grooves in records. Pretty depressing actually.

 

Well, there goes that!

 

I think they finally realized they needed to go in a different direction. They are now selling a nice entry level table made for them by Pro Ject that was well reviewed by Fremer, and will soon be pressing records on equipment they bought over from Europe.

I'm betting they produce some quality vinyl because these moves make it seem like they want to change the image of the company.

 

Great idea. I bought a mini vacuum cleaner and have been think of working up an RCM! I was thinking of unloading this on ebay, but in good conscience as a record lover --- I can't bring myself to sell it to some poor sucker.

Yes, this thing is a groove cutter. There's a non-adjustable spring providing enough downward force to play it suspended sideways.

A few other notes: This platter rides so low, there are various ways to scratch the hell out of a record on various parts. I didn't notice these last night. The latches that hold on the cover will dig into the bottom of your record unless you remember to flip them down. The same with the tonearm rest, unless you flip it down flat after you lift the tonearm, it proceeds to gouge the underside of your record once you spin it. It's like a team of idiots designed this thing.

 

exactly! i can only imagine the damage to records that my old POS radio shack table caused, and that was an upgrade over the hand me downs before that! at least the nickel that i taped to the tonearm kept that mono sgt peppers from skipping.

 

I'll be honest, I respect the heck out of the person in the thrift store who properly priced this POS. And yet hipsters still buy these...

 

Re: I'll probably be banned for this: I bought a Crosley

Not banned but certainly shunned.

@chadbang, I'm with you, bro. I would have bought it, too, for its entertainment value. I wish I still had the kid's Panasonic record player I bought on a lark. It was powered by D cells and came with a microphone. You could sing along with your records. I'd dance around, the turntable in one hand and the mic in the other. Zombie karaoke.

 

I hear you there, but shouldn't we learn as we progress as a species? We used to think it was perfectly fine to add lead into gasoline, but we've moved past that. There was a time when mercury was used as medicine. They're gone, and so too should Crosleys!

 

i havent learned much in life, but i have learned that concern or worrying about things i cant control is a complete waste of time. as far as 'progressing as a species', then the gear shaming pontificated here must be holding us all back.

sincerely yours,
cro magnon man with a crosley.

 

You should have bought two - one to s*** on and one to cover it up with.

 

It looks cool, worth $5 for that!

 

Exactly, some of those kids players were better than this thing. I mean, I have an old off brand Japanese portable that is actually really nice. Runs on batteries (What good is a portable that needs a plug, like this Crosley). I'm just amazed as what a lousy job a company that has as much loot as Crosley did designing this thing. For decades companies put out portable players, and with all that history behind them, this is the best Crosley could do?

Here's my no-name portable that runs on batteries, has a lighter arm, and actually sounds really good and rich. It sound ten times better than this horrible Crosley.

The funniest thing about this Crosley is that there's a miniplug outlet on back that says "Out to subwoofer" Bwah! I can't imagine the horror show that would occur from rumble if you plugged this into a subwoofer!

But I'm so glad someone came up with the RCM spinner idea! Thanks guys!

My real portable.

 

People want to play records on something that costs under $100 all in. If that cant or won't pay more should they not jump in ?

 

A sense of humor is quite the rare commodity these days, and certainly not just here.

 

Spot on, sami....then again, people laugh at folks who quote movies.