Fluance RT85 Turntable

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Dinglehead, Jan 3, 2019.

  1. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    I'm thinking that the Blue stylus on the Bronze body, might be a very nice combination, since the Bronze body is a the better engine.

    Having athe Bronze and Black cartridges, I find that they are both excellent. The black is more organic in nature and has more bass than I have ever heard from any cartridge or stylus, not excessive, but really there, in a way that you would not expect from from a record. But the Black, having more detail than the Bronze, will dig up more detail than the Bronze and you will want to use the Black with new records or while playing records which are more in pristine condition.

    The Bronze cartridge, which was on the Thorens when I bought it, is a nice all around cartridge, it doesn't seem to do one thing specifically well, but it does everything nicely.

    On some older records, they don't seem to sound right with either stylus. It also may be because the records have more wear on them or just that, they were never intended to be played with an overly nice stylus. Back in the 60's and early 70's, a really nice stylus was an elliptical stylus and most of the older stylus designs were conical.

    For these records, I think a stylus that was more like what someone would be playing records back in the day, might make them sound more like I remember them sounding.

    There are records that I really enjoyed back in the day, that I don't enjoy as much today. A good example is the Tijuana Brass, which on my equipment is sounding a bit too harsh and detailed. I heard some of these same albums over someone's house several years back, being played on a vintage ear system, because that is the system that he still had, and I thought that they sounded quite nice.

    I think that the Monitor 70's would work well for vintage records, as they are nice but not overly detailed speaker's and would be a good match with a turntable that has the Blue stylus on it.

    If you do acquire a Bronze cartridge an mount is in it's own headshell, than you could pop in the Blue stylus and see how the Blue stylus sounds with the Bronze body. It would be an interesting experiment?

    The Red/Blue cartridge puts out 5.5 mV and the Bronze/Black puts out 5.0 mV, so the Blue will have a slight decrease in volume on the Bronze body, but not by very much.
     
    Big Blue likes this.
  2. Dinglehead

    Dinglehead Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Florida
    I’m tempted to try a bronze on this thing. Will there be a substantial difference between the blue and bronze?
     
  3. displayname

    displayname Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dallas
    Your room seems so bright here compared to how it you have it now, haha.
     
    SandAndGlass likes this.
  4. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    Very much of a difference. smoother would be my observation, if I were to describe the difference using only one word.

    The blue is a nice cartridge, but the Bronze is in a different league.

    The Bronze is a nude fine stylus, which is a better stylus than an elliptical stylus.

    The cartridge body itself is a large upgrade form the cartridge body that is shared by the Red/Blue.

    Keep in mind that the Black, which is a $755 cart, is the same cartridge body as the Bronze.
     
    displayname likes this.
  5. Big Blue

    Big Blue Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    I am under the impression fine-line styli really need to be set up well to get their benefits, but I am thinking as long as Fluance has been precise enough in designing these for proper alignment of the 2M series, you should be good with a Bronze as long as you get the overhang right? I know I saw a video in which one of the designers actually name-checked the Bronze and Black as part of the upgrade path, so my hope would be they actually considered that and aren't just selling something they can't back up.
     
  6. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    Quite right and there is a story here.

    I thought the room was way to bright to get any stereo to sound good in the room. This was back in 2008 and I was not planning on doing any audio in the room at that time. But after everything was cleared out, I looked around this big empty room and thought. Big..., plaster over concrete walls and ceilings, ceramic tile over concrete floors and plate glass windows.

    This is about the worst room for audio ever. And I would ask myself, how a decent fairly basic stereo could be installed in this room. Each time, I would answer my self and say, there is no way, that I could ever make this room sound even all right.
     
    displayname likes this.
  7. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    The Bronze is not more critical, with regard to set up, than the Blue. If the Blue sounds good, the chances are in your favor that the Bronze will too.

    But, there is really no way that anyone would know, that has not mounted a Bronze on a Fluance. Anyone?

    The Black is a different matter. The most often heard comments involve VTA alignment.

    I have a Rega arm that had the Black on it, when I purchased the turntable. I put a black stylus on it and I did not have any any cartridge alignment issues. Noting that the Rega arm does not have a VTA adjustment.

    If you read the Black reviews, you here the issue of VTA coming up all the time. With the Bronze, not really at all.
     
    Big Blue likes this.
  8. PhilBiker

    PhilBiker sh.tv member number 666

    Location:
    Northern VA, USA
    It is very nice to be able to swap out cartridges easily. I love removable headshells. I have them handy for swapping. I say keep both the ones you have and swap as needed.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  9. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    Nice headshell holder.
     
  10. Big Blue

    Big Blue Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    I honestly had no idea until a couple years ago that removable headshells weren't standard on anything other than something like a suitcase turntable. Any turntable I had seen at a friend's house was a Technics-type DJ turntable, and then my wife gave me the RT80. So I thought, oh yeah, of course this is how the headshell goes on. Then I started looking at what else is on the market, and I saw that almost every decent turntable has a fixed headshell. It doesn't make any sense to me that more manufacturers don't offer it as an option. I like the idea of having a couple of options for different types of music or different quality pressings, as well as a cart wired for mono, but I don't like the thought of having to get a screwdriver out every time I change a record.
     
    PhilBiker likes this.
  11. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    Manufacturer's of the higher end turntables take the opinion that removable headshel'ls add another unnecessary part to the tonearm and something that may have additional play in it.

    Most high end TT's have a VTA adjustment on the arm. Rega does not, with the feeling that implementing an adjustment will involve more parts and introduce more play.

    A DJ, on the other hand, may have a professional reason for changing out headshell's on a more frequent basis, than a regular audiophile would.

    I personally agree with you and do not consider having a removable headshell to be an evil thing.
     
  12. Big Blue

    Big Blue Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    Yeah, I do understand their reasons, I just think they would be wise to offer the option. VPI on some of their arms lets you swap out the entire arm tube, which achieves the same sort of functionality as removable headshell, but at so much more cost... it is VPI, after all...
     
    displayname likes this.
  13. Upstateaudio

    Upstateaudio Senior Member

    Location:
    Niskayuna, NY
    Swappable headshells make it easier for audiophiles with aging eyes and deteriorating coordination to change out cartridges when they need changing and lack convenient dealer support.
     
  14. Big Blue

    Big Blue Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    What's really nice is when a cart you want to try is sold with a headshell attached option, and even nicer is when they even get the overhang right where you need it.
     
  15. Majeure

    Majeure New Member

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    Is the
     
  16. Majeure

    Majeure New Member

    Location:
    Massachusetts
     
  17. Majeure

    Majeure New Member

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    Sorry for the above typo LOL!! My question is can you adjust the height of the tonearm?
     
  18. Hero

    Hero Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Just picked up an RT 85 and overall it is very nice but I have noticed that the anti-skate is a bit janky and is too weak to prevent the tonearm from skating inward on the highest setting.
     
    displayname likes this.
  19. Upstateaudio

    Upstateaudio Senior Member

    Location:
    Niskayuna, NY
    Could it be defective? I would contact Fluance.
     
  20. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    The main exception in high end turntables is the GEM Dandy line, which use a Jelco arm which takes a headshell. I favor this approach. Glad to hear nice things about this model of Fluance turntable. It's nicely styled too. Very beautiful. A strobe disc is a useful thing for all phonophiles to own. Usually more accurate than phone apps.
     
    SandAndGlass likes this.
  21. Hero

    Hero Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    I contacted them and they didn't offer an exchange just some info on how the anti skate should work. I will ask for a return/exchange before the return window expires but I suspect they are all going to be like that because I see many complaints about the anti skate mechanisms on these Chinese made TT's. Hopefully it is just a one off defect though. You never know.
     
    PhilBiker likes this.
  22. brownsugah

    brownsugah Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    I just bought a black one. I have the u-turn currently. I dunno if I’m going to sell it or not. Hmm..
     
    PhilBiker likes this.
  23. Big Blue

    Big Blue Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    I would be curious to see what you find if you get a different one. I don't notice an issue with anti-skate not working on my RT80, but that doesn't mean there isn't a general quality control problem with the mechanism that I just have been lucky in avoiding. Based on what you said their response was, I am wondering if it wasn't clear to them you were contacting them about a defect rather than just technical support on how to set anti-skate. Or maybe they want to trouble-shoot first to rule out user error. In my experience, Fluance has been very willing to address issues, though I do know they have had trouble even stocking units of the RT85, so an exchange may not be their first suggestion at this point (not that you aren't entitled to one, from the issue you describe!).
     
  24. MattJR

    MattJR Well-Known Member

    Location:
    New York
    To those with an RT85, and/or using the Ortofon 2M Blue... does anyone else find the stylus EXTREMELY sensitive to dust? I mean, of course all styli work better on clean records, that goes without saying... and I clean my records petty thoroughly before every spin, but it seems like as soon as the Blue picks up even the slightest speck, it sounds like utter crap... Then I pick up the needle, clean it off and re-drop in the same place, and it sounds great. Perhaps this is the price you pay for a cart/stylus that is more "detailed", but it's a real pain in the rear if I need to clean the stylus more than once per side!
    Could this be something that gets better as the cart breaks in???
     
    brownsugah likes this.
  25. thetman

    thetman Forum Resident

    Location:
    earth
    I
    As someone who has no turntable but am currently thinking of getting into vinyl-its things like this that make me stand back and rethink things. I was also looking at the RT85 as a turntable to introduce myself to the vinyl world, but to me it still sounds like a lot of work just to listen to some music. sorry for the mini rant- just saying.
     

Share This Page

molar-endocrine