Gold Note Mediterraneo turntable review

That's strange. I just tested mine. With my ear just inches away from the spindle I could not hear anything. Not on 33rpm nor on 45. No wobble either.

But I can understand that would put you off. Was this at a dealer?

 

Yes auth dealer. Its at my house right now and looks like a return. Gold Note asked me to run it 3 days straight to see if it goes away. I will but I can hear the motor from my chair 8 feet away. Especially at 45rmp

 

Wow. Something is seriously off. It almost sounds like the pulley took a blow if it wobbles. Not good.

Don't buy this one.

 

Thats what I thought but gold note said not to worry about the wobble. Personally I think thats exactly what the noise is all about. Someone monkeyed the shaft in , bent just a little or something. I dont know but expensive new motor should not be 10x as loud as the 40 year old Yamaha motor beside it. its a constant rhythmic "shoosh" like ski pants rubbing together but faster. And at 45 its LOUD. Belt on or off - no dif. I dislike taking things back but I cant tolerate this on a table.

 

This is the replacement I got. Worse.

 

Hmm, really not good!

Have you sent the video to Gold Note?

And does it do the same without the belt attached? ie - without the belt's 'pull' on the shaft.

 

This is now #2. Yes it makes noise belt on or off. I ran it for hours and it changes but always makes noise. Starting off a tolerable noise and worked up to this letting it run it. Goldnote is aware and says "those tables are assembled in Canada so contact your dealer" Which I did and my dealer was shipped this table new, in box which I took home and .... here we are.

 

That's a bugger. Not up on Canadian consumer rights but surely it's not an acceptable product if the dealer can't sort it....

 

hi, can anyone tell me how to set this tone arm. how to set horizontal coz i can not find to down or elevate tone arm. my tonearm bellavista but i can not find the model almost same with

 

I just got a Valore 425 Lite. I walked into the store with my mind set on a MoFi StudioDeck but the salesman told me this sounded every bit as good, had all the same features and specs but was cheaper. I trusted him. So far this turntable has that same motor pulley noise and I've ran it for at least 24 hours straight now. It makes the noise with or without the belt. I've noticed it also has pretty brutal wow and flutter. I've measured it and it's sitting around 0.5-0.6! No wonder I can hear some wobble on the pianos. The feet also don't feel rigid at all. As I put my hands on the right and left sides of the turntable to lift the dust cover, I end up somehow shaking the whole table a little which is strange because I'm incredibly gentle with it.

The dealer opens their store back up on Wednesday so until then I'll see if the pitch fixes itself as the motor breaks in or something. But so far my complaints are that the feet themselves are cheap ****, the motor pulley makes a laughable amount of noise, and the pitch fluctuation is so obvious even the IPod Nano and $5 headphone owners of the house thought it was terrible.

Just a warning for anyone considering the Gold Note Valore 425 Lite, you may want to look into the MoFi StudioDeck instead.

 

Yikes, I would get your money back.

 

Well I asked about returns and the guy assured me it would work perfectly. I should be more doubtful of people my gosh.

I can still try to get my money back but I'm gonna give it a few days to see if the turntable improves AND I'll tell the dealer about the issues and honestly who knows maybe I have a dud because as a whole it's not bad. The tonearm really is excellent and the finish is great but the motor system man... it's bad. Maybe after I tell him he'll have a replacement and it'll all be fine. If it isn't, he has to AT LEAST give me store credit. I know he has that StudioDeck and honestly it's a pretty similar turntable but it appears to be built better and I know for a fact that the wow and flutter on that turntable makes you think it's a direct drive system.

 

Looks like there is a pattern of lemons with this brand. I wouldn't bother with trying another one. I doubt anything will improve either. That's not how thing usually work. If the dealer gets difficult with you, time to call the credit card company for a charge back.

 

Now that we've got this forum up again, any other gold note owners care to pipe in?

 

Super nice TT!! And great story on getting one direct from the Prez. I always understood that for accurate speed and limited stress on the motor that the belt should be in the middle of the platter. This one looks to be about a 1/4" from the bottom edge.....

 

Well if the pulley isn't at the right height, the belt won't be on the platter. Mine is just above 1/3 of the height of the platter, and I can't change that.

 

The motor rumble comes through loud and clear while listening too. I turned it on to 45rpm, attached a ****ty DJ stylus, and let the stylus down onto a spinning CD. Once I turned off the motor, the rumble was gone until it eventually slowed down and stopped. I thought something was up at first but figured it must be just the stylus going through the grooves but after listening to many records I was sure there something else up.

Anyways, another problem found. Add it to the list. Seems like the only thing this turntable does right is the tonearm.

 

I have never tried the Valore, but my Mediterraneo's pulley and motor are absolutely silent. I don't see me ever wanting to buy another TT actually.

 

If the motor were dead silent on this valore and the feet were stable, I think I'd feel the same way. I really do love the sound of the turntable (aside from the low hum I hear from the motor rumble).

 

Looks like they unfortunately dropped the QC ball on this model. Do persist in getting it sorted one way or the other.

 

Get rid of that junker and get your money back pronto. Go somewhere else and buy what you wanted in the first place. Even if that thing is running to factory spec, it's no good. This dealer is either completely ignorant or knowingly took you for a ride. Either way, not a place to be spending your money.

Here's why:

Gold Note | VALORE 425 LITE

The company's own factory spec lists the w/f at 0.3%. That's piss poor. Nothing like that will ever be good, period.

I refer you to NAB standards from 1964:

Wow and Flutter Factor (Reproducing)3
1.20 It shall be standard that the average deviation from the mean speed of the reproducing
turntable when reproducing shall not exceed 0.1% of the mean speed.

 

Get the MoFi and don’t look back. And you are right- the MoFi’s speed is rock solid.

 

At this point unless the dealer can magically fix all of these issues, I’m returning it for a studiodeck. I’m still gonna go back to the guy for the studiodeck though. He wasn’t trying to sell me a broken model, he showed me this exact table in the store and it was perfect there. He was truly trying to help me out but obviously it didn’t work out so well.