Fluance RT81 was my first table and the last piece of gear I upgraded. Good little table. I have a VPI Scout Jr. now, which I love dearly. But I think I could still be happy with the Fluance.
I can only speak for myself but there were a number of things. Firstly, its grounding system was terrible. It always hummed and it's supposedly grounded. Once I opened it up, I saw the ground wire but it didn't do anything. I had to ground one of the screws to the underside of the tonearm. So strange and dumb that this was not grounded properly out of the factory. Secondly, it vibrated far too easily! It wasn't until I put it on a leveled pillow with its feet dangling that it stopped being susceptible to vibrations from its own motor. The vibrations would cause the surface it was on to vibrate at least to a really tiny degree. For some reason that escapes me, the feet easily picked up any and all vibrations which translated into some type of hum through the speakers. It was a weird vibration feedback loop. After the pillow trick, the sound was clearer but one shouldn't need to take drastic DIY measures on a 1K turntable, IMHO! Thirdly, the motor within a few months developed a whirring noise and rattle. To VPI's credit, they went above and beyond by shooting a video on how to dismantle it to access the motor and put the necessary lube as it wasn't obvious to me. That appeared to resolve the issue for the couple of weeks I had it prior to putting it up for sale. I mentioned it to the buyer who was comfortable with this and more experienced than I with turntables in general (back then). Fourthly, the bundled headphone amp was noisy. Unless you had headphones that were extremely easy to drive, you were bound to hear some hiss and slight hum which was distracting to hear. Lastly, the turntable hummed even after being grounded. It was a different type of hum than you'd expect from a typical grounding issue. Again, credit goes to VPI for shooting a video for me. In this case, it was the removal of certain jumpers which fixed this issue. Though VPI came through in the end (twice), I was flabbergasted that these issues would exist at all. To me, that was a lot of money and it seemed a lot of members on this board had far better reliability and robust designs than what I encountered with this model. Back then, mine was called the Nomad. Since then, it's been renamed a number of times ; Traveler, Player, etc. Who knows why? The concept is interesting to a degree but it would need to be far more refined before it should ever be marketed again.
It sounds like a massive headache and like you I would expect far better reliability. I've been looking at a few turntables and appreciate your feedback.
The VPI Traveler doesn't have a headphone amp... I believe the Nomad did. For what it's worth, I've been using a VPI Traveler for 4yrs and love mine.
Early 80s to Late 80s - Kenwood plastic (not so) fantastic Late 80s to late 90s - Dual CS503 Late 90s to early 10s - hibernation Early 10s - Rega RP1 Mid 10s - Rega RP6 & Lenco L78 Late 10s - heavy mod RP6 & L78 awaiting mods
I had the AR XA also. Bought it at Crazy Eddies in 1977 or so. Replaced it with a Dual 502 in about 1980. Now I have a VPI Aries 3 and I’m done for the foreseeable future.
1987- Technics SL-Q200, used my senior year in high school. 2020- Pro-Ject X1, just bought this week.
c. 1960s: family console thingy we were not allowed to touch and got yelled at for when we walked heavily and made the needle skip. c. 1972: Avocado green plastic turtable/amplifier all-in-one thingy with two speakers that was ALL MINE c. 1970s later: A Sherwood turntable I don't remember very well. Then a Technics turntable I don't remember very well. THE CD DARK AGES c. Mid-1980s-2019 July: Technics SL-J2 direct drive turntable with various undistinguished cartridges and styli THE LIGHT SHINES July 2019-present Rega Planar 6/Ortophon Bronze 2M
Marantz in the 80's. Don't remember the model number. Dual (now), but only play it for $hits & giggles
1982 - Technics SL-D2 1983 - Technics SL-DL5 2005 - Thorens 145 mk2 2009 - Technics SL-1800 2015 - Rega RP3 2017 - VPI HW 19 mkIII In most cases these overlapped owning 2 table at the same time. In fact I had the SL-1800 the longest .
Technics from CL Rega RP1 (i thought it wasnt bad, despite others here). Rega P3-24 with lots of upgrades Rega RP6 as one who bought into cd hype i can say i prefer sound of vinyl over digital. BUT to each their own. Its a very subjective hobby.
1997-1999 - Technics SL1200Mk2 THE DIGITAL VOID 2018 - Systemdek IIX900 2019 - Audio Note TT1 dlx 2019 - Audio Note TT Three
I'm laughing out loud. This thread got me curious and I was able to find a photo online of my green all-in-one unit (although the photo here is the blue variant that my brother had). Made by General Electric. Circa 1972. Sounded great to me at the time. I used to put the speakers on the floor, lie down between them and push them up against my ears, like earphones, and blare something like Jethro Tull Aqualung or Led Zeppelin I. With candles, incense, and the smell of Cannabis in the air..... Later upgrades included cutting off the speakers and attaching larger ones that I think had belonged to my brother. No idea where he got them. Still later, I had two battered old tube amps hooked up to this thing, one for each channel, that made it all a lot louder. By that time I was listening to Black Sabbath and Deep Purple and Slade and Cactus and all kinds of other loud stuff. That said, it was around his time that I started sneaking my mother's classical discs on to the turntable for a listen now and then.
I just Googled "Rigonda Stereo." I have to give props to the Marketing department for the Rigonda "Party Time."
A little Ferguson mono suitcase automatic with the long spindle you could stack 45s on is the first one I remember. Probably around 1970 or so. Then the aforementioned Rigonda "Bolshoi" radiogram I bought off a friend for about 15 pounds in 1978(?) My brothers had a second hand cheap stereo which they wouldn't let me touch. First "proper" turntable was part of a late 70's Sony separates system I bought off another friend about 1980. Might have been a PS-T1, looking at google. Strobe! When I left home I lived in a bedsit with one armchair and nothing else but my system, built around a Dual CS 505-2, the classic mid-80's entry-level go-to. 1990-2019-nothing, until I bought the P2, quickly adding the Groovetracer Reference subplatter and the AT VM 95 ML, which is where I am today. What I get next really depends on what I can sneak past my wife.
Lloyd Turntable with eight track from 70s Denon automatic from late 90s Technics early 80s (disappeared during a move) U-Turn Orbit with walnut plinth and red O cartridge (current)
RCA Victor Model 45-EY-2 VICTROLA 45 RPM Garrard Type A Mk.II Dual 1211 Turntable Philips GA-212 Philips GA-312 Philips AF829---Had for several months...never really liked it Yamaha P750 NAD 5120-Czech table with circuit board tonearm AR ES1-Should never have sold it. Linn Axis Linn Sondek-Primary table now....after Circus upgrades, Lingo etc. Audio Technica AT727 (Soundburger)....for Record shows and general crate digging
Living room console with record player and storage for a few records > perhaps GE or Sylvania A small portable "suitcase" box with a record player and one built in speaker - fake wood covered with white and acqua paper > again GE or Sylvania A portable stereo suitcase with a player and adjustment for volume, bass, treble > Sylvania A Radio Shack components system with a RS player built by Garrad A cheap plastic p-mount Sony TT A cheap Stanton TT > first TT with a cart, headshell, belt, etc. A rega p1 > now "souped" up a bit > still in use for 15 years now A Technics MKII > bought used in great shape > still in use
