Fluance RT82 Reference High Fidelity Vinyl Turntable Record Player with Ortofon OM10 Cartridge, Speed Control Motor, High Mass MDF Wood Plinth, Vibration Isolation Feet - Walnut

Good looking product, easy set-up, sounds great although I dont have much basis to compare to other turntables

Amp: Denon PMA-350Z Solid State Integrated Amplifier (1975) Speakers: Klipsch RB-51 II Bookshelf Speakers I was considering this and the more expensive RT83, but due to recommendations from online forums I went with the OM10 on the RT82 over the 2M Red on the RT83. Many say the 2M Red is very bright and replacement/upgrade costs on the OM line is cheaper and I will likely go with the OM20 stylus upon replacement. Watch Fluance or another persons video you the Tube for setting up the turntable if youve never done it before. It will be much clearer than the instructions. Its pretty simple to do. I am no audiophile, but I think this thing sounds amazing. Its by far the best turntable Ive had. I cant compare to Rega, or Project, etc. but theres those comparisons on the world wide web. My favorite part about this is it can auto stop! This is fantastic for me that has zero attention span and can, and have, regularly get distracted and not stop the turntable when the records over. It takes about 20secs then the motor stops, saving your stylus. This setting can be turned off for you purist audiophiles. Another great feature is the cue lever. I love watching the thing as it slowly and gently drops the stylus down onto your record. Place the tone arm where you want it, and drop the cue lever to gently drop the stylus to the record. Again, preserving the life of your stylus.

I spent way too much time researching a replacement for a 15 year old Stanton direct drive that honestly didnt sound terrible. I just developed a brief obsession and relentlessly poured through reviews and audiophile forums, bouncing from vintage Denon, Kenwood, Pioneer and Dual to new models from Audio Technica, U-Turn, Fluance, Rega and Pro-Ject. The vintage tables felt like the natural choice, but they either needed too much love or they had been restored and were priced a bit beyond what I wanted to spend. I decided to focus on new tables and lower my budget to $300. The Rega Planar 1 and Pro-Ject Debut were then eliminated. Both seemed like decent options, although they werent without flaw and if Im buying a Rega I want to go all in, glass platter and everything. Audio Technica couldnt match what U-Turn and Fluance offer for $300 in terms of platter, cartridge, motor and aesthetics. The final decision came down to the Fluance RT82 and U-Turn Orbit Plus. If youre looking for a new turntable around $300 these should be the only two that youre considering. With the Orbit you can have an acrylic platter and an Ortofon 0M5E cartridge. Theyre assembled in the US by a small company and I appreciate that. Fluance RT82 comes with a slightly better cartridge and an arguably worse aluminum platter. Where it surpasses the Orbit, in my opinion, is in the cue lever, auto stop, S-shaped tone arm, removable headshell (easier to change cartridges), 33/45 rpm knob and lower wow/flutter %. I have had it for around a week and have probably listened to about 40 hours of music. At first I wasnt thoroughly impressed and I read there might be a break-in period for the stylus. It sounds amazing now and I am completely happy with my purchase.

I purchased my RT82 directly from Fluance because I wanted to be sure I was a registered buyer with Fluance in case there was a problem. Turned out to be a good idea. The first unit I received had a motor speed problem. I called Fluance, spent about 5 minutes on hold, and then talked to Brent. He spent about 15 minutes with me trying to troubleshoot the problem, and when nothing corrected the problem, he offered to process an immediate return and refund. He suggested this would be the fastest route, and then gave me a discount code to use when ordering a replacement unit. So, my experience with Fluance Customer Service was excellent. My first unit was piano black, and it indeed was a fingerprint and dust magnet. Consequently, when I ordered the replacement, I chose the Lucky Bamboo -- a much better choice for me. The new turntable works perfectly. The included Ortofon OM10 Cartridge performs well in terms of channel separation and provides decent quality sound. I did feel it lacked dynamics in the higher frequencies and lacked the bass punch I wanted for my classical music addiction. I upgraded the cartridge to the Nagaoka MP200, with stunning results. As equipped, the RT 82 provides very good performance and sound for a $300 turntable. The Nagaoka MP200 cartridge at $450, is more expensive than the turntable, but combined with the RT82, the sound dynamics, stereo separation, and the ability to reproduce complex music is simply outstanding. Clearly, another alternative would have been to order the RT85N with its acrylic platter and the included Nagaoka MP110 cartridge. However, the MP110 has a bonded stylus with an aluminum cantilever, while the MP200 has a nude stylus with a boron cantilever for truly superior sound performance. If your budget is $300, the RT82 is an excellent choice. If you can swing $500, the RT85N is a very worthy upgrade. But for me, at $750, the combination of the RT82 with the MP200 cartridge makes the perfect package. A couple technical notes to be aware of: the RT82 does not have an internal preamp like the RT80 and RT81. The automatic stop function at the end of a vinyl record does not lift and return the arm to its rest position; it simply stops the rotation leaving the stylus on the record. For many people, automatic turntables are tempting, but my 50+ years of turntable ownership experience have taught me that the automatic functions add noise and complexity and eventually always fail. There is a reason that uber-expensive turntables are always manual, and not automatic. I highly recommend the RT82 and Fluance. For $300, you cant do better. If your budget can accommodate a bit more, put the money in the cartridge.

This turntable is perfect for me. It is dead silent when plugged into the phono inputs on my 1978 Luxman Receiver. I like everything about it. I found it very simple to set up. I have had it for about 2 weeks. So far wonderful.

I was initially a little intimidated by all of the parts that poured out of the packaging. However, the instructions were very clear, and after a few mistakes in attaching the counterweight, I was able to assemble everything successfully. I was also a little suspicious of just how dynamic the sound would be. And although it may be in large part due to the speaker connected to it, I have to say Im was astounded at how wonderful the sound of the first record I played filled my living room. This turntable looks really nice and all of the parts have a very solid feel to them. This is a quality product. And Im loving rediscovery the beautiful rich sound of vinyl.

Great product at a good price. Great quality for beginners, and not just beginners. Turntable works with preamp Fluance PA10.

Got it in piano black and its a beautiful piece of audio technology. It was easy to assemble and set up and the sound is first rate. Cant wait to upgrade to acrylic platter and upscale cartridge.

Fluance does NOT pay for the expensive return shipping for this heavy item. And youre gonna want to return it. This turntable has one thing going for it- the aesthetic. And thats how I got suckered. Even the fancy needle cant redeem the shoddy quality of the device. Theres no automatic loading arm and putting the needle on the record manually with the shoddy plastics that make up the smaller parts proves precarious and could easily damage the fancy needle. The external pre-amp setup was enticing for an audio nerd like me who craves pristine sound without electrical interference. Like the well-reviewed OM10 needle cartridge, its more sucker-bait. Fluance doesnt even provide all the required RCA cables and they dont warn you ahead of time. So imagine my experience gifting this to father and setting it up together only to find Fluance doesnt give you all the parts to make it work. I bought matching Fluance speakers and their preamp thinking it would reduce compatibility issues. Speakers didnt even work. And now I have to pay a small fortune to return ALL of it. Save yourself the anger, disappointment, time and money. Dont buy this record player. Looks cool/piece of crap

Got a totally unplayable unit. End up returning it. I wasted a ton of time in the assembly, troubleshooting in the internet, and with their support not able to resolve. Ugh. So frustrating.