Fluance RT85 Reference High Fidelity Vinyl Turntable Record Player with Ortofon 2M Blue Cartridge, Acrylic Platter, Speed Control Motor, High Mass MDF Wood Plinth, Vibration Isolation Feet - Walnut

Quality entry level system for a good price! Interesting enough Im putting together a mid century modern spin on a project using the Fluance RT85N. Needles to say Im beyond impressed and would recommend to anyone interested in reasonably priced quality Hi-fi stereo equipment!

This turntable sounds so good! Detail is crystal clear, especially highs. But the mids and lows sound great too. As an example for the highs, I was listening to a track on the Tool Lateralus album that has a high hat hit early in the track, and it sounded really similar to what you hear playing a high hat in real life. I’ve listened to that same record before on other turntables and never heard that before! On a Billie Eilish record I could hear a lot more detail in her vocal layering - vocal parts I’d never heard before, which was cool. All the components are study. I was surprised by the weight, and I think that must contribute to an impressively low level of noise. Set up was pretty straightforward and fun for me, and I didn’t have problems with installing the dust covers like some of the other reviewers did. I’m really happy with this, feels like Christmas in May!

Technics SL-3300 Fully Automatic Direct Drive Turntable I bought in 1979 finally gave up. I gave it to my son who wanted to fix it. This presented me a great opportunity to replace the vintage turntable with a better turntable with modern technology I thought. It is very difficult to find comparable turntable. Then I figured turntable just need to spin with good needle to track the vinyl that I went to basic and picked belt-driven Crosley C100BT-BK with preamp. I plugged in to my system and sounded very good with low volume until I slowly turned up the volume to hear distortion. I thought my amplifier was conflicting with pre-amp and checked the switch setting, which was not the issue. I can only go up to quarter volume or it will start distorting. I like crisp sound with volume up, and this turntable wont live up to it. I packed it up for return. I wanted to spend a little more and went on top of the line Fluance RT85 fully manual belt-driven with Ortofon 2M Blue Cartridge is priced $200 by itself. I pick this one because it does not have preamp as I did not want that to be an issue causing sound distortion. This is a solid unit and I tested with different music for sound quality and it was great. Third day, I put on Golden Earrings Moontan side B looking forward to immensely rich sound but when the tonearm came down I got awful scratchy noise, lifted the tonearm to find there was no needle. The needle was broken off. I returned the unit immediately.

I’ve collected vinyl for many decades and have several turntables ranging from vintage Thorens and several Technics to an expensive VPI with Clearaudio Maestro cartridge. I’m a big fan of the Ortofon line and when I saw that the RT85 Reference came with a 2M Blue installed I had to jump at the opportunity. I had purchased speakers from Fluance some years ago and was impressed with their quality and customer service so I expected nothing different with this purchase. I read several of the online reviews that were impressed with the quality of the build, the ease of use, the wonderful Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge and the outstanding sound quality. My unit arrived professionally packed and assembly was a breeze. Kudos for a clearly written user manual. Even though I am not a beginner the clear instructions would be easy for anyone to follow. Once installed I put it to the test with a wide variety of genres and styles of music. I’m still impressed and I’ve been listening every day for a few weeks now. This is a killer combo and I’m still shaking my head in amazement that Fluance has been able to pack so much quality in such an inexpensive unit. The auto stop feature is especially appreciated as my other manual turntables lack anything like that, requiring me to get up and replace the tonearm at the end of each side. While auto stop is not as convenient as semiautomatic, it’s a welcome addition to an otherwise manual turntable. Well done Fluance for putting a quality audio product within reach of almost anyone who is into vinyl. It really shines with my Parks Audio Budgie Tube preamp and has become my favorite turntable!!!! Five solid stars!!!!

Takes a bit of patience to put together. The white gloves are a nice touch to leave no greasy finger prints while assembling it. I had to take one off several times to make adjustments for weights, cartridge and balancing. Better with bare hand for accuracy. I love how accurate it tracks and it’s very smooth. Unlike any turntable I’ve owned. It’s definitely an investment for vinyl lovers. I traded up from an Audio Technica lp-160. The Ortofon cartridge has a nice, but exaggerated high and low end sound on my Polk speakers. I have 2 towers with built in subs, 2 extra A channel front speakers, large center speaker and rear center speaker, for an extra surround sound, 2 wall mounted rear speakers and 2 very small Energy effects channel speakers, in a small living room. It’s sound immersion to say the least. I like to switch to my Sure TypeIV cartridge for some playback. It’s a much lower volume cartridge, but cost twice as much as the Ortofon. I’m still just breaking the turntable in, but the sound it reproduces is pretty amazing. Definitely the best turntable under $500 on the market. You will not find a better price anywhere else. I looked for three months. It’s the same on eBay or Overstock.com or direct from Fluance. Highly recommended. P.S. the auto stop function does not work for me either. I was asked if it’s power rating: the web site says 100-240 volts. It should work anywhere in the world then. Hope that helps. An update! I like the cartridge it comes with, a huge bargain in the price of the turntable. I upgraded to the Ortofon 2M Bronze in July. It sounds even better now! It’s almost as expensive as the unit itself, but so worth it. BTW, you can’t just change out the stylus. Red&Blue only or Bronze&Black only. They have different engines in the cartridge to match the correct stylus. Thanks for looking. Further update. I bought the Ortofon 2M black stylus to go with the bronze. It’s a huge investment, cost double what the turntable does, but omg. The sound it produces is amazing. It takes a few months to break in, then wow! I bought it to play my quadrophonic albums. It has a shibata stylus that gets deep into the groves for amazing sound. I hear things that I had never experienced before. New instruments, and background vocals. It’s also very unforgiving on poor quality or worn vinyl. It exposes every flaw that is on the record. So mainly newer or Japanese pressings only. I can change out the black for the bronze in about a minute for poorer quality pressings. They both work on the same cartridge, which has a faster motor than the blue one does, which makes for superior sound. If you upgrade I recommend the PNP premounted cartridge. It’s lighter weight, just plugs in, no alignment worries for a few dollars more.

My pioneer turntable from 1978 finally died and I had to get a new turntable. I did my research and finally settled on the RT85 and am happy I did. This sounds amazing. I was a little confused by balancing tonearm instructions in the manual but fluance had an excellent video online that showed exactly how to do it. I ordered a tonearm scale just to make sure the tracking weight was set correctly and the scale measured 1.89g. This turntable is great and I would not hesitate purchasing any fluance turntable.

The RT85 is the best turntable I have ever owned. It sounds fantastic! The Ortofon Blue cartridge and stylus are superb. I spent an extra hundred and bought an Ortofon Red stylus that is interchangeable with the Blue. I wanted something to use on records that are not in the best condition without ruining my Blue, which is around $200 to replace. The unit does not have a built-in preamplifier and so if you are considering buying one that may be a deal killer unless your amplifier or receiver has a preamplifier. It also does not have an automatic return feature, which would have made it even more awesome but not a deal breaker for me. It does have a switch on the back that allows you to turn on an auto stop feature to keep the stylus from going around endlessly but I found it takes around ten rotations before it stops. By that time I am up and turning over the record. It tracks at only 1.8g but you could go as light as 1.5. I prefer to stay with the recommend weight. I found the unit easy to set up right out of the box with very little to put together. It took maybe twenty minutes. The cartridge was already perfectly aligned by the factory and that is a fantastic perk because doing so can be a pain for those of us not too good with small detailed adjustments. The turntable is very very quiet. I hear no noise from the platter whatsoever. The acrylic platter is heavy enough to give good stability. If you are thinking of a turntable in or around this price range I doubt you could get better performance for under $1000 that is this quality. I have owned many turntables in my lifetime and this is a winner. Im sure the models under the RT85 are very good machines as well but I think it would be worth saving your money a little longer to save upgrading later and spending more money. You probably wouldnt need to buy another turntable for many years to come.

I bought this turntable because of the favorable reviews and features. I have mostly direct drive turntables and i wanted a belt driven one of good quality. And this one convinced me to give it a try. It all started with my search for an Ortofon Blue Phono cartridge for my Technics SL-1210 MK2, a turntable I cherish for many years. Then I came across the Fluance RT85 that came with the Ortofon Blue cartridge, plus an acrylic platter and automatic end of record stop, so the the stylus doesnt get worn out when the record is finished. I also liked how you can see the belt rotating the platter. It is also convenient that it comes with a dust cover. A lot of very expensive turntables do not include one. But when I listen to records I take it off, because I think it sounds better, perhaps there is no extra vibrations. The sound is very clear and quiet. Its very easy to use and I would recommend to any lover of vinyl, even beginners. Because sooner or later if you are starting listening to vinyl youre definitely are going to be happy with this beautiful turntable.

Dont overthink like I did, you will love it. Get a solid preamp and itll sound amazing. Clear rich full bodied balanced sound. High quality, sturdy, beautiful. Looks amazing in white. Setup is fairly easy, read the instructions carefully and have some patience.

Very good