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

Im not a hi fi expert by any means, but this RT85 sounds great. Powered by a Yamaha and JBL bookshelf speakers. I was concerned about sitting it up, it was a 10 minute easy job. I got the bamboo and am happy with my choice not a big problem with dust and finger prints. Didnt know what I was not hearing on my old cd s. Dark side of the moon has new life. Oh this is my first tt in almost 40 years. I made a good purchase. Found my old records from Army days lots to listen to again.

I recently had to replace one of my turntables. I own a VPI Scout and replaced a Shinola Runwell with the less expensive RT 85 Fluance. After three years, the Shinola Runwell developed a tracking problem. I sent it back to Shinola for repair (Shinola has a great warranty). When the turntable was sent back, the motor was damaged. Due to the pandemic, Shinola offered to replace it but production was delayed. Eventually the replacement turntable arrived after two months. Unfortunately, it was also damaged upon delivery. The motor made a noise during rotation. Shinola agreed to refund my money. The Shinola was a $2500.00 turntable. I decided to look for a less expensive turntable. I went on YouTube to research turntable reviews. The Fluance RT 85 was highly recommended. It had the same Ortofon blue cartridge that the Shinola had. I also read the positive Amazon reviews. I had a Project Debut in the past but found it was sensitive to vibrations such as walking across the floor (95 year old house). The feet on the RT 85 are great. Set up was not difficult. The sound quality is very good and the design is attractive. Only negative is the cheap quality of the lift arm and it does not consistently stop on all records. I high recommend it.

I have the RT85 paired with a Schiit Mani 2 and it sounds phenomenal. This is a well made and pretty turntable for $500. If you’ve never balanced a tonearm before do not follow the Fluance manual the steps are not great. Locate the Fluance Youtube Video that walks you through the setup.

Beautiful wood finish. Easy to set up and adjust. Auto stop is sketchy though… Update 03/04/23: The table is very subjective to external vibrations. It is difficult to clean a record on the acrylic platter... Vinyl records slip as you attempt to clean a record and the record stops spinning... The drive belt isnt very taught either causing it not to grip the motor spindle when applying slight pressure during record cleaning.. Recommend using an off-the-table cleaning methods... Minus one star...

When, I first purchased the FLUANCE RT85, It was mainly due to the positive reviews. And upon my first impression I was astounded at how great it sounded! I was ecstatic. It was like hearing music again for the first time. But, after listening to it for 30 hours of play or so, I noticed the cartridge riding dangerously close to the records. So, being a $500 purchase, I immediately contacted FLUANCE via Amazon, and related the issue, they were tremendously eager to take care of the problem as it was less than 30 days and within the 30-day satisfaction guarantee period. They had me send pics as shown and then sent me return label to send the stylus back for repair or replacement -- I would have to PAY for POSTAGE!!! --NOPE. So, I returned it thru AMAZON! It took several weeks for the return to process! VERY VERY SLOW! And then (not having learned my lesson) I purchased another FLUANCE RT85 thinking it was just a fluke. NOPE. The replacement turntable did the EXACT SAME THING. See the last pic. This time I missed the 30 day return window, and when I contacted FLUANCE, they pretended to be concerned then said that I mishandled the stylus and that the faulty product was my fault. (see quote) Upon careful review, the pics shown in the photos does not indicate a manufacturer’s defect and is excluded from warranty coverage. The stylus of the 2M Blue and other cartridges in its price range and upwards are very sensitive, fragile audio components and great care must be taken during set up, cleaning and regular use. Damage that appears to have occurred in these scenarios is not covered by the Fluance warranty. Please do not hesitate to let us know if you have any further questions. Best Regards, Julie Fluance Customer Expereince Team So, if you are about to purchase the FLUANCE RT85, I would buy something else. Especially, since the company doesnt stand behind its product and blames faulty product issues on the customer. I shouldve bought the PRO-JECT CARBON, which is what I was going to buy in the first place. DISSAPPOINTING!!!!!

Absolutely love this turntable. Easy to setup and looks amazing in my audio cabinet. I can’t believe that it came with the Ortofon Blue cartridge. Very happy with this purchase.

I bought an RT85 a few weeks ago so feel confident in making some review comments about it. I think its important to know what this turntable is and isnt, in order to keep expectations in line with the price you are paying. To keep this short, heres my summary of pros and cons: Pros: - Beautifully made, finished, and packaged. Just gorgeous to look at. - Easy to assemble and setup. Everything is in the box, including decent RCA cables, a turntable level, 45 rpm adapter, power supply, etc. Less than 1 hour after you open the box, youre listening to records. - Easy to change headshells with a relatively strong screw-on connection. - Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge has excellent sound. - 33/45 switch and a quality belt-drive system for very good hifi sound. Cons: - The arm has significant microphonics. That means when you touch the arm or the lifter, it makes noises through the speakers corresponding to your hand touches. Does not affect playing after you release the arm on the record. The company says this is normal but an older Denon turntable it replaced did not do this with a similar cartridge. - The arm is not adjustable for height. The height matches the Ortofon cartridge perfectly (the arm is parallel to the record when playing) but is not right for other brands. I tried two other cartridges/headshells and one was so much less in height that the needle wouldnt go down far enough to touch the record until I installed 5mm of shims to lower the cartridge within the headshell. Im not sure what the benefit of removable headshells is if you cant adjust the arm easily afterward. - The RT85 comes with the special acrylic platter (instead of metal). They claimed this platter doesnt need a mat under the record, so none was provided. This is really not true in my experience. If you try to clean the record with a cleaning brush while it is rotating on the platter, it will slip on the platter - not good for the record! Im using a 2mm felt pad on mine and not only does it not slip but the sound is improved. - It has a 3-point (3 feet) mounting system. Yes, 3 points define a plane, but that doesnt make this turntable particularly stable. Not recommended for DJ or rough handling use. Overall, remember youre getting both a turntable and good cartridge for $500 so you cant complain too much. The sound quality is good but not up there with the multi-$k esoteric ones. The only reason I bought this turntable was because I needed a removable headshell for testing purposes and this turntable is the only one I found with a belt drive, which is the best for hifi. However, if you are a DJ with similar needs, you will probably be looking elsewhere to get the full flexibility you need.

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 am really enjoying this turntable and listening to my record albums again.

High end features at a great price. Most importantly, great sound!!!