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 - Piano Black

Great value for money. I expected good quality but even those expectations were exceeded

Super Plattenspieler. Toller Klang.

I have been using this turntable for about a month. Coupled with this cartridge and a small Phono Box S2 preamp it produces an excellent soundstage.

Box arrived with a sizable dent. Packaging on the inside was robust enough everything checked out fine. Assembly was easy. Unit is nice looking. Mechanical functionality is dreamy, feels like quality. This tt sounds just amazing. Totally and completely happy with my purchase.

Just buy it. Upgraded from RT-81 and it is more than worth it. Love this brand!

Purchased this fluence RT85 from Amazon, it was a used unit I assumed returned and refurbished, or demo or something it did not specify, but the auto stop function was intermentioned at best maybe 2 out of 10 times it would stop, the cartridge was very dusty and dirty, it had differently been used, I cleaned it up it seemed OK and sounded fine, the dust cover had a couple light scuffs on it but I was expecting something like that buying a used unit, functionality wise though the auto stop feature not working reliably was unacceptable for $500. I gusee it was not checked out correctly, Fluence makes a great product and a good value, just buy a new one not a used one.

This is the first mid-level turntable I’ve owned. I feel it was a huge step above my older AT and MCS turn tables in terms of audio quality. The plinth, cover and platter are built rock solid.

My nearly fifty year old Dual 1218 turntable was having serious problems that I couldnt fix, but I was skeptical about buying a new turntable having been told that they dont build them like they used to. It used to be that top quality turntables were all direct drive, while the cheapest were belt drive. But modern technology such as electronic speed control have changed everything. Anyways, the performance of this turntable with its Ortofon 2M Blue stylus is a vast improvement over my old Dual 1218 with its Acutex stylus. Its also nice that it is supplied with premium quality RCA cables. Im amazed with the sound clarity on all my records, each instrument sounds just right, the vocals are clear and the artists voices are true to what they sounded like when I heard them live, the channel separation is excellent and all the subtle background sounds can be heard as well. There is a downside to this sensitivity in that every little scratch and nick in my old worn records can be readily heard as snaps and pops. As to the speed, its spot on as verified with a strobe light and disc. The speed controller really does its job so theres no need for a manual pitch control like in the old days. The turntable runs completely silent with no mechanical or feedback noise, so you really cant tell its even turned on until the stylus contacts the record. The auto stop feature is great since it not only stops the turntable at the end of a record, but also only starts it when the tonearm is removed from its rest and placed over the record. Since it is connected to a switched power outlet at the rear of my receiver, I simply leave it turned on all the time with the speed set to 33.

The Fluance RT 85 is easy to set up when you follow the directions closely, step-by-step. I had a lot of buzz in the speakers until I connected the ground wire as directed in the instructions. The ground wire is not very long, so you may need to get a longer one. I connected it from the turntable to a screw on the back of my AV Receiver. Buzz gone. Balancing the tonearm also requires patience but is manageable. It takes about one hour total to assemble. I was seriously considering the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon EVO (as promoted in the NYT Wirecutter) until I found out that they had recently jacked the price $100 due to supply chain issues. I dont appreciate the inflationary price gouging by some vendors these days. I am very pleased, so far, with the piano white Fluance.

Having read great reviews on this turntable I decided to make a purchase, sadly for me this was not as good as I had expected.