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

Definitely worth it

I have been collecting and listening to vinyl for about 4 years and was using a vintage Sanyo turn table I got for cheap from a co worker. Over $100 later to get it working and replace the cartridge it sounded pretty good. At least, thats what I thought until I recently upgraded to the Fluance RT85. I conducted a listening test with a friend with Kind of Blue by Miles Davis with the old TT vs the Fluance and it was like night and day. Sound stage is wide and lush, output at a great level with my Cambridge CP-1 bass resonates with a depth I havent heard outside of a club, and the sheer amount of information and detail is astounding. It literally was like taking a heavy wool cloth off of the speakers between the two. The turntable was fairly easy to set up, although a bit time consuming and nerve-wracking when you have to balance the tone arm and apply the correct tracking force. Instructions were clear and helpful and once I finished the ten steps it played like a dream without any issue. The cartridge on this is a beast and tracks with no issue so far including on fairly warped records. The acrylic platter is gorgeous, heavy and doesnt require a slip mat, and the black piano finish is great! Included gloves can help reduce smudges and cat hair collecting for those who are OCD about the aesthetic of their TT, which with this Fluance is overall simple, yet sophisticated. I am listening to records again that I previously thought sounded dull/lacking in a whole new light with this. Worth every penny as this is an investment that I see lasting a long time; it is built like a tank from what I can tell. Im grinning with every different record I put on and am addicted to vinyl once again. Overall, I am completely satisfied with this purchase and would make it again in a heartbeat. Skip the cheaper versions of this model and go for the fully upgraded one. You wont regret it :)

Took me to get the arm correct, digit are difficult to read on the tone arm.

This is my 4 month review. I decided to hold off and put this baby through its paces before putting my 2 cents in. In a nutshell, after owning many low and high-end tables over my 40 years of vinyl-love, this one is the absolute sweet spot to me. Sub $500, there is no better deal or higher quality TT for the money. You get a 2M Blue, super high-end acrylic platter, top-notch quality plinth, quality everything else, and a partridge in a pear tree. As I said on the tag line....if youre looking for a TT and want epic quality for the money without breaking the bank, but are unsure what to get, just pull the trigger man. You wont regret it.

I suggest watching the video on YouTube for the tonearm balance; otherwise set up was easy and the quality is outstanding.

Great sound from the Ortofon blue cartridge that comes with the unit. Set up was easy. My faith in my vinyl collection has been renewed. Its a beautiful piece of gear too. It breathes elegance in a simple and understated fashion.

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.

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.

So, you have $500 to spend on a turntable. What to do after all the research youve done? The problem is you cant compare the sound of different TTs. Most people reading this are not in the weeds audiophiles. We dont constantly buy and sell components looking to tweak this or that. We just want something that sounds really good for the money and we plan to keep that gear for years. I can answer the sound part. My Fluance RT85 sounds fantastic to my ears. After years of listening to cds on my really nice system, I was skeptical that I would hear a major difference. I was wrong. The sound is hard to quantify. Its richer, fuller, more musical. Value for the money? I cant answer that. Does a $500 TT sound that much better than a $300 TT? I dont know. I had my budget, so I decided to buy the best TT, according to reviews, in my price range. Value vs. other brands? I had narrowed my choices to Fluance RT85 and Pro-ject DC EVO. Does Fluance sound better than Pro-ject? Probably not. I just felt the value was greater with the Fluance because of the acrylic platter and the generally agreed upon great sound of the ortofon blue cartridge. Plus, the anti-skate set up with the Pro-ject turned me off. So, long story short, you cant go wrong with the Fluance RT85 in this price range.

Simplicity at its best. You do need an amp that has a Phono input or add an external pre-amp. Just remember when you buy something really nice like this turntable the rest of your system might also need an upgrade! Regardless, I got tired of dealing with an old 70s Dual auto-turntable and there is just a major sound quality difference in this turntable over some cool retro setup! Balance and setup is very straightforward and instructions are thorough. If you have ever seen a really beautiful gloss black piano, the finish of this turntable is exactly the same. Even comes with white gloves so you can do that white glove install.