After staring at a large stack of records purchased back in 70's, my mom started lamenting on how her old record player (made in the 80's) hasn't worked in years and how she can't listen to her favorites like Bing Crosby, My Fair Lady, and Nat King Cole in all their vinyl glory. After unsuccessfully trying to get her to use Amazon Prime Music and the Bose I got her last Christmas, I did some research and got the Victrola 6-in-1 from our Bullseye Store for Christmas 2016. Mom was quite pleased with the gift. The Victrola works very effectively at playing vinyls, CDs, radio, bluetooth, and even cassette tapes from mom's Hong Kong Chinese Opera days (much to everyone's dismay). There is also an input for auxiliary items, hence there is truly six various in this one unit.
1. The Vinyl/Record Player - Easily the most used player for my mom, ours didn't require any special hacking to get the unit to work properly. There is a pin for the 33 1/2 and 78 RPM records, and a small circular tab for the 45 RPM records. The pin and circular tabs can be easily removed and replaced, and the records fit in properly without forcing. There is an opening in the back of the unit to allow for larger records to fit properly, so be aware in case you have nosey little kids who like to touch moving things. The needle and arm did not require any pennies or nickels for our to play - I was able to place the needle on the record and Perry Como sang with the same richness that mom heard decades ago. Player's arm is not automatic, so you will need to place the needle on carefully, but there is a small lever on the unit that allows you to lift and lower the needle without scratching the record. While the arm is in the upper postion, you can also move the needle to the place on the record you want to play.
2. Radio - The radio works well in our area and mom is able to get most all of the local stations. There is no option for AM playing, which is a slight bummer, but wasn't a deal breaker for us. There is a long wire in the back of the player that allows stations to come in, so you may need to adjust it to get stations in. We just left it bundled up in the back with good results, even despite the fact that the player is not near a window.
3. CD Player - Initially I thought out CD player was broken because the tray would not come out, but I found out later that it was because I did not set the player to CD first. The CD player tray comes out of the front of the unit and is controlled using the buttons of the front of the player. The track number is displayed on the front as well, using the small LED screen that's located under the radio dial.
4. Cassette Player - The cassette player is located on the right side of the unit, and it works very well. You simply insert the tape into the player and it will start playing immediately. To fast forward, you hold down the eject button half way. This unit does not rewind the tape, so if you fast forward too much, you'll have to flip the tape over, fast forward, then flip the tape back to the side you're listening to.
5. Bluetooth - The bluetooth connectivity of this unit was good and it was easily set up on my mom's iPad within a minute.
6. Auxiliary - There is a single Aux opening for a 3.5mm cable on the front of the unit. I haven't had to use this, so can't really comment on it.
The overall sound from the unit is good, and the unit can play at a pretty good loudness. There is the capability to add additional speakers to this unit as well, as there is two output openings on the back for R/L speakers. Overall, this is a solid music playing system that went over well for my mom. The unit is very attractive, plays various mediums properly, and is easy enough for an older lady to use.
The VICTROLA 6-IN-1 TURNTABLE works very well! When you order this you get - 3 speed turntable, CD & cassette player, wireless bluetooth, FM radio with analog tuner, 3.5mm aux-in connection & built-in stereo speakers! Let's go over each one of these things- the turntable works perfectly, it has 3 speeds (33 1/3, 45, & 78 RPM)! The turntable also comes with 3 extra needles! I will likely never use the cassette player, so let's move on to the CD player! The CD player works fine with the original CD's, but not so much with rip/burn CD's! Original CD's play fine & normal, but rip/burn CD's do skip from time to time! The Wireless bluetooth is easy to connect to & sounds great! The FM radio is ok, but I wish it was digital instead of analog! It's a little hard to get it on the right FM station sometimes! Now we are on the 3.5mm aux-in connection & built-in stereo speakers! First the built-in stereo speakers are very load & sound excellent! The 3.5mm aux-in connection is a cable in case you want to add another speaker, in my opinion you will not need this because the built-in stereo speakers are plenty loud enough! I also like the mahogany finish & the classic look of it! I bought this mainly for the turntable, my Grandparents had a great collection of country music records that I love to listen to from time to time!
For the price this is an excellent value. It came well packaged and all functions work. The sound quality is good, not tinny, but not "bang your head" quality. The turntable does not have an auto return, but to me this is a plus. I have another Chinese made turntable with auto return, and it prematurely returns the tonearm before the end of the last track on some records. The FM radio has decent reception if you adjust the fm wire antenna. However, the picture shows an FM/AM switch. This is in error, it should show an FM/Bluetooth switch instead. Apparently they used a picture of a prior model. The Bluetooth function works well, I was able to pair it to my phone with no problems. The cassette player works, but it only has a fast forward, no reverse. And the CD player apparently does not play burned CDs from my computer, only original CDs. My burned CDs play ok on other cd players, but not this one for some reason. I'm hoping this has some durability, but only time will tell. Overall quite happy.
I really love my Victrola, the sound quality is great with the top opened or closed. The base sound is great. My one disappointment is that the area which holds the arm slides back and forth with ease. This should not happen, there should not be a gap and it should be in a fixed position. I did not send it back because I do not want to chance receiving another one with the same problem or another one with that problem fixed but the sound quality not as good as what I have. I would however, like to know where I can get this problem fixed in my local area.
Feature Product
- Three-speed Turntable (33 1/3, 45, 78 RPM) plays all of your vinyl records and favorite Albums
- Built-in Bluetooth to wirelessly play music from your Bluetooth enabled device. No cords needed.
- Built-in CD player
- Built-in Cassette player
- Built-in FM radio
Description
Victrola Nostalgic Classic Wood 6-in-1 Bluetooth Turntable Entertainment Center, Espresso
First of all folks, scratching is not caused by the performance of your record player, it's caused by static electricity that is created from dust on a dirty record! So please, clean your vinyl and think before you start blaming the company when it's actually your fault.
Secondly, I am basing my review off of the versatilty, sound, features, and price of this product.
1. Versatility: This 6 in 1 really speaks for itself in this category, so not much needs to be said. It has the capability to play records, cassettes, cds, fm radio, and mp3 via Bluetooth wireless!. Amazing!
2. Sound.. This is a little more subjective. If you have an external speaker to connect, you are good to go. If not, I wouldn't expect booming bass and toned mids from a product this small, and anybody would know that by reading the size of the internal speakers.
3. Price... For what this thing offers, it's definitely worth a buy for the following reason...
Durability... It seems this item is hit or miss as to the condition it arrives in. Mine was perfect, but judging on the reviews, I would advise purchasing the warranty for an extra 5 bucks.
5. Features... cannot rewind on the cassette player, but full control of cd playback. Vinyl components are good quality, but it is a manual setup, so you just need to set the needle yourself, no big deal. FM radio comes in clear with all the stations I tested, but no AM radio is available. Bluetooth is fully functional, just pair your phone, ipod, or mp3 device and you are good to go.
Bottom line, get the warranty, use an external speaker for desired sound quality, and guarantee one of these rarities in working condition because there is nothing like these on the market. Awesome value!
A Birthday gift from my loving bride of 36 years. What could go wrong! Arrived well packed, overkill if anything, a box in a box, and then a 3rd for the outer shell. The turntable works great. I noticed a lot of complaints about this. Happy to say mine works just as it’s supposed to. I can now listen to my old war time big band music 78 rpm records that were passed down to me, and they sound beautiful. Just keep in mind, this is a throwback of a 1920’s parlour Victrola, and not a Hartke concert sound system for the stage. They’ve really done a beautiful job with this. CD’s sound great, with all kinds of controls for repeating chosen cuts if you choose to, and every other type of control you need. Blu tooth runs easily off my iPhone 7, and took only a minute or two to load up. FM Radio is fine as well. I can’t comment on the cassette player as I don’t have one to put in, but would bet it works fine. I highly recommend this item, and at the great price its selling here for as well. A lot of large well known department stores Carry this, and all I saw were twenty to thirty dollars higher than it sells here.
Beautiful vintage music system, Bluetooth seems to not pair very easily though. Definitely wish I had gotten the one with a remote though.
Got this for my husband's birthday, I was super excited to see how many options for the source of music it has! I was even happier when it played my mom's records from the 80's!
My only one complaint is that from my living room to the kitchen (I live in a one level apartment and they're right next to each other) the sound gets distorted because it's too far for the antenna to pick up. It's no biggie though, I just leave it by the player but I thought I should point this out because it may be inconvenient for others.
All in all it's great, we use the record player, bluetooth, and FM and no complaints whatsoever :).
This record/CD/tape/bluetooth/radio player is amazing! It's all in one which is awesome. Records play smooth. CD's sound great too. I haven't tried the tapedeck yet, but the way everything is going so far, I'm sure it's great. I read other reviews saying the speakers can blow out, but I haven't had an issue yet. I use it in a relatively small space (10×10 bedroom), so I don't have a need for it to be super loud.
The look is very nice in person, chic and modern, but very retro at the same time. The wood it's made from it pretty solid feeling as well.
Definitely give this player a try if you're hesitant.
0 comments:
Post a Comment