Customer Reviews

Crosley CR46-CH Empire Turntable

5 star:		(1)
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First impressions: The product arrived exactly on-time as expected. Kudos to the company I bought it from for that. Packaging was good, a sturdy outer box around the retail box. It got a little puzzling after that. I opened the box and found the record player inside, well packed, but exactly NOTHING else except a cryptic piece of paper lying on the turntable. No instructions at all, nothing to tell me that I had to remove a twist tie, screw down a shipping screw and remove a protective piece of plastic over the needle. Nothing to let me know how to contact the company, order replacement parts, or operate the controls. The cryptic piece of paper was hilarious, I'm sure it was written by a disgruntled employee playing a bad joke on the people who translated it in China. It made a huge point that moving the tone arm TOWARD the record turned the player off and moving it back to the rest position turned it on. Of course, just the opposite is true. The way the note is written is truly weird.

Quality of construction: Not disappointed. It is smaller than it looks in pictures, which is not a bad thing. The wood is not as glossy or high quality as the pictures make it look, but to find any product in its price range actually make of real wood these days is exceptionally rare. It is likely the most attractive "reproduction" piece of electronics I have seen. The turntable itself isn't anything I would call quality, but it's slightly above the level of what used to be sold as cheap record players in the 50s and 60s, at a price not hugely higher. The only thing that draws attention to its cheapness is the actual needle, I guess they say it's a "diamond", but it's seems to be glued to a tacky red piece of plastic. Yuck. I will probably buff and polish the wood case and it will probably look decent. I am so glad that they didn't make it out of fake wood-grain plastic.

Quality of sound: The moment of truth ... after figuring out how to set it up, which was not a rocket science task, I put my first vinyl record on (do NOT laugh at me) a very old early Johnny Mathis LP. From the first note I could tell I was listening to a record, not a CD. Even from the Crosley's tiny (and tinny) 4" speakers, Johnny's voice sounded more warm and more real than I have heard it sound in a long time, and I have actually seen him perform in public (I TOLD you not to laugh!). Perfect for low volume listening on a Sunday morning. I did not, and will not, crank up the volume - that was never my intent in buying a record player. I would like the speakers to be a little more wide-range, and maybe if I get ambitious I will replace the speakers with some better internal ones. But for playing the golden oldies, it really does beat my $1000 Bose home theater system.

Appearance: Sitting on an antique table this thing looks like an old relic. In a year when it is dusty and getting dinged up, it will make a pretty decent décor piece. And hopefully it will still be working then and will let me play an old phono record with zero fuss and adjustments.

Value: Excellent. A true antique would be a hassle and wouldn't look much better.

Complaints: My only real complaint is that the motor that drives the turntable is noisy. Not an obnoxious sound, and nothing I can hear transmitted through the speakers, but simply a motor noise that let's you know that it's spinning. Turntable motors should be silent and even very cheap ones I have heard weren't this loud. Like I say, it's not obnoxious, and when the music is playing the sound is drowned out. Also, a LOUD pop when you turn the amplifier on. If this thing had big speakers it would probably blow them.

Price:

Purchasing: I bought it through Amazon at a price about $40 less than retail. From their ordering site it appeared I was buying directly from Crosley, who seems to have a deal with a third-party distributor who actually handles the shipping and billing. I didn't care because as I understand Amazon I am protected no matter whom the real seller is. I was impressed that I got an email immediately following my purchase acknowledging the order and giving me the UPS tracking number. It was scheduled to take a week from time of order to time of arrival and they gave me an exact, though estimated, delivery date.

General: I purchased this unit because I wanted a retro-looking phonograph to play my extensive collection of dusty old records. I wasn't after the most perfect sounding record player - I still own a very expensive turntable and could have adapted it to work with my home theater system - but then I would end up comparing the sound to today's pristine recorded media. My old records weren't meant to be played that way. What I wanted is a way to listen to an album or two on a Sunday morning while having coffee and reading the Sunday paper. Part of the attraction to me of the model I bought is that it is looks like something my grandparents would have had in their living room back in the day. The fact that it looks like it's made from highly polished wood adds to the perception of warm and cozy yesterdays. Other models Crosley makes have authentic retro looks appropriate to various eras ... this model to me looked the classiest.