Customer Reviews

Jensen 3-Speed Stereo Turntable with AM/FM Stereo Radio

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a younger person who just got interested in lp records. I had been collecting old lp's from various relatives garages and had been playing them on my father's turntable. Eventually I decided that I needed to get a turntable of my own, and I was directed to this product. It workes perfectly, the built-in speakers are not the greatest, but there are jacks where you can plug in better speakers. All in all this is an excellent product and it is a steal for the price.

The JENSEN JTA-220 is a nicely compact record player that's ideal for voice as is. The amp distorts at highest volume, but mid level is enough to fill a room with clean sound. When connected to a good stereo receiver via the external speaker clips this unit performs marvelously. You simply will NOT believe it!

Drawbacks:
Radio is merely adequate, but that's a secondary concern for this reviewer.
The dust cover has a spring counterweight on one hinge only and is held in place by two plastic pegs that don't sit all the way into their provided slots. Thus, you must handle the lid gently to prevent its coming off completely.

Positives:
Accurate turntable speeds, no rumble, no wow or flutter.
No vibrations are picked up if you walk near to this machine while a record plays.
45 adapter included in a readily accessible storage spot on the turntable.
A steady tracking tone arm that shuts the platter off when you move it manually back to its arm rest.
Securing clip for the arm and a rotating protector that shields the stylus from damage.
Replacement styli are only a fiver, purchased directly from JENSEN.

When plugged into the record player, there's excellent channel separation over headphones. Bass and high end aren't as prominent as midrange. Perhaps this was done to maximize internal speaker performance. Imagine a graphic equalizer set in a lazy inverted U pattern; that's the effect you get over phones. External speakers are attachable from bare wire leads into spring clips. These will probably reproduce better than the small internals.

As mentioned above, I stripped to bare wires one end of a stereo phono-type patch cord and connected to the external speaker jacks, then plugged into a decent shelf system. Doing so reveals fine audio quality, full bass and respectable high end, with the Jensen's midrange bulge minimized by EQing.


JENSEN's JTA-220 is a fun machine even with its minor limitations and I'm glad I purchased it.

The turntable is excellent, but it arrived with a broken lid. I called Jensen to get a new lid and whoever answered the phone was short, and unprofessional. But overall I'm satisfied with the turntable, except I'm afraid that the lid will damage more in the further future.

It is complete and reliable. It comes with all you need to enjoy your old or new records.

This player is not a professional-grade device. It has a plastic turntable and a rather flimsy tonearm. This is typical of "nostalgia" electronics coming from China.

If you've got a few old albums or 45's from your youth, this will play them, and they will probably sound about as good as they did on your portable record player back in the 60's. This player does not sound as good as your parents' mahogany hi-fi system that sat in the living room.

Are you attempting to archive vinyl recordings to digital? This is not the right device. Further, the lack of balancing and overall instability of the tonearm could do damage to fragile records.