Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
COULDA BEEN A CONTENDER!, August 16, 2004
Wow, how many people have been waiting for new technology to play our old vinyl? This player is nice in concept, however, too many corners have been cut expense-wise to make this an outstanding piece of equipment (for which you are paying quite an UNBELIEVABLE price!) The sound is not what you would expect. No doubt they built scratch filtering in the amplifier so you have virtually no treble. Turning the tone control towards bass just makes the treble even less, it does not add a booming basS. The turntable is sturdy enough and has done quite well in the 3 months that I have owned it, however the 45 inserts look nice but are annoying to use, I found a nice spindle called the OMNIDAPTOR and it has been my great find, allowing me to stack about 6-7 45's. The vinyl covering is sticky adhesive so you will have the edges peeling in no time. The construction is sturdy though, and the handles and clasps are screwed into place giving a nice custom touch. They really could have done so much more with this thing, like external speaker jacks, a way to stop the scratch filter, 2 separate speakers (you just have to take their word that this is stereo with 2 speakers inside). I have kept mine just because there is no competition, so no alternative on the market. It's not that bad once you get used to it, and its great playing the old vinyl again. Its a popular player, I've discovered, because the local store at the mall that sold them were out of stock within 2 months. Luckily it was a birthday present otherwise I would have felt cheated by the amount of $$$ I could have spent on this thing!!!!
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Get Your Old Vinyl Out And Enjoy, March 3, 2006
As the owner of a Zenith Cobramatic HF11 that stacks up to 16 45's and LP's, the Stack o Matic is a wonderful and new look on a old perspective of listening to music, the way records used to be listened to. They are attractive players, with good sound, and with the automatic record changer, makes listening to your old recordings a pleasure. The sound quality of the Stack o Matic is very similar to the Decca Record Players of the late 50's and early 60's, with just volume and tone. The sound on the Traveler, to me, is better than the Varsity and Collegiate models, seems to have a tad of bass at times once you're used to it. There are two speakers together on the side of the player, and do have true stereo separation (play the stereo version of "Reflections" by The Supremes and sit close, the intro has a great seperation of sound sequence) but at a short distance, the sound appears to blend and is more like mono, kinda cool cause mono sound was the only way to hear them at that time. Using the enclosed red record adapters are a chore, and there are 45 spindle adapters, capable of holding 6 to 7 45's available. I do not recommend the stack mate adapter that is sold directly through crosley, because, at times, certain 45 rpms get stuck on the adapter and do not drop all the way because the hole on the record is a tad smaller. The record either drops and sticks halfway, causing the tone arm to bump against it and land on the turntable. Or the record drops to the turntable, but does not turn because the adapter is too thick causing the turntable to scratch the flip side of the record. Trying the same records on another adapters, such as a BSR work fine. Crosley should remodify their stackmate, and make it a micro tad smaller in width so that all records should drop normally. A drawback is that when the changer shuts itself off, it does not turn off the amplifier and you have to turn it off with the volume switch manually. The changer works fine and is effortless, needle replacement is easy. Maybe one day Crosley in the future would offer seperate bass/treble adjustments to enrich the sound further, like the Zenith Cobramatic of the 60's. Crosley should have also provided carrying handles on their Varsity Models, which many suitcase record players had. All and all, the Stack O Matic is a very good record player. The Traveler is attractive, and with the carrying handle, is great to take to parties and gatherings. You will get a lot of compliments on it. When the record changer cycles it's last record, it locks the tone arm onto the holder, good for traveling. Also a good tip is to screw the changer back into storage position (screws up) when transporting to avoid vibration on the springs, you can do it by hand, and just unscrew back when ready to play.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A lo-fi wonder!, March 18, 2005
I bought a Stack-O-Matic so I could listen to a stack of old LPs in my study while I worked or read. It's fine for that sort of casual listening, and it's great to listen to LPs without having to get up every fifteen or twenty minutes to turn them over.
If you want audiophile sound, don't bother with this; get a real turntable and connect it to your stereo system. The sound has a muffled, lo-fi quality (which is unfortunately worse at lower volume levels) and the tone control only cuts the treble, which is already a bit on the low side. There's no stereo imaging effect at all because the two speakers are right next to each other on the side of the unit. It's fine for background music, or if you just want to hear your old records again and aren't too picky. If you bought an old portable record player at a flea market or off eBay, it probably wouldn't sound any better than this.
On the plus side, the cabinet is attractive, heavy, and well-constructed (although the vinyl covering does tend to peel a bit) and the record changer mechanism handles discs gently. A headphone jack would have been nice, though -- and why does this use a "wall wart" power supply?
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