Review Details

RT82 Reference High Fidelity Vinyl Turntable

Product Rating:

Product Review (submitted on July 12, 2022):

I purchased my RT82 directly from Fluance because I wanted to be sure I was a registered buyer with Fluance in case there was a problem. Turned out to be a good idea. The first unit I received had a motor speed problem. I called Fluance, spent about 5 minutes on hold, and then talked to Brent. He spent about 15 minutes with me trying to troubleshoot the problem, and when nothing corrected the problem, he offered to process an immediate return and refund. He suggested this would be the fastest route, and then gave me a discount code to use when ordering a replacement unit. So, my experience with Fluance Customer Service was excellent. My first unit was piano black, and it indeed was a fingerprint and dust magnet. Consequently, when I ordered the replacement, I chose the Lucky Bamboo -- a much better choice for me. The new turntable works perfectly. The included Ortofon OM10 Cartridge performs well in terms of channel separation and provides decent quality sound. I did feel it lacked dynamics in the higher frequencies and lacked the bass punch I wanted for my classical music addiction. I upgraded the cartridge to the Nagaoka MP200, with stunning results. As equipped, the RT 82 provides very good performance and sound for a $300 turntable. The Nagaoka MP200 cartridge at $450, is more expensive than the turntable, but combined with the RT82, the sound dynamics, stereo separation, and the ability to reproduce complex music is simply outstanding. Clearly, another alternative would have been to order the RT85N with its acrylic platter and the included Nagaoka MP110 cartridge. However, the MP110 has a bonded stylus with an aluminum cantilever, while the MP200 has a nude stylus with a boron cantilever for truly superior sound performance. If your budget is $300, the RT82 is an excellent choice. If you can swing $500, the RT85N is a very worthy upgrade. But for me, at $750, the combination of the RT82 with the MP200 cartridge makes the perfect package. A couple technical notes to be aware of: the RT82 does not have an internal preamp like the RT80 and RT81. The automatic stop function at the end of a vinyl record does not lift and return the arm to its rest position; it simply stops the rotation leaving the stylus on the record. For many people, automatic turntables are tempting, but my 50+ years of turntable ownership experience have taught me that the automatic functions add noise and complexity and eventually always fail. There is a reason that uber-expensive turntables are always manual, and not automatic. I highly recommend the RT82 and Fluance. For $300, you can't do better. If your budget can accommodate a bit more, put the money in the cartridge.