Category Archives: gear

Crosley Revolution Portable USB Turntable

gear

As yet another Vinyl Road Rage trip is being planned, (details on that coming soon!) it seemed like a good time to invest in a portable turntable.

One of the biggest gripes about doing the Turntabling cross-country record store blogging trip and vinyl buying spree has been the inability (until now) to play the vinyl while on the road.

That’s a thing of the past now, thanks to the Crosely Revolution portable USB turntable, which was purchased from Brookstone via Amazon.com and delivered just a day later.

It is, at the time of this writing, still in the box and a video demo is planned. But for now, the specs look awfully exciting. The unit is wireless–it transmits via FM to any radio within range. It’s USB powered but can also play with six AA batteries.

That means you can road trip with it, playing records all the way–as long as you have a friend to flip the record when Side A is finished. No distracted drivers, please. In the hotel, this is a no-brainer, and while the specs haven’t been explored on this notion, imagine what could happen if you had two of these units and a big effing boom box. Block-rocking beats DJ style, anyone? Those spontaneous neighborhood parties just got a lot more interesting.

We’ll have a full review of this unit in the days to come.

ION Vertical Vinyl Wall-Mounted Turntable

gear

Now here’s a trippy notion–a turntable you mount on the wall. The ION Vertical Vinyl Wall-Mounted Turntable is battery powered and yes, it plays the records sideways.

The ION Vertical Vinyl turntable has onboard speakers and can function as a tabletop unit as well as a wall mounted one.

The ad copy for this says it’s “ideal for limited spaces” so without having had a chance to put one through its paces we’re guessing it is good for dorms, efficiency apartments, anywhere with a small amount of wall space to bounce the sounds off.

This is probably not the right purchase for a finicky audiophile (well, duh) but for those looking for a battery powered, eye-grabbing conversation piece, this could be just the thing.

You have to admit, the concept of spinning some vinyl for your friends by putting it on the wall is pretty damn tempting. Just don’t try spinning after beer number three or you could have a fatal (to the record) vinyl mishap. The unit comes with a 45 adapter and also plays full-length LPs. A nice retro-modern design oddity….tempted? I am.

–Joe Wallace

ION Audio Profile Flash Turntable

gear, Media, , , ,

Here’s another consumer-grade turntable you can use to convert vinyl to MP3 portability. The ION Audio Profile turntable has a slot for a USB or flash drive, and the entire process seems as simple as starting the turntable and hitting “record” to get the process moving.

The chief draw for the ION Audio Profile turntable is that you don’t need a computer to record the audio. I haven’t used one of these yet, but in doing my research on this unit I discovered several favorable reviews stating that the audio quality is good for the average user. Some complain about rotation speeds on this unit and others like it being different that “true” 33RPMs, but typical listeners won’t complain, based on what I’ve read.

My main complaint with all these vinyl-to-MP3 recorders is that a degree of babysitting is needed to make them work properly. There’s either no silence sensor to split an entire album side into separate tracks without user intervention, or what is there isn’t really accurate or even able to be calibrated. I’m naturally coming at this from a busy/lazy person’s perspective–most users probably don’t mind the small amount of manual labor needed to break the recordings up into tracks.

All in all, I’ve seen this model get mostly favorable reviews and I’m contemplating a purchase of this simply because it’s got the computer-free recording feature. The built-in preamp lets you connect to most RCA stereo line/aux inputs, and it’s got a handy 1/8in stereo line in for recording from other sources–a nice touch.

What I’m most interested in is a hands-on, top-to-bottom review of this unit and others like it from a hard core vinyl junkie (not necessarily an AUDIOPHILE, mind you). If that’s you and you want to contribute a review of this or any other model turntable, please get in touch as I’d love to have some guest blog posts or even regular contributions from passionate vinyl lovers.

Drop me an e-mail at jwallace (at) turntabling (dot) net.

–Joe Wallace

How It’s Made on Making Vinyl Records

gear, , ,

We continue our reports from Vinyl Road Rage tomorrow–there are plenty of record stores still to come from our road trip–but first, have a look at this fun clip on how vinyl records are made, courtesy of the Science Channel’s How It’s Made show.

Embedding was disabled so we can only link to it (see above) but the clip is definitely worth a look. One beef we have with these clips though–is it really necessary to explain that vinyl is making a comeback each and every time the subject comes up?

Other than that, this is a great piece…it’s always fun to see what it takes to actually create a vinyl album–it is NOT easy or cheap to do, so any band that takes the time and trouble to go beyond digital has our respect.

That might actually be a big part of why weirdness on vinyl is so special–somebody BOTHERED, and the fact that the end product is so strange makes the entire exercise more unique. Stay tuned for more Vinyl Road Rage tomorrow.