This £5 component (or variants of it) is used in most novelty budget record players. That’s fair enough when you’ve paid only £30 for a player to listen to some worn old records as a bit of fun. Perhaps not so great when this same £5 component forms the heart of your £100+ record player bought to play new limited edition £25 vinyl albums. It’s your choice how to spend your money - but it’s also nice to know exactly what it is you’re paying for and just how much care and attention as well as respect for you as a customer has been put into making the thing you’re paying your hard earned money for.

Techmoan moaning about tech, I can finally rest in peace.

Me, looking over at the mechanism on my record player: ...Uh oh.

"The record that they bought is worth more than the record player that they put it on." That's LPL levels of savagery.

Good idea to have this as a separate video, so it's easy to send a link for it.

got stung on this one: gave my sister a record player for her birthday and didn't want to cheap out so thought I'd spend a little money. 200€ later this piece of garbage arrived in a shiny silver housing with a dead brand name on it. I wish this video existed a few years ago because I still curse that plastic joke every time I see it at her place.

Heavy tracking weight, el cheapo ceramic cartrige not good. But the disaster that awaits is more subtle. One of the ways that makers pull cost from these units is to fit a sapphire tip to the cartrige rather than a diamond. Diamond = expense, sapphire = cheap alternative that initially performs just the same. However, a sapphire tip can exhibit noticeable wear after only 20 hours of use and slowly turns from a smooth groove rider into a sharp edged chisel for vinyl. Back in the 80's these sapphire equipped units were derisively known as cheese graters for their terminal effect on anything played on them. There is no easy way for a average punter to distinguish easily what tip is fitted so best to assume the worst. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.

4 minutes of unedited rant, what a wonderful treat !

I love Matt's withering distain for poor-quality stuff. As others have said, this is a PROPER MOAN. Great stuff!

The vinyl-playing cousin of that one last cassette mech. Pops up everywhere in a ton of disguises, always the same crap inside.

Two Techmoan videos in one day. 2021 is bound to be a good year!

Segment at 3:11 was the best thing ever! Still laughing out loud.

My dad was Going to Buy one..He has All Original PRESSINGS. I was Like NO NO NO NO... Ended up finding a decent one with a Set of Speakers. 89usd

These cheap players remind me of the Fisher-Price record player we had as kids. It was a real record player and built to about this level of quality, but it was explicitly marketed as a toy. Now they're being sold to adults who want to get started collecting vinyl and are too young to remember the Fisher-Price record player. :)

i remember the old cheap 70s compact stereos that would include a relatively inexpensive phonograph mechanism from BSR, but they were worlds away better than this. Thanks for making people aware.

"This record player mechanism is rubbish! I bought ten of them to demonstrate..." hhaha

I've got one built into a suitcase with Bluetooth functionality. Sound quality and speakers are all right for just listening to music while cleaning or doing stuff around the house. What I did like though is that you can adjust each of the records speeds individually. So I was able to get it dialed in by just pitch correcting a record against a digital version of the song. It's definitely not hifi but it does the job.

Good rule of thumb is avoid ceramic / piezo pick-up cartridges. A moving magnet cartridge (usually evidenced by the two retaining screws in the head-shell) really is a minimum standard.

Thank you. I have reposted it on my fb page to warn people adding that: if you are on a tight budget is to buy some thing second hand ANYTHING but of of these! (Even the autochangers from the 50s &60s were 10x better!)

Vwestlife made a similar video about these previously. He did mention part of the problem is the cartridge. They're like a cheap ceramic, which there are old pre-amps for, but they otherwise sound like crap with the imcompatible pre-amp.

"A turntable so bad, you shouldn't even play a chocolate record on it, because it'll leave a bad taste in your mouth!" 😉

well great just checked my record player and guess what it has. What a lovely thing to find out on my birthday! I've been wanting a better one anyway, now I have a good excuse.

Watched the original video, but it was worth to be watched again. If not just alone to convince the algorithm.

Thank you for this video. I have some limited edition vinyl from a little-known artist shipping from the States to here in the UK and I’ve never owned my own record player before. I’m not looking to spending a huge amount of money on a vinyl record player & speakers and saw some great looking suitcase-style players on eBay and Facebook Marketplace. The prices fit what I wanted my budget to be very well and came on here to look up reviews on them. Your video was the first one I tapped on and I’m very glad I did as the last thing I want is for the records to be damaged in any way. Again, thank you so much for making us less-knowledgable folk aware of the issue.

Thanks for pointing this out!

Me, looking over at my Victrola: "Aw crap..."

*unless you enjoy disappointment HAH, joke's on you! 2020 turned me into a masochist.

Superb rant and great information for people who didn't grow up in the golden age of hifi (1970's/80's).

My first (and only) record player uses one of these. I got it for about $30 Canadian, including shipping. It's served me well and I think I got value for my money, although my hearing isn't great having spent just a little too much time in drumlines, so I'm just as happy with a terrible cassette player as the best hifi systems. It was just neat seeing how the mechanism works, and gaining experience using one.

When you recognise your beloved little record player in the video and it's trash...

Thank you so much for making this! I will be sending this video to many people in the future haha

thank you for creating and editing this short-form PSA. This is the linkable sort of thing that can help rebut against the garbage recommendations.

Show this to every would be vinyl buyer. Glad you made it a separate thing as well.

The thought of putting one of my records on one of these makes me cringe.

So glad you made a video on this that's short! Now whenever I say to someone, don't buy something cheap and bad I can show them this!

I get that the mechanism is cheap, but with so many vinyl enthusiasts dissing on them, I’d love to see a thorough breakdown of how their cheapness impacts audio output, and ideally a digital recording of the audio output from one of these cheapos and from a better turntable so we could hear the difference for ourselves. Kinda surprised nobody had done that already, but I can’t seem to find one.

I got one of those 8-in-1 players because it's what I can afford and it works well enough. I never expected it to be top of the line and I don't want it to be. It functions and that's good enough for me.

This is a cost reduced clone of a 1980s turntable by BSR.

I found a linear tracking Technics for spares or repair for little more than that. Threw the cracked top away and put the belt back on which had come off, gave it a good clean and a bit of clean grease and that was all it needed. It sounds better than my ears. It somehow makes how it works visible to the children - they can see and feel the music on the disc - that is magic.

Two techmoan videos in one day. It’s a New Year’s miracle

I got a Victrola-Crosley as my first record player, I was a poor kid and that was high quality. But 5 years later, I bought a much better turntable... I don't know why I've been missing out all this time!

I always thought these existed to take advantage of hipsters who want a "vinyls player" just for cred.

There's nearly nothing better selling this video than the thumbnail! Excellent!

The night before this was posted I saw a turntable with this mechanism in a bin by the curb outside someone's house. I considered dragging it home and trying to fix it. Glad I was too lazy to bring it home.

Thanks Techmoan!

I've never agreed with a rant so much

good idea making this into its own video. good info given how common these scat platters are.

Wow, what comments! It's a shame that the older models like BSR went away from England & later sold to China! The later equipment that you reviewed cheapened the quàlity of the former brand. I fortunately saved a metal platter version that survives to this day with a much better quality tone arm chrome metal plays well. Not a Technics or Audio Technica but 3 adjustable record sizes. I didn't pay much for it but it was well worth it, oh I forgot to mention it's a convertible record changer minus the umbrella spindle. A good cartridge heavy motor but I love it! Believe me I collected them for years. I respect your opinion on this chassis model believe me I understand that 100%.👍

'Least you vinyl enthusiasts have a choice. Meanwhile, us audiocassette enthusiasts over here are stuck with the nasty Tanashin mechanism.

My parents bought me a record player with this cheap mechanism as a Christmas present for 2022. My heart sank.

An excellent PSA. Vwestlife recently did a video about the origins of these. I've got a 1988 Philips Midi System that has one of the original ones of these. It's most like a BSR. The thing is, it actually sounds rather good. It helps that mine is even sprung mount.

I can't believe I never ran into this video in the years I've been using one of these. My mother got me one of these all in ones from Amazon and I just never questioned the skating or bad quality. man.

Well, I can't complain too much. I own 2 Technics TTs that I love but I also own some albums that I can't play on those due to slight warps and imperfections that I missed seeing when I bought them at secondhand stores. Wife bought me a Crosley Cruiser and I did find some benefits out of it because I play those records without a care in the world. Those imperfections don't seem to matter to that cheap mechanism Techmoan talks about. And you can get some decent sounds out of it when it is paired with decent electronics. My first stereo when I was a kid had slightly more tracking force than those cheap mechanisms and my vinyl collection then was fine, no damage.

It IS a "toy" isn't it? Its like an RC car. Yes it drives, but it you shouldn't actually try to USE it for transportation!

Actually that red cartridge isn't bad it isn't AMAZING but they do have a spring adjustable weight and they WILL NOT DAMAGE YOUR RECORDS I had a victrola and it never hurt my record player

So funny. When I saw the original video and thought it would be great to have a separate video with the psa. I had people reach out to me during the holidays to buy record players. Thos sums up why not to be the cheap ones.

That turntable you reviewed, was a pretty decent for the money.

3:15 My favorite part. LOL!

My first record player had this garbage mechanism. I bought it at the local electronics store (Mediamarkt in Germany) and it cost me a 150 euros brand new. It couldn't play a new record because it kept skipping on a small little scratch. I'm now the proud owner of an at lp120 and it's just so much better with anti skating I can finally hear all the old records without them skipping. BTW use a blank cd to set your antiskating, my dial on my audio technica was quite a bit off from the optimal settings for my tracking weight.

Couldn’t agree more... the amount of people who are like “omg I just love vinyl, CDs and tapes and streaming are awful I only listen to vinyl blah blah, look at my record deck...” and it’s one of these effin things built into some retro box with tiny useless speakers. Literally would have been better off with a couple of cheap second hand reasonably sized speakers and an amp streaming music from your phone.

This video would be perfect for some kind of second PSA channel called "Technoman"!

Oh damn I think my record player has one of these mechanisms 😅

I bought an ion bluetooth player about 6 years ago for £100 with the same crap mechanism. I didn't know about them then. It plays my dad's old Satus Quo just fine but anything new with deep bass has it doing it's best Torvill and Dean impersonation, skating all over my expensive new records. I tried a DIY tracking force adjustment with pennies as weights but it doesn't work. Stay well away unless the last record you bought was in Woolworths in the 70s dressed in full denim.

I just bought Denon 47f from Japan because of your past review. 👍 Strange package smelled like fine Cigars when it arrived lol!

this made me love my philips 222 even more.

3:16 - "and they go: HufFuhH, aNd thEY'r beING veRy caRRefoul witH IT"

Two new Techmoan videos in one day?! It’s like Christmas!

With all your videos demonstrating how to clean out pulleys and replace perished belts, unstick mechanisms etc, I think a lot of people should be considering used turntables off the usual auction sites, or even out of their parents'/grandparents' lofts. Turntables really reached the peak of good quality vs reasonable cost at some point in the 1970s or 80s, and there are literally thousands of players of this vintage boxed up out of sight. I've still got the Sherwood deck I bought at Richer Sounds in 1996; it hasn't been switched on since 2004 so I think I will doing some maintenance on it before I set it up again, but hopefully a bit of de-dusting and a new belt and I'll be away.

Watched this despite watching the original, do like a good TM rant, and in this case will save you wasting your money, bonus!

Shame that we dont have the 80/90's tech these days anymore in manufacturering, and most products being designed for tossing away when a new model comes out.

What annoys me most about these Crosley-style mechanisms is the fact that some portable record players dating as far back as the 1960's have superior mechanisms. Sure metal tonarms weren't a thing yet, but some players would come with tracking force adjustment and diamond stylus factory fitted around 1962 already. Meanwhile it's 2021 and these mechanisms still have diamond stylus as optional, as far as I know (at least some variations of this design come with a saphirre) and no force adjustment. Not exactly a progress

As soon as I saw the thumbnail, I knew what this was about. I have a older Pioneer turntable that needs a bit of adjustment and a new cartridge, and my wife bought a (fake) Crosley from a Goodwill, had it shipped to the house, and the moment I put a record on, I knew it was rubbish. Granted, I wouldn't told her not to buy it, even without knowing about this, because you know it's going to be some cheap Chinese rebadged cludge, but she didn't ask me. First, either my ears weren't working right, or the entire Chicago Symphony Orchestra was flat, or the thing wasn't playing at the right speed (only one guess). So, I had to take it apart, which required removing the tiny turntable and popping off the drive belt, adjust a screw potentiometer on the bottom, put it back on (including the very fiddly drive belt), and see if it's in tune. Took a couple of hours altogether to get it to play, and the stupid thing still won't turn on half the time because the switch in the base that shuts it off when the arm reaches the center of the record refuses to turn it back on again, for absolutely no reason. I've used it exactly once and I'll go back to getting my old one repaired, the one with the adjustable counterweight and arm-lifting lever and stroboscope speed calibrator.

My daughter bought one in a “suitcase”. Measured 9 grams of tracking force. Ouch!

First thing my mom bought from her first wage was a Dual record player. She always tells me they builded the best record players here in germany.

As many would know to stay away from Crosley and other cheap turntables, the only justification I can see for them is if you're just going to raid the $1-$5 area. But I would recommend pairing it with a decent pair of speakers, even if you just get an auxiliary cable and your Bluetooth speaker, and not a cheap Bluetooth speaker either. At home, I do have what I think is a decent setup with a Technics turntable and Ortofon Red and some Pioneer speakers, (I think from the 90's?) Anyway, it works for me.

Of course these things are horrible, but we just simple need to share with people why there are better players and explaining to them why. I think too many act like audiophile snobs (Not Techmoan here) and actually push more people away. These thing truly are the poorest excuse for a turntable, but don't be to quick to skip over how many people are buying vinyl and using "descent" turntables because they were able to get started with this. You can't get people into better turntables before they even get into vinyl.

I had one of these mechanisms in an Amstrad "hi-fi" in 1988, except it was even cheaper and nastier than this one. The "tonearm" was completely plastic instead of the metal tube shown here. Alan Michael Sugar obviously keen to save even more pennies. That was the last time I wasted money on crap hifi. Bought a cheap set of proper components from Richer Sounds and have never looked back. Depressing to see these cheap mechanisms so abundant today, they should've been consigned to histories dumping ground.

"The record that they bought is worth more than the record player that they put it on.". Me with a record player with that exact mechanism: yeah that's about right

Boy! I am glad to have my Realistic turntable from 1985 in great working condition!

Fun fact- These mechs started out as low end BSR changers back in the early 80s. Similar to the Tanashin cassette mechanism, this BSR turntable mech has been transferred between several companies over the years, getting cheaper along the way.

They’re fine for playing 78s.

@VWestlife created a video regarding the history of this turntable mechanism.

The 20 bucks I spent on buying a non-working old series-filament tube record player, which worked perfectly after some work on the electronics +15 bucks in parts, was a much better investment IMHO.

I got a Marantz one because I was using my dad's hand-me-downs from the 70s. Spent around $200 CDN on it and was the biggest pice of trash I ever used. Went and put a very good Shure cartridge on it and then realized there was no anti-skate or just basic adjustments. The cartridge didn't even have a holder. I had to try to hold it in place and not drop the screws into the unit. Returned it the next day. That was about 7 years ago and still using my dad's old direct drive Technics.

I cannot tell you how many of my friends I see posting on social media about their records and they have a Crosley, which I just looked on their site and HALF the units they sell have this exact piece of trash in them. OOooofff.

We clearly need more vintage techmoan family photos

Well said. As you say its all too easy to buy one of these. There aren't very many other options. I have played with a few of these and I think only the speed and autostop are adjustable. I also get lots of comments on my videos asking for help as people often run into problems with them. Thanks 😀 👍

Well said as always. No snobbery, just an honest and truthful summary. 👍👍

PSA: How the turntables have turned

*It's about time someone called pieces of trash these out.* Thanks for the rant. They're as bad as the nasty cassette mechanisms with permanent magnet 'erase heads' which are everywhere nowadays. They're more than a complete waste of money. *They are perfectly capable of damaging your expensive or irreplaceable media within one play.*

For me I just buy old record player since those record players are time tested and doesn't feel cheap luckily in my country there are still people selling their record player in good condition(there's even one that is selling his 30s record player at a low price). For now I'm happy with my National SL-N15 and Sony MJ-550k

In the 1960s, these are what you'd give your kids to play their records on without messing with your good Hi-Fi. Only in those days, they were metal, had a synchronous motor and idler drive, and the tone arm was mounted separately to the board. We called them "kiddie players".

Oooh! A double feature today.

The real shame about those cheap record mechanisms is there are likely people out there who haven't really experienced decent record listening, and may decide to get one of those cheap players, or encounter one somewhere and end up thinking that's what record listening was like. Cheap products like that could ruin the reputation of record players if that's all someone knows of them. I'd hate to think that someone thinking they might want to get into listening to music on record and see one of those things, recognize how bad they are and give up on the idea.

Great PSA. Nothing wrong with a Golden Age CDC, Sony, Akai or Aiwa semi-automatic, if you want a cheap turntable that does the job. Quite few reconditioned ones floating around most places, most of the time.

In the late 70s early 80s the R&D spent on record players was probably at it's peak. Even so, when CD appeared the majority of people decided CD was far better than the record player they had. Now I am being told that tat being sold today is making their music sound better. Whatever kids...

I saw fellow YungBlud fans in Facebook complaining about their new records from the band's shop skipping I guess their players had those mechs in and the records were fine! I bought the CD.

*sigh* my wife just bought one of these. No receipt.

I love your straight forward approach Mat.

Do you think one of those little cars that zoom around the record would be an adequate alternative?