Record Player R612

I’ve recently requested a vinyl for review. I normally don’t go out of my way to ask for something, but I am a fan (and spoiler alert, I’ve already listened to the album in 2023!), and it’s something that would be nice to add to my collection.

So, I’m in the market to buy a record player and was considering those suitcase players. As a novice, I thought it is: (1) cheap and affordable, (2) has everything you need, including built-in speakers, (3) compact, and (4) available at Target or Walmart. I figure, I’m not planning on listening to vinyl every day, but this is a casual way to do it. However, the more I look into it, everybody who bought a suitcase had something bad to say about it. Apparently, the components are very cheap and they break apart a few months into owning one. No one ever recommends a suitcase player.

The world’s best record players are all made by Audio-Technica. It is the brand that everybody, who is into vinyl, recommends. I would love to own an Audio-Technica product, but they are just way too expensive. Their entry-level (Starters) starts at $200 (which no one recommends) and goes up to $350. The next-level (Step-Ups) starts at $400. If you’re a vinyl snob, you probably have an Audio-Technica $2,000 turntable. That is just a little too crazy for me.

So, I decided to keep looking. Here are some things that I was looking record player:

Price
It needs to be under $100. I’m a casual listener. I buy very few records (new ones are just way too expensive). I’m not going to listen to records every day, maybe once in a while when I’m in the mood. I don’t want to go too cheap, either… but price is very important.

Speed
It needs to have three speeds, the two popular speeds: 45RPM and 33 1/3 RPM… plus the rare 78 RPM. They stopped producing that format in the 50’s… but I still would prefer to have the option to do all three speeds. It’s not a deal breaker; I just mainly need 45 and 33.

Speakers
For speakers, I would like it separated, away from the turntable. The reason, at least my train of thought, is that the speakers will produce vibrations when you turn up the volume all the way… and, in theory, would affect the needle (causing it to skip or distort). I didn’t want speakers underneath, or built into the turntable.

Auto-Start and Stop
I’m not sure if most record players have auto-start or stop, but what it is: you load the record, and then you press a button and the record player will automatically drop the needle for you. After it’s done playing the record, it will return the needle and stops spinning. I have never had a record player that did this automatically, so it would be really nice to have… but it’s not a deal breaker either because I’m used to manually eyeballing the grooves.

Replaceable Parts
Not something too important, but I would like the ability to swap out needles if it wears down or ability to upgrade. I don’t know too much about these things, but I know some players can switch out the cartridges.

Bluetooth
It’ll be nice to get a player that had wireless support so you can listen to your records on your Phone or maybe through alternative speakers… but not a problem if the player doesn’t support this. It’s just a nice feature to have.

Those are the basic criteria that I had when I was shopping for a new record player. For the best selections, I needed to order from Amazon. I honestly did try and browse through Walmart’s selection – it was as you expect: it sucked.

With pricing in mind, these were the record players that I did considered:

With pricing and external speakers in mind, these were the record players that I did considered:

After considering everything, I ended up buying a generic Record Player with External Speakers (R612 Model) for $76. It mostly came down to the price as a major factor, and the fact that it has two external speakers.

I spent all of Thursday and Friday listening to my old records. I own about two crates of 12” and a shoebox of 7” and various 10” and picture discs… most of these things were purchased for collecting reasons and to support the musicians on tour. All I can say about the record player is that it is just … meh. Not great, but now truly terrible.

I’ll start with what I like: it looks great. External speakers can be swap out for better speakers. It spins at three speeds, but I only had 45s and 33s to test out. Replaceable needle. The lever handle drop that gently drops the needle onto the record (this is such an upgrade from my record player from the 90s).

What I don’t like: it suffers from all cheap record player – poor audio. It sounds hollow. I feel like I’m missing bass and other subtle sounds. It could come down to the bundled speakers, so maybe I’ll experiment with playback on different speakers. I had one record skip, despite everything I tried (like putting weight that came with the player), it just skips. It is probably just the record, as all the others I’ve tried, it was fine.

The last disappointment is the auto-stop. I had assumed that when it reaches the end of the record, that the player would return the needle to its home and power off. The reality is that when it reaches the end of the record, it just stops spinning and just sits there at the end.

The other surprising thing that I found was that one side of the record is quite short! I think on average it was only about 15-20 minutes. It didn’t take very long for the record to end on one side. It was also so time consuming to take out a record out of the sleeve and trying to figure out Side A or B and figuring out where the second track is, etc. It’s definitely not instant MP3 where you just click on the song and it plays.

Anyway, now that I have a starter record player, I’m already thinking about maybe upgrading to something better. It’s probably not going to happen soon, but I definitely want a better turntable.

Here are some of my records:

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