U-Turn Audio

just a little write up on a US company I found.
I've been looking at acquiring a new turn table for a while and was looking at some nice older Sansui's etc., when I stumbled across U-Turn Audio.
A 'crowd funding' company, I think they started back in 2012, producing turn tables out of Boston.
The more time I spent on their web site the more I fell in love with their product and business modum.
Long story short, I ordered a 'custom' build model, using their 'Orbit Builder'.
This is a great product made in the USA, it is in its simplest form, all manual operation, nothing fancy at all. The built finish is exemplary and just works a charm!
I think this turn table puts a lot of so called high end units to shame, at a fraction of the cost.
Don't be fooled by the price tag, this thing is amazingly well built!
The options I went for with my custom built Orbit are cork mat (no static), black plinth, acrylic platter, cue and Ortofon OM 5E cartridge. Price well under $400 delivered.
If you are in the market for a turn table and want to support US made, check these guys out!
I will post some photo's in the next couple of days.
Reviews have been very good as well, U Turn are in fact highly praised by Klipsch.
www.uturnaudio.com

Neat! I've been thinking of options for my trusty old Mitsubishi that's starting to have "issues".

Color: Black
Platter: Basic
Cartridge: AT91B
Cue: Included
* Pluto Phono Preamp (black)
7516 Cork Mat
Audioquest Evergreen RCA Cables

All for $363 ... and that's including the pre ... not too shabby! Only thing I DON'T see is an option for "no cartridge". The AT cartridge is $30 I really don't need to spend as I've already got a couple real nice ones here ... just got a new stylus for my Pickering XV15 as a matter of fact, and it's hard to beat a 12AT10 with a new line stylus ...

* Currently running an Art DJ Pre ... decent enough, but I expect I could do better. The Pluto they sell runs about $90, and I figure there's better options for not much more. Not sure if they sell what they do because it's a better match for the table, or just because ...

Be interesting to see a head to head on a similar equipped ProJect ...

Wonder how this will stack up against the Pro-Ject Debut III
http://www.amazon.com/Pro-ject-Debut-Turntable-Piano-Black/dp/B00DUER2S6/ref=sr_1_14?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1443980212&sr=1-14&keywords=turntable
at about the same price point. I do like the acrylic platter option, which the U-Turn has but I do not see on the Pro-ject III.
On the subject of turntables, does anybody make a credible tone-arm with a detachable head-shell anymore? Changing carts on a one-piece arm is a genuine pain.

sKiZo wrote:Neat! I've been thinking of options for my trusty old Mitsubishi that's starting to have "issues".

Color: Black
Platter: Basic
Cartridge: AT91B
Cue: Included
* Pluto Phono Preamp (black)
7516 Cork Mat
Audioquest Evergreen RCA Cables

All for $363 ... and that's including the pre ... not too shabby! Only thing I DON'T see is an option for "no cartridge". The AT cartridge is $30 I really don't need to spend as I've already got a couple real nice ones here ... just got a new stylus for my Pickering XV15 as a matter of fact, and it's hard to beat a 12AT10 with a new line stylus ...

* Currently running an Art DJ Pre ... decent enough, but I expect I could do better. The Pluto they sell runs about $90, and I figure there's better options for not much more. Not sure if they sell what they do because it's a better match for the table, or just because ...

Be interesting to see a head to head on a similar equipped ProJect ...

contact them re the 'no cartridge' option.....

the thing to remember with U-Turn is it is as basic as it gets, absolutely NO automation. Turn it on, pick the arm up and place it, at the end of the record, pick the arm up and replace it.
If that's OK with you, then it is worth while looking at them.
My motto with my amps and most of my gear...KISS...Keep It Simple Stupid!!

They DO have an optional cue ($40) ... I imagine that's just a peel 'n stick attachment to the deck ...


Love to see some nudie shots of the motor and such.

I imagine there's a lot less to go wrong than with my Mitsu ... so far, I've repaired the auto return (bulbs and sensors were kaput) and replaced the RCA cables with coaxial low capacitance types, but something still ain't quite right. Speed is rock steady, but the sound isn't quite there. Next step I suppose would be rewiring the arm ...

There IS an acrylic platter option for the Pro-Ject but it's $140 versus $90 for the U-Turn; and the Project's cork platter mat is $5 more than U-Turn's. Plus, as Holger noted, the U-Turn is all Murrican made.  So's my VPI, which runs very nicely but requires a doctorate in mechanical engineering to set up correctly and VPI's tech support could teach Mumbai a few things about incomprehensibility and three-to-four-week callback times, if you're lucky.

I'd certainly miss my auto return ... Fade out during a side, and

scritch scritch scritch scritch scritch scritch scritch scritch scritch scritch

Certainly ruins a pleasant snooze!

Not sold on acrylic platters. Some good, some bad. Not sure what the benefits are ... trading resonance for rumble? My old school cast platter weighs in at around five pounds - great damping factor on the motor to steady the spin ...

PS ... how many DeePee's does it take to turn a platter?

sKiZo wrote:I'd certainly miss my auto return ... Fade out during a side, and

scritch scritch scritch scritch scritch scritch scritch scritch scritch scritch

Certainly ruins a pleasant snooze!

Not sold on acrylic platters. Some good, some bad. Not sure what the benefits are ... trading resonance for rumble? My old school cast platter weighs in at around five pounds - great damping factor on the motor to steady the spin ...

PS ... how many DeePee's does it take to turn a platter?

according to U-Turn, here is a paste and print from their web site "Acrylic is heavier than MDF, so it retains more inertia and measurably reduces wow & flutter. The acrylic platter also delivers tighter bass, improved detail, and a lower noise floor."

.

you could buy a project  debut carbon with an ortofon 2m red for about $399. free shipping on e bay . nice arm, turntable , and cart . don't know how much you are willing to spend but it would probably be the best bang for your buck .

Peter, visit and let us know (I would but our hottie Gov Haley has asked all to stay in during the flood here in SC). I have a pair of Thorens TD 280's from 1990 that will probably be my next up. Dale

PeterCapo wrote:U-Turn Audio is about 20 minutes away from me...

HEY! You just passed it ... make a u-turn!!  

Dale Stevens wrote:Peter, visit and let us know (I would but our hottie Gov Haley has asked all to stay in during the flood here in SC).

Hottie?

Granted, a whole lot hotter than THIS one ...

.

sKiZo wrote:I'd certainly miss my auto return ... Fade out during a side, and

scritch scritch scritch scritch scritch scritch scritch scritch scritch scritch

Certainly ruins a pleasant snooze!

Not sold on acrylic platters. Some good, some bad. Not sure what the benefits are ... trading resonance for rumble? My old school cast platter weighs in at around five pounds - great damping factor on the motor to steady the spin ...

PS ... how many DeePee's does it take to turn a platter?

Too many for you to count!
If you're really too lazy or snockered to pick up the tone arm at the end of a side, let this little $60 gizmo do it for you:
http://www.soundstagedirect.com/music-hall-q-up-audio-accessories.shtml?gclid=CMyuorjyqcgCFQ5rfgod8aIJIg
They actually work. It's a glue-down install. My only beef with it is the spring could launch skeet.

So you're saying it won't play my favorite hip hop?



Deal killer!!

sKiZo wrote:So you're saying it won't play my favorite hip hop?



Deal killer!!

At our age, one hop and we'll break a hip.

I'll stick with my $30 Garrard 301, and my no-cost-found-in-a-junk-box Rabco SL-8E (linear tracking arm with motorized lift/lower and autolift at end).

Oh, yeh...those prices were 45 years ago for the Garrard and 25 for the Rabco...

And I've put in a few hours work on both of them, especially the Rabco, since!

I paid over $400 for my Mitsu ...

That was 35 years ago ... how many billions is that in today's dollar?

http://www.dollartimes.com/calculators/inflation.htm

So, looks like my $1500 (adjusted for inflation) turntable might be worth fixing after all ...

Still a purty lil thang ...

Well, from turntables to vinyl care, anyway. Just came across this, posted a few weeks ago on Amazon. It refers to the DiscWasher we all knew and loved as children:

To those of you lamenting that this product "isn't like it used to be" I hate to break it to you, but even then you shouldn't have been using it. It is incredible that to this day people still don't understand what goes on with a record, but here are the facts so you know what you are getting into.

Making a record is like making a waffle. Do waffles fall out of the machine cleanly? Not unless you spray it, and the same goes for records. The press is sprayed with a mold release compound and this compound remains on the record and discwasher, old or new, does not remove it. In any case when do brushes clean well? Brushes only push dirt around, if you want the dirt gone you have to use a vac to suck it up.

Records are also damaged not how you think. Vinyl is soft, yet at the stylus tip there is incredible pressure and heat however what happens is it creates a shock wave that emanates from the point of contact and the most direct point of exit from there is.... yes, the OTHER side of the record. This shock wave reaches the other side, the side ends, and the force of it blasts out tiny pieces of weak vinyl on that side which remain in the groove. Using discwasher only pushes these bits about... if that... they remain in the groove. So when you flip the record to then play that side, the heat from the stylus melts this debris and the pressure welds it in new spots on the record creating, that's right, pops, ticks and other noise. That is where this noise comes from, and why it cannot be removed from cleaning. You damaged the record and then welded the damage to a new spot. It's there forever.

There is an answer but in short vinyl is a lifestyle. Before any record is ever played it should be cleaned on a record cleaning machine (like Nitty Gritty) using a solution designed to remove the compounds etc.. on it's surface. The cleaner breaks it down, the machine removes it, as in actually removes it because it sucks it off. Then the record should be treated with Last record preservative. This hardens the vinyl surface a few micros of an inch and prevents the vinyl from breaking from shock.

That's it - Never play a record not cleaned, (because if you do your stylus is now contaminated as well) and once cleaned treat it to preserve it. If you do that, and use a quality setup, you will be amazed. I own thousands of records from the 80's, many played hundreds of times and none of them make any noise (well.. the ones pressed well to begin with that is, but that's a different issue) and I mean any noise. My records do not have pops and ticks. That is what is required, and this product is not even close. In fact tests back then showed, because this brush becomes essentially a filthy mop, that using it spreads MORE debris on the record than was there before. Do not use it.

The U-Turn turntables are reasonable entry-level products. Think of them as comparable to a Technics SL-BD20, or other similar decent "entry-level" turntable from the 1980s. Except that they're selling the things for not much more than what the SL-BD series sold for 20 years ago -- making them a bargain for a new turntable.

deepee99 wrote:Records are also damaged not how you think. Vinyl is soft, yet at the stylus tip there is incredible pressure and heat however what happens is it creates a shock wave that emanates from the point of contact and the most direct point of exit from there is.... yes, the OTHER side of the record. This shock wave reaches the other side, the side ends, and the force of it blasts out tiny pieces of weak vinyl on that side which remain in the groove. .

Dave - I'm puzzled by the physics here?  Can you elaborate?  In another life many years ago I was a chemistry major (degree earned but unused) and I'm thinking a vinyl LP is some sort of polymer chain with many many linked vinyl molecules and some plasticizers.  By definition the polymer is a linked up blob of sorts and not prone to fracturing.  The only mechanism I can think of is mechanical wave energy from the stylus heats and crystallizes the polymer to the point that it can fracture off fragments on the other side of the LP?


Tim

Tim, I'm no physicist, either, but that seems to be what the author is implying, that the stylus knocks stuff loose on the other side of the LP. I think it would follow that this would more likely occur if the groove on the opposite side is directly beneath the one being played . . .