$150 Audiophile Turntable: This could be interesting

[timbrh2001]

Eh nevermind, ended up getting a brand new Pro-ject Debut Carbon (gloss black) for $293 w/ Ortofon 2M Red Cart. Too big of a steal to pass up.

[ajxd]

Where did you get that price?

[steviex2shoes]

Wow, so you went from definitely buying one of these to buying something different in a matter of 4 hours?

[timbrh2001]

Wow, so you went from definitely buying one of these to buying something different in a matter of 4 hours?

When I got a $400 turntable for $293, yes. It comes with the Ortofon 2M Red cart as well. Figured with the upgrades I'd need, the price difference would end up being negligible and this way, I'll get my TT before March.

[timbrh2001]

Plus I got free shipping and no tax, so I saved that money without going through U-Turn's kickstarter as well.

[ksleap]

So where did you get it

[timbrh2001]

Wow, so you went from definitely buying one of these to buying something different in a matter of 4 hours?

Honestly I'd been looking at the Debut Carbon for a while now but $400 didn't really fit into my price range as well as the U-Turn TT did. Once I started realizing all the add-on upgrades I'd start to need and I found this incredible deal, I decided to go in a different direction. TBH, whomever posted the prices for the add-ons I wanted, started to get me to think a little bit. Got a Debut Carbon with the cart I wanted for cheaper than the Essential, how could I pass that up?

[konk]

Is this made in America?

[timbrh2001]

So where did you get it

Well this is where it gets tricky, I kind of did a work around on an offer for something else. If I made this public and everyone tried to do the same, my odds of my order getting cancelled would obviously increase. I promise I'll post how I did it as soon as I get a shipping confirmation email. That way we all know what I did works as well.

[ajxd]

So in 3 posts you can't tell us where you got that price?

[timbrh2001]

So in 3 posts you can't tell us where you got that price?

I can but I do not want to yet until I get my email confirmation. Dont worry, I believe this deal runs through the entire month so you all will know soon enough.

[bearchuck]

The size. The material. A handful of things. Manual/automatic has nothing to do with it.

Exactly. There's lots of factors that make a good tonearm - materials, rigidity, damping, tracking ability, the wiring, etc etc. We won't know anything about the Orbit's arm until it's released, but it certainly doesn't look like anything to write home about ... and at $150, this turntable is obviously going to have a ceiling.

Again, it doesn't matter all that much; as long as the Orbit is a big step up from the plastic crap that kids are buying these days, it will be a success in my opinion. I'm just saying that you shouldn't expect the world with this thing. Of course, it could be the next AR-XA too.

[bearchuck]

In the U-Turn Audio thread on Audiokarma.com, the father of one of the inventors just posted this ....

--

I happen to be the father of Rob (Bob) Hertig, main inventor of the Orbit U-Turn TT and am very close to his years of work on this product. He and his two friends who founded the company are musicians... in fact Rob and Ben (Berklee College of Music) wrote and played their own music on the streets of Harvard Square in Boston during summers for spending money and to help pay for college. Rob has been a vinyl fanatic since he was in his early teens. He had a lot of material to choose from since I have about ~750 records, some old classical '78's from the '30's and '40's but most collected in the '60's and '70's. At 18 he started a "Classic Vinyl" website to sell used vinyl records online...

Regardless, I have followed this tread out of interest and to learn more about what the folks on this site feel the market needs are. Like Rob, I am convinced that there is a place for a low-cost ($150) TT, by necessity minus a lot of "frills" and minus the cheap ceramic cartridges that damage vinyl. For $150 you can't have everthing so Rob has 90%+ focused on the sound quality.

Rob earned his BSME from Northeaster University after a few years at the University of Illinoiis, and his team received some starter funds from NE. He also was donated an oscilloscope from Northeaster which he puts to good use, along with the "ears" of his musically-talented friends, to optimize the Orbit's performance. For the U-Turn team it is all about the quality of the sound. No comproimizes within a $150 TT budget.

Rob has a Rega RP3 which he uses for side-by-side comparison and his objective is to get sound performance, minimizing bells and whisles as necessary, comparable to the $1,000 Rega RP3. Wow and flutter, rumble, etc. measurable performance parameters should be equlivent of course... but most importantly digging out those first, second and third-order harmonics that CD's lack and makes vinyl records sound so rich and full.

I think he has now accomplished that task and is going to initiate his kickstarter program in early December. The first Orbit version won't have a an auto-cuing leaver but a head-mounted finger lift with which to place the needle (I have auto-cuing on my high-end TT and rarely use it, but that is a matter of a steady hand and a little bit of technique), no USB ports, no built in pre-amp (yet... I am trying to talk him into a built-in tube pre-amp as an option but it will be a bit pricey), etc... but the Qrbit will be very reliable and will sound awesome. I believe Orbit customers will be plesantly surprised to find the Orbit produces an audiophile quality sound at a fraction of the cost of a high-end TT.

Sound quality, simplicity and functionality is all Rob has focused on since inventing his design. The Orbit may look like just another TT but a lot of "Apple" thinking went into the product asthetics.

BTW... this is not intnded in any way as a commercial by myself for Rob and his team. I am just an old Mechanical Engineer and I know of only one way to tell it... like it is. I just thought I could address some of the questions I have seen floating around this forum.

John C. Hertig

[konk]

Old people are dumb and they have all the good jobs.

[bluedeni]

There is no way that table could compare to a Rega RP3 outside of the fact that they are both turntables. The tonearm alone on the RP3 will be worlds better than that table. I think they should show aim lower like a Sesame Street turntable from the 70's;)

[ajxd]

I can but I do not want to yet until I get my email confirmation. Dont worry, I believe this deal runs through the entire month so you all will know soon enough.

Reasons people on VC are crappy.

[timbrh2001]

Reasons people on VC are crappy.

Why? So everyone can bum rush what Ive uncovered, the company realizes their error and my order gets cancelled? Im actually a pretty nice dude who just doesn't want to see his efforts go to waste, especially when its over $100 in discounts. Like I said, Ill post my information for everyone else to see as soon as I get an email confirmation that it has shipped. Keep complaining and I wont bother to post my information at all.

[bearchuck]

There is no way that table could compare to a Rega RP3 outside of the fact that they are both turntables. The tonearm alone on the RP3 will be worlds better than that table. I think they should show aim lower like a Sesame Street turntable from the 70's;)

I don't think that U-Turn is suggesting that the Orbit will compare to the RP3 in the marketplace ... only that they're striving for high(er) fidelity and they've used the RP3 as the standard in their tests.

[Emo Revival]

Why? So everyone can bum rush what Ive uncovered, the company realizes their error and my order gets cancelled? Im actually a pretty nice dude who just doesn't want to see his efforts go to waste, especially when its over $100 in discounts. Like I said, Ill post my information for everyone else to see as soon as I get an email confirmation that it has shipped. Keep complaining and I wont bother to post my information at all.

so you're not willing to help other members of this community out...thats really classy, and I'm sure they will be returning the favor

[ajxd]

What ^^^ guy said. I wouldn't buy a Carbon, I am just amazed at the good discount. VC gets such a bad rap, and you're the prime example.

[timbrh2001]

so you're not willing to help other members of this community out...thats really classy, and I'm sure they will be returning the favor

I said I was going to help out and am still planning on doing so. Not sure where you assumed I wasnt? Good gosh. How many times have we seen things taken from this board and taken over to many other message boards and things blow up? Especially during X Mas time, if this thing blows up and the company I ordered from decides to cancel all these orders, I get screwed from an idea I thought of and spent a lot of time figuring out how to maximize. You can call me selfish all you want, but if I lose out on this deal, Im forced to settle for a lesser TT or spend an extra $100 just so I could fulfill the wishes of some people being impatient? If the deal was ending tomorrow, Id let u all in on it but this deal is going through the holiday season, so youve all got some time here. Plus if I give out advice and my order ends up getting cancelled regardless, then I get complaints from others who tried and failed with doing the same thing. That's another reason why I would like to wait until I get a shipping confirmation email.

[Emo Revival]

I said I was going to help out and am still planning on doing so. Not sure where you assumed I wasnt? Good gosh. How many times have we seen things taken from this board and taken over to many other message boards and things blow up? Especially during X Mas time, if this thing blows up and the company I ordered from decides to cancel all these orders, I get screwed from an idea I thought of and spent a lot of time figuring out how to maximize. You can call me selfish all you want, but if I lose out on this deal, Im forced to settle for a lesser TT or spend an extra $100 just so I could fulfill the wishes of some people being impatient? If the deal was ending tomorrow, Id let u all in on it but this deal is going through the holiday season, so youve all got some time here. Plus if I give out advice and my order ends up getting cancelled regardless, then I get complaints from others who tried and failed with doing the same thing. That's another reason why I would like to wait until I get a shipping confirmation email.

Thats a big long block of text saying I'm smarter than you and I'm not gonna help out a board I've benefited from. Moral of the story is you aren't helping out the board because you're being selfish. you can spin it anyway you want but thats what it is.

[ajxd]

[bearchuck]

How many kids VC kids reading this thread are ready to drop $300 within the next couple days? One? Two? You make it sound like you're going to create some sort of ordering explosion. I mean, Christ - this thread has been viewed less than 5000 times over the past three months.

Beside, I guarantee that your order has already set off red lights, especially if you're talking about a small - medium(ish) size company that sells audio equipment. Just look at ajxd's reaction when he heard about that price. You're not pulling the wool over anyone's eyes, trust me.

At the end of the day, if your work-around falls within the rules or isn't specifically prohibited, you'll be fine. The company many change its policy, but they're not going to risk losing your order by altering it at this point. If anything, they'll learn from the mistake and suck up the loss.

I understand that you're excited about the discount and I get why you want to keep your mouth shut ... but you probably shouldn't have posted anything at all if you were really worried about something going wrong. Now it just seems like you're lording this tasty, helpful nugget over everyone else, and that's why people are rightfully a little ticked off.

[Emo Revival]

How many kids VC kids reading this thread are ready to drop $300 within the next couple days? One? Two? You make it sound like you're going to create some sort of ordering explosion. I mean, Christ - this thread has been viewed less than 5000 times over the past three months.

Beside, I guarantee that your order has already set off red lights, especially if you're talking about a small - medium(ish) size company that sells audio equipment. Just look at ajxd's reaction when he heard about that price. You're not pulling the wool over anyone's eyes, trust me.

At the end of the day, if your work-around falls within the rules or isn't specifically prohibited, you'll be fine. The company many change its policy, but they're not going to risk losing your order by altering it at this point. If anything, they'll learn from the mistake and suck up the loss.

I understand that you're excited about the discount and I get why you want to keep your mouth shut ... but you probably shouldn't have posted anything at all if you were really worried about something going wrong. Now it just seems like you're lording this tasty, helpful nugget over everyone else, and that's why people are rightfully a little ticked off.

Thank you for being more coherent than I was