CrosleyC100BT-BK Belt-Drive Bluetooth Turntable Record Player with Adjustable Counterweight, Black

The media could not be loaded. Are you a newbie who wants to get started into the magic that is vinyl records? Or did you buy a $50 dollar record player and want something with more features and upgradability? I personally was the second one, and after having an Ion record player I picked up from my local record store used for $40 dollars, I decided I should treat myself to something nicer.Before I get started, I know reading paragraphs isn't for anyone. If you want a full in-depth unboxing of this record player, watch Record-ology's review of it. It is a long video, but I found it very helpful. He also did a 1 year review of the non-bluetooth version of it which, although not the exact same, was also helpful in its own right. I will still give my personal opinion on it, but know it was his words that got me to pull the trigger on this one. I am also specifically comparing the Crosley to the Bluetooth specific AT-lp120x, since the Crosley C100bt also uses bluetooth output to drive to headphones or any wireless speakers you may have, which was a selling point for me. Anyway, here we go.So, what did I naturally jump to? Youtube reviews! And what did I get from that? Very convoluted messages filled with snobbery and gatekeeping. Which was sad because vinyl records are awesome and can bring a whole new light to your music listening experienced if you really LOVE music. But the one main message I recieved over many channels was "Crosley bad, please avoid." And while, I personally haven't used a suitcase player before, I do understand that they aren't the best. They have built in speakers that won't do the vinyl format justice, and they can look cheap. However, with the experience I have had with the Crosley C100bt, I can firmly say that Crosley is a good brand. Cheaper things are cheaper for a reason, and as a record player for 50-60 dollars, they need to cut corners to hit that price point.This however, surprised me. If the Crosley C100bt looks familiar, that's because it looks like the venerable and heavily praised AT-lp120x. It also does many of the same things as the AT-lp120x, such as pitch adjustment, have a visual speed marker on the side of the platter, and have a metal tone arm with adjustment over the counterweight and even replaceable headshell, which is what holds the cartridge and stylus on the end of the tonearm.So, why? Why is it 170 dollars cheaper at the time of the review? Well, it can't do 78rpm, which allows you to play vintage records. But I don't have any, and it plays my 33 1/3 rpm records wonderfully, and using the strobe feature on the side of the platter, I can use the pitch adjustment to make the speed exact, which is one of the reasons I wanted one with pitch adjustment so I didn't have to play around with the stuff on the motor to make adjustments that way (which you still can!). The AT-lp120x also is a direct-drive turntable, which essentially means the motor is mounted to the spindle which the platter sits on. What does that mean for you? It means the AT-lp120x will spin up faster and is better for dj work. It doesn't affect the sound quality or how nice it is to use. In fact, belt driven turntables (such as this Crosley here) can actually reduce motor vibrations due to having a rubber belt between the motor and the platter. Does that make the AT-lp120x bad? I doubt it for how much everyone loves it. Does it make the Crosley C100bt better for listening to music exclusively? I couldn't tell you. I haven't personally experienced a direct-drive turntable and maybe it's life-changing. I don't feel like I'm missing out on that, so I think I'll save the money I didn't spend for more records. Oh, and one more I can think of off the top of my head, no USB converting built in to turn your vinyl records into mp3s. But I'll be honest, as cool as the feature was, I never used it on my cheap Ion turntable, but if it matters to you... then buy the Ion Audio Classic LP. It's my old one and while very cheap feeling and feature lacking, it did work, it sounded fine, and it CAN play 78s, not like I'd know, I don't have any. Or buy the AT-lp120x usb which saves you 50 bucks but you lose bluetooth and its still 120 more than the Crosley, which does have bluetooth."Well, maybe it feels cheap and flimsy." It is made of plastic, yes, but it is nice feeling plastic. I don't have any personal experience with the AT-lp120x so maybe it feels brilliant, but to me, that doesn't justify an extra 170 dollars. And the hinges are much nicer than I expected. Not creaky at all for plastic hinges, and the dust cover is beautiful in my opinion. Completely clear with blue tinting around the corners. The pitch adjustment slider is very nice feeling, and even though the on/off switch isn't substantial, I have no fear that it will fail over time. The platter is a very hefty and premium feeling aluminum full-sized platter that shocked me on how heavy it was. IN A GOOD WAY. I came from a WAY undersized platter made of plastic that was a pain to remove, and even more of a pain to put back on. All in all, the Crosley C100bt looks and feels like it was made by people who cared about what they were sending to people."Well, maybe it's a pain to set up and use." Well, it does come unassembled. However, watching both the video I mentioned before and reading the very comprehensive and well written manual I received, made it a breeze. It tells you how to balance the counterweight and tonearm, what weight to put the counterweight at, and how to assemble the platter. Not to mention, so did Record-ology, who's video was great (I'm not affiliated with him in any way, just found the video extremely helpful). It's not automatic, but neither is the AT-lp120x. That being said, most of the higher-end turntables aren't automatic. If automatic matters to you, get the AT-lp60x or the AT-LP3BK, which both have their own pros and cons, but its Audio Technica, so snobby audiophiles like those."Well, I bet they went cheap on the stuff like the pre-amp and bluetooth connectivity." I cannot honestly say how great the pre-amp is, which essentially turns the specifically mixed vinyl records into something playable through a line output, which you can take straight to your receivers to drive the speakers. BUT, you can just connect your own phono pre-amp, so that's no issue. But I don't recommend that, as it sounds much better through my little speaker set up than my Ion player did, which also had a phono preamp built in. It sounded good too, but the Crosley sounds better. And as far as bluetooth goes... it paired and synced perfectly with my bluetooth headphones so I can listen to my records without annoying the family at night. In all honesty, it worked so much better than I expected it to. Not too sure how easy it is to swap from device to device, but I don't need to do that, but I'll try it at a later date purely for testing purposed and update my review. I probably won't drop the review if it's a little difficult, but I do think it is worth noting, as some people may want to try out different bluetooth headphones.So, after all those words, did I sell you on it? Did I make you feel like I was a paid reviewer not going through the cons of the device? If I can be frank with you here, I kind of feel like I was paid to do this review, but my bank account says otherwise. I paid for this in full with my own money because it fit my personal wants and needs. Did I need it? My Dad doesn't think so, he thought my Ion worked perfectly and looked fine. And honestly, it did and still does work well. I'm even gifting it to my sister because I want to share my love for record listening with her and I trust it not to mess any of her records up. I also know my Dad appreciates not hearing my records at night when he's trying to sleep. But no, I bought this because I wanted to treat myself to a better record player, and a better record player is what I got. I probably will never buy another one unless I want one that simply looks good as a centerpiece. This one fits every need I will possibly ever have in the unforeseen future. Or, maybe I'll buy an AT-lp120x to see what the fuss is about when I have more disposable income. All I know is this record player does NOT deserve to be overlooked by the vinyl listening community, as it frankly is an amazing turntable, especially for the price.(Update 09/05/2023)Still working wonderfully as I expected. I even bought a nicer deer-hide slipmat to, if nothing else, make it appear nicer, haha. I also bought a Crossley aluminum 45 adapter which fit perfectly into the pre-existing holder. I’m mainly updating to state swapping between bluetooth devices is very straight forward. If one device disconnects from it, it will pair to the other one. I use my fiio BTR5 as an output to my wired headphones as well as a pair of boltune over-ear bluetooth headphones I bought a while ago. If my fiio is low on battery, I can switch to the bluetooth headphones while I charge it. Which is as simple as turning the fiio off and turning the other headphones on (assuming the turntable was the last thing connected to them). I have zero buyers remorse and will continue to use this thing until the motor dies (or whichever key component fails first, lol).

The media could not be loaded. Cuando uno se da cuenta que es un tornamesa de marca Crossley, por más pro que pueda verse, no deja de generar desconfianza, ya que su reputación con los tocadiscos tipo maleta (y su pobre construcción y sonido) los precede. Y, la verdad, yo también fui muy escéptico, no esperaba mucho. Aún así, con todas las dudas del mundo, compré este tornamesa.¿Por qué? Porque su similar más cercano, el Auduo Technica LP 120x, cuesta casi el doble, y en realidad, más allá de alguna referencia de Gemini, no hay nada similar en el mercado. Luego de leer reseñas y examinar mucho, este tornamesa era el que “mejor” se ponía en la balanza frente a sus competidores de precio.Este es un tocadiscos cuyo motor es de correa, y no directo como el Audio Technica. Esa es la diferencia más grande que tienen entre sí (sin contar su precio, y sus materiales de construcción). Así que, si crees que este tornamesa te va servir para comenzar en el mundo del scratching o para tu setup básico de DJ de vinilos, JAMÁS te servirá. Este tornamesa, detrás de su diseño “profesional”, oculta básicamente un equipo de consumo casero, que cuenta con algunas prestaciones que lo acercan a un tornamesa con más posibilidades de control. Eso es un gran punto a favor, pero es importante tener presente qué es lo que se puede hacer con él.Sobre el envío y el embalaje, hay que decir que llegó muy rápido, y venía muy bien empacado. Todo se veía de muy buena calidad. Sí, es plástico, y uno que básicamente hace que el mismo tornamesa resuene muy fácil ante cualquier golpe a su chasis (es implemente tenerlo en cuenta porque, literal, se oye cualquier golpe al plástico, por suave que sea). Armarlo fue muy fácil, literalmente las instrucciones te guían de forma muy intuitiva (para nivelar el peso del brazo yo usé una báscula de cocina y así fijarme que el peso fuese el correcto). Que la aguja sea una Audio Technica de las mismas que trae el LP-120 es un buen detalle.El funcionamiento del tocadiscos es muy eficiente, cumple con lo que promete en buena forma, sin embargo hay que tener presente que el sonido que genera este tornamesa es un poco “bajo” en cuanto a volumen, y tal vez algo faltó de frecuencias bajas, todo se escucha con un poco menos de cuerpo (no es grave, pero cuando vienes de un tornamesa Audio Technica como yo, lo sientes de inmediato).En el tiempo que llevo usándolo, no ha fallado ni ha mostrado señales de que algo pueda dañarse pronto o pueda venir defectuoso. Es una buena evolución si se parte de un tornamesa de entrada (yo tenía un AT LP-60x, que de hecho aún sigue funcionando, pero tiene algunos problemas con girar en las rpm correctas por más que se calibre, y quería uno que tuviese control de pitch para solucionar ese inconveniente de forma rápida), sin embargo es importante resaltar que es de uso doméstico, y que seguro tendrá sus leves diferencias con el AT 120x, pero costando la mitad, vale la pena irse por este.Por cierto, aún no he probado la versión Bluetooth, ya que yo uso parlantes alámbricos, pero muy seguramente funcionará sin problema.