The Crosley C200 Record Player is a decently priced direct drive turntable. It looks great, and the audio quality is decent. But I think it’s just missing too many of those special little things that make us love our record players. Idon’t really recommend getting the Crosley C200 Record Player. But let’s explore why I’ve come to this conclusion.
Table of Contents
Pros – Crosley C200 Record Player
General
This record player looks great. I think its biggest selling point is that it’s a direct drive turntable, mainly because of this the price isn’t absurd. It has some nice touches like the rubber bumpers that help with closing the lid softly. The record player also comes with shock absorbing feet, which prevent nearby footsteps from causing skipping issues. It also comes with a convenient storage place for your 45RPM adaptor.
Finally I also want to add that Crosley provides amazing customer support. If you’re having any troubles or something is not working correctly, they will help you out by for example sending you a new part. There’s also of course the 30 day return policy, which can be useful.
Technical
A cool thing that the direct drive motor provides is the ability to adjust the turning speed of the record which influences the pitch of the audio. The audio connection options for this are Line/Phono input and RCA connectors. The record player also comes with a decent built-in amplifier. Its headshell and needle are replaceable, which is always useful. The actual audio is also pretty decent, but nothing special.
Cons – Crosley C200 Record Player
Price
Let’s start with the price. You can get this one for $185 or $335 if you want two bluetooth speakers to be included, but I really don’t recommend this. Especially since you won’t even be able to use these bluetooth speaker with the Crosley C200, because it doesn’t come with a bluetooth transmitter! Now if you really want to use bluetooth speakers with this you could buy an additional bluetooth transmission device, but that will cost you another $50.
I see this base price as a negative thing, because it gets you so little. It really just offers the basic functionalities and I love extra gadgets like a remote controller for example. There are just no extras and everything is manual. Which leads us to the next part.
Manual Adjustments/Tweaking Is Necessary
This is not an unpack > plug in > play record player. It’s very important that you thoroughly read the manual to set up everything correctly. Which is not intuitive at all. From choosing the correct base pitch, to setting the correct counter weight.
There are als some issues with the anti-skating mechanism, which can also require manual adjustments. If you’re going with this turntable, you better have some tools available, like an alignment gauge.
Conclusion
So I don’t like it. Mainly because at this price I’d expect more than the standard functionalities, like bluetooth or recording. However if you’re an audiophile and a fan of a manual record player then this is actually a pretty good and affordable option for you. Just don’t get the bluetooth speakers with it.
I also like to point you to my other Reviews & Top Lists to get an idea of your alternatives. If you’re interested in educational articles I’ve written then you can check them out here.
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