My Fluance RT85N | Is It My Last Turntable?

A video about audio! This is a quick look at my Fluance RT85N turntable equipped with a Stanton 500 V3 cartridge.

[RoastBeefSandwich]

I bought a U-Turn Orbit upon your recommendation some years ago and have been happy with it since.

[budsmoker]

I got the RT85 in bamboo, must say it is an amazing table. It does exactly what it is supposed to do. I am so addicted to records now. Not good for my wallet. Lol😂😂🎉🎉🎉

[raceingdemon]

Great Table Joe Glad That Your Still Doing Audio Related Videos Thanks For Uploading Regards mike.

[Trekkie]

Few years back, I was buying a new turntable, and strongly considered RT-85. Unfortunately, Fluance wasn't available in Europe at the time (or at least here in my area) so I went with Audio Technica AT-LP140 XP instead. Both of them were about the same price, except 140 is direct drive which I prefer.

Still, the RT-85 is a respectable turntable and comes with nicer cartridge than 140. Not that XP3 sounds bad, by any means. But it's still a DJ oriented conical.

[C-Stanz]

Always enjoy seeing an audio related upload from BadEditPro :)

[Grimwriggler]

pickering V15s and stanton 500S can sound AMAZING, Warm yet wonderfully open and shimmering. The Fluence is a great turntable

[InfectiousGroovePodcast]

I had an RT85 with the Ortofon Blue for a few years and loved it. I sold off my collection and turntable a year or so ago. I've been thinking about getting back into it though. I always loved the Ortofon cart, but if the Nagaoka is better, I will certainly try that this time.

[Rekmeyata]

I also been watching hundreds of videos on turntables and reading hundreds of sites on line, I'm also leaning towards the Fluance RT85 because of the mostly positive reviews of it, but not the N version. The reason I decided against the N was because the Ortofon 2M Blue has a slightly brighter sound, well, I'm 73 years old, and a person's high frequency hearing slowly depreciates over time, so I'm thinking my ears might prefer the brighter sound now.

I have an old 1976 Rotel RP1000 with an Empire TC400 cartridge, but the turntable needs to be worked on and the stylus, or maybe the cartridge needs to be replaced, and if doing that work will cost me $300, would I be better off in the long haul just to buy the RT85 turntable instead?

[DouggieDinosaur]

The voice @13:34 was Bob Hope. What did they do before television was invented? They listened to Bob Hope on the radio - he was amazing ^_^

*CORRECTION* it was *JACK BENNY* !! 😅 I can see him now, rolling his eyes 😂

They had the radio on all day just like we had tv on all day and now YouTube 😎👍

[hugobloemers]

That is a great tip about the Pickering replacement stylus. I have a Stanton 500 but I do not like the sound. I also have a vintage Stanton 681 EEE that I bought new many years ago. That one I love, so I will try the Pickering alternative.
Also interesting about the PLL speed control. I have seen many Fluance 85 reviews. This is the first one to mention it. Is the shaft encoder on the platter or on the motor? Obviously it should be on the platter but so far Philips (of all brands) is the only company I know of that made PLL belt driven turntables with the shaft encoder on the platter. If Fluance would do that as well, it would mean they re-discovered 80's technology, which is a good thing when it comes to turntables.

[kurtemeigh]

Is there a reason you put a mat on the acrylic platter?

[Rob-utrx]

Hi Joe, I have a turntable that I bought in the late 1980's that is belt driven and quarts controlled. It is a Dual CS 5000.

[robertyoung]

Does anyone know what the problem was with the Nagaoka 110?
I like my Nagaoka mp110 on my pioneer 1000 turntable. It has a great non fatiguing sound that I can listen to for hours.

[cedricvanderhauwaert]

Great review. This TT is made for Fluance by Ya Horng, not Hanpin.

[shARyn]

I still have my Dual, but it is (and has been) sitting in the attic for the past 35 years --- but with a Pickering cartridge. Never have tried a Stanton.

[basspole]

Huge fan of the Nagaoka line. Ortofon sounds too tinny and harsh...causes fatigue for me, at least. I'm fairly new to turntable nuance and learned just enough to be dangerous. My other tables are direct drive and automatic, but I've been wanting to make the switch to manual belt drive.
This seems like a great option.

[grimmny]

Apologies if this has been asked - is there a link for the attached cartridge/stylus cleaner? Thanks!

[gigabyte]

You mention about turning off the auto-stop, but you seem to misunderstand why it is useful, it's not designed to lift the arm like a automatic table would, the reason it doesn't stop straight away is because it is designed to stop if you have fallen to sleep for example, that's why it takes around 15 revolutions before it will turn off, as for the weight of the arm on the stylus, well, I can only say it's the same weight whether the platter is moving or not, it's only there as a last ditch method of preventing damage to the stylus if left spinning for hours on end, as this would damage the stylus over time, no way would I turn that feature off for that reason !

[somd_fishing]

Great video! I was unaware of a tone arm difference for the rt85n. I’ve had an rt83 for a few years now. It has been upgraded with the acrylic platter and several months back I swapped out my 2m red with a nagaoka mp-110.

I have not noticed any significant issues….obviously with fluance tables, you have no VTA adjustability. The sound is quite nice on my setup.

Did fluance explain the difference with any detail? Thanks in advance for any input.

[HiFiMods]

So what does this mean ... if I get the RT85 with Ortofon, I can't put a Nagaoka cartridge on it, as the VTA will be off and I can't adjust it? Thx! I want to get the Ortofon one, but would want to use my Nagaoka cartridge as well..