I have one of these that I use in a secondary listening system in my office. It is better built than
I expected and it runs as advertised. A few recommendations:
1. avoid the built-in preamp, and thus avoid the built-in USB output. Low-grade, barely mid-fi sound
quality. However, for a low-grade source where you're going for efficiency over ultimate fidelity,
it's fine. Example is I used this to transfer some old LPs of dubbed OTR programs directly to a
laptop, then directly to MP3 for the client's iPod -- crapola sound quality from the get-go so why
not be as efficient as possible. If you take the analog outputs, no preamp, they are reliably
hum/buzz free and work fine with any phono preamp I've used.
2. if you choose to use "Stanton's" junky slip-mat, you will get noticeable rumble. Buy a Technics
heavy rubber mat from KAB or Needle Doctor and enjoy the sound of woofers not rumbling.
3. I've had very good luck with KAB's knob-like spindle clamp, if used with the rubber mat. Cuts
down on surface noise a bit more.
This same turntable (or what looks and functions exactly like it) is also sold under the Music Hall
and other brands.
To address Joe Salerno's question, don't the St8 series have straight tonearms, hence the name? This
one has a Technics-copy S-shaped tonearm.
Oh, also, this turntable works fine with 78's. And the tonearm is completely compatible with
Technics headshells, so it's a snap to swap cartridges back and forth.
I didn't pay anywhere near $600 for mine, they must have jacked the price way up. I think mine was
$300-ish, B-stock, from ZZSounds in NJ.
Do a search of the ARSCList archives because I wrote up a review/comment when I got it, maybe a year
or so ago or maybe spring 2011.
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Martin Fisher" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2011 10:10 AM
Subject: [ARSCLIST] Stanton Turntable reviews....anyone?
http://www.zzounds.com/item--STAST150HP
Has anyone had experience or read a REAL review on this TT? I've already got a KAB modified
Technics 1200 with a few additions but am interested in this as a backup and special project TT.
I'm mainly interested in the transport. If needed, all the USB crap can be bypassed and/or
defeated. That's the least of the issues though. Key transport features that make it appealing to
me are the following:
World's Strongest Torque Motor (4.5 Kgf-cm)
3 speeds [33,45,78]
Selectable pitch control [+/-8%,+/-25%,+/-50%]
I'd like to know how quiet (electrically and mechanically) the thing is and just how rock solid the
platter rotation is when encountering resistance.
Martin
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