Verdict
There ’s so much to admire about the Rekkord Audio F300 , from the way of life it ’s build via the way it operates to much of the way it vocalize – but it ’s well short of what sporting types call an all - court game and , in sonic term , is giving too much away to the best of its price - comparable rivals .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Germany ’s Rekkord Audio might seem , on the face of it , to be a step too far . After all , it ’s operated by ‘ Mr Pro - Ject Audio Systems ’ Heinz Lichtenegger – and if anyone would seem to have the whole extensive range of turntables covered off , it must surely be him .
But Rekkord Audio intends to fill up in some of the gap in the Pro - Ject range – most specifically the gap where fully automatonlike models might sit .
The cognition that the Rekkord Audio mountain range is paw - built in the same Black Forest adroitness where Dual constructed its ubiquitous automatic turntable during the seventies and 80s add together a hefty acid of credibility to the enterprise – and if Rekkord Audio can replicate the repute for quality , widget and value that Dual established back in the twenty-four hour period , it will be on to a achiever …
Availability
The Rekkord Audio F300 reflex turntable is on sale now , and in the United Kingdom it cost £ 549 . This translates to $ 599 in the United States , and while no Australian pricing is presently published , a quick glance at today ’s substitution rate suggests AU$1049 or thereabouts is the likely price .
This is the sort of money where the big turntable brand start to get imply – but Rekkord Audio reckons the F300 is equipped to compete …
Design
The F300 is uncommitted in three finishes : silver , satin bootleg and stirling oak tree wood veneer . My reassessment sampling is in that last finish , and it ’s quite heavily grained and textured . The footstall itself is forge from a single objet d’art of MDF ( a good choice of material when it comes to resonance or the deficiency thence ) , and it makes the Rekkord Audio seem quite sturdy .
The standard of construction is well up to snuff , and the F300 is quite a good - looking gimmick ( as much as it ’s possible for a jolly low-priced lazy Susan to look typical in any meaningful way ) . A light Perspex rubble - natural covering adds to the visual appeal as well as being a practical addition .
Take off the atomic number 13 disc ( or have a skillful look before you set it ) and the major differences between the F300 and the less expensive models in the Rekkord Audio range is revealed : the floating sub - chassis program that ’s decoupled from the rest of the figure .
Isolating the mechanization chemical mechanism , the tonearm and the disc itself from external and internal vibrations as much as possible has obvious theoretic benefit to the precision and reliability of the lazy Susan ’s overall cognitive process , and Rekkord Audio has done as thorough a Book of Job here as can reasonably be expected .
Features
It ’s not , stringently speaking , singular – but nevertheless , fully reflexive operation is not remotely common in turntables at any price and it give the F300 an unusual selling period . If your mitt are n’t as steady as they once were , or if you ’ve a tendency to let a record achieve the close of its side and then allow the stylus to baby-sit in the locked head for the hills - out groove for a while , this is a very worthwhile feature of speech . Being able-bodied to throw a short - travel switch and have the whole start and stop unconscious process happen automatically is not , for many consumers , to be sniffed at .
And better still , the F300 bugger off the job done in a tranquil , stable and true personal manner – which is by no means a afford in some automatic turntables I ’ve test . Bear in creative thinker , though , that the F300 is of the unshakeable opinion that 12 - column inch disk become at 33.3rpm and 7 - inch discs at 45rpm – so if you desire to act , for exercise , a 12 - column inch single that spin at 45rpm , you ’ll have to fall back to manually place the record on and taking it off again . And it has never get a line of 78rpm disc of any size .
The F300 is a belt - driven turntable – the platter is of fairly hefty atomic number 13 and arrives with a felt slipmat on top . The belt is pre - fit , as is the Audio Technica AT91 moving attraction magazine to its headshell . It ’s pre - adjust on its 211 mm ultra - low mass aluminium tonearm , which boast brand - tip bearings – anti - skate can be conform , and the tracking weight will need scene , but otherwise the place - up experience is about as painless as the automatic surgical process .
The Rekkord Audio is severely - wire with stereophonic system RCA connections and a grounding telegram . Again , this all adds to the plug - and - play convenience of the F300 – but as with the tonearm , which would come along to be design to act upon specifically with the AT91 pickup , it does rather come together off the common rise avenue .
Sound Quality
When it comes to medicine , the Rekkord Audio F300 most definitely has its preferences . It has a comforter zone , not an especially large one , within which it ’s right-hand at domicile – but get outside of it and this record player sounds unquiet .
A nice heavyweight reissue of Marvin Gaye ’s timeless What ’s Going On is the variety of matter the F300 love . The high - rubric sheen of the overall sound is flop up its street , and it swoosh up the rolling rhythms and realistic tempos too . This record just flow when it ’s gyrate on the F300 – item level are high , the midrange faithfulness that ’s on offer is impressive and there ’s just about enough high-pitched - frequency bite to keep thing interesting . Integration of the frequency range is convincing , and while the overall tonality is on the warm - ish side , that suit the transcription nicely .
About the only areas in which the F300 does n’t sound entirely fit for purpose are miserable - frequency rigour and active expression . In the most bare terms , the Rekkord Audio does n’t make hard enough at the bottom terminal – if anything , it shove . There ’s no real alacrity to the attack of bass voice speech sound – the F300 somehow wander into low - end information rather than snap . And while it ’s detailed enough to make the dynamic of harmonic sport reasonably expressed , there ’s deficient dynamic headroom available to put a groovy deal of space between restrained and brassy or to track changes in intensity effectively .
And when you give the F300 something less obliging to deal with – a written matter of Cosmogramma by Flying Lotus , for example – it really does n’t fathom happy . It ’s not antiphonal enough to abject - frequency info to hit with the form of decision the recording demands , it ’s ineffectual to treat the ferocity of the dynamical variations , and its attempt to levy its rather laid - back overall personality on the music results in an ill at ease via media that suits no one .
All of which mean that the F300 ’s undoubted ability where soundstaging , item recovery and tempo direction , while still admirable , ca n’t make up for its shortcomings where the more splanchnic aspects of the recording are relate . The music , in the end , ends up voice rather altered .
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
Not only does it have cud - and - play convenience , but the F300 is also easy to use on a day - to - day groundwork
You ’ll involve to work the F300 manually to hear them – and where ’s the fun in that ?
Final Thoughts
I wish records and , therefore , I ’m well - throw out towards record book players – I need them all to be full . But the best things about the Rekkord Audio F300 do n’t really centre on the way it sound – and if I have to merchandise some appliance for honorable sound , well , that ’s a trade I ’ll make all day every daylight .
Trusted Score
How we test
We examine every lazy Susan we review thoroughly over an lengthy period of time of clock time . We employ manufacture standard tests to compare features properly . We ’ll always say you what we get hold . We never , ever , accept money to brush up a product .
Find out more about how we try in ourethics insurance .
FAQs
There ’s no Bluetooth or wireless support with the Rekkord Audio F300 turntable .
