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I suspect we got a lemon, and I won't write off all Crosley's (I really like the looks), but I won't order one on line either, I'll pay a bit more locally and ask to listen to it before leaving the store. Instead of being just retro-styled in appearance, it was also retro in sound quality; it sounded like a poorly tuned in AM radio broadcast from 1935. The problem -- and a huge one -- was the the sound was unbearable. The other functions were just as bad, so it had to be the amp or speakers or wiring, but in any case, I just returned it. I ordered the Crosley Entertainment Center as a gift for my wife who had admired it at a local store. I could have got her a smaller, more modern-looking unit, but the retro style of these Crosleys drew us both in. but we were playing a good quality CD at the time.
The item comes with paperwork - I have not checked out the warranty info, but I am really happy with this product, and so is my mom. It's real wood, and I checked it out completely when I came to visit her.For the price, it is amazing. Not only does it have a turntable , it also plays cds, cassettes, and radio. If you know someone who likes the nostalgic or yester-year, and yet wants a great quality sound, this is it. She loves vinyl but had nothing to play it on.
The package arrived intact and on time for the holidays. It was very easy for my mom to figure out how to use, and has a beautiful look to it sitting on her end table. She also kept getting CDs and Cassettes from well-meaning family members but had nothing to play any of it on. I got this item for my mom for Christmas. My mom was definitely a vinyl generation gal and she loves this.
I was completely impressed with everything about this.
Eventually i had to end up unscrewing the bottom and manually pushing out the CD tray. What was a real problem was that one day i put a CD in the player and when i was finished listening to it, the player wouldn't eject. I got rid of it after a while of it just sitting there. It was a great starter turntable. I don't find it worth the $100 it sells for here, i got mine for $75 at a local store and don't think it was worth even that. I fiddled with it for several hours but couldn't get it to work.
If you intend to use this item for CD and tape listening purposes i wouldn't recommend it (of course maybe that might just be my experience and won't happen to you, but i wouldn't take the chance). I had this player for several months and i have to admit it played records quite well for me. It didn't have a very high quality tape player but i was for the most part ok with that. The same thing happened when i tried it again and i was very disappointed.
If you're looking for an affordable non-Crosley record player I recommend the Califone 1005 record player.Record Player 1005 - Califone Electronics Don't waste your time. The turntable gave out after a few days on both units that I purchased. This bad experience turned me off to Crosley altogether. This would be a great product if it actually worked. Unfortunately the record player is not built to last at all. This thing looks and feels like a cheap toy.
I knew this when I bought it and I intended to make some modifications. If you run into problems with your system, I wouldn't think Crosley would be too happy to accept returned merchandise that has been tampered with, so please keep this in mind. As to how it performs; I knew it wasn't going to pump out 200 watts and have a goofy SUPER DOOPER X-BASS BOOSTER button (which in most modern boom boxes, all that does is muffle the sound), but I wasn't expecting dismal quality noise either. Now, the only thing that really disappointed me about this model was that it had no Auxiliary outputs. If I wanted to crank it up loud through my receiver, all I had to to do was turn it on and I had the best of both worlds. But be careful when you do this.
If you ask me, I would recommend this over the Paprika. The sound that came out this was crisp and clear. Rather, it's intent is to bring back the American craftsmanship of the old days and yet still retain some modern technology. Nothing has broke on me yet and I trust that it won't for a while. I love this thing because it actually looks like someone spent some time and work crafting it together. P.S. So far, I am very satisfied with this system. I decided I didn't want to bypass the Crosley speakers altogether because I liked the way it sounded.
The woodwork even smells vintage. I unscrewed the bottom cover and voila, there were the speaker wires in plain sight. The quality adequately reflected the image of the system - majestic but not bashing you over the head. All the paprika has that is different is the tape player and a different faceplate. The Crosley entertainment center is one remarkable piece of retro-art. The majestic wooden finish, the metallic face-plate, the speaker fabric, and the record player are all top-notch vintage-classy. There was no muffling, no hiss, or resonance. I cut them and tapped in some RCA leads and hooked them to the back of my receiver.
You can simply plug in your cassette walkman at the MP3 auxiliary and it would work just the same. I don't think the tape player is worth the extra forty dollars. My version is the 837-OA which is basically the Crosley Paprika without a tape player. Very cool. It's intention is not to deliver the most powerful wattage and bass by way of a pseudo-space age looking boom box design.
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