Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here (reissue, Harvest – SHVL 814) does sound good, and while I could hear the nuances between the synth and guitar, I couldn’t get the full experience of having them perform in my living room. The USB-1 presents music to you with a wall of sound, so the soundstage is flat with no real depth. I avoided listening to it too analytically because whenever I did, I would start to notice how the imaging was less than stellar. There’s some extra flabbiness in the bottom end while the presentation as a whole remained enjoyable. Silly me for making assumptions too soon.Īlan Parsons Project’s Eye In The Sky (1982, Arista AL-9599) record sounded more bassy than I am used to. But once the needle dropped, I was greeted with a fun and competent tune. Given the microphonic plinth, run-of-the-mill tonearm, and entry-level cartridge, I braced myself to cringe at the eventual sound. I wouldn’t recommend placing the USB-1 on the same table as your speakers as the vibrations will be picked up by the stylus and cause nasty interference. Though imperceptible during my playback, it shows in its strobe.īecause the turntable is very microphonic, I can hear the feedback loud and clear from my speakers whenever I tapped the plinth or closed the dust cover. The turntable also has the habit of straying from its speed by gently oscillating up and down. I’ve broken several of these trimmers in the past so I decided not to mess with them and corrected the speed using the pitch slider. I tried using my flathead screwdriver but couldn’t turn them. However, I found two adjustment trimmers at the bottom of the turntable. Upon start-up, I noticed the turntable running faster on both speeds.

I set the tracking force at 2.5g using my stylus force gauge as per the recommended manufacturer specification. Setting up is easy as the cartridge was already been properly installed and aligned. For those who don’t have a phono stage, the USB-1 has one built in, which can be bypassed if needed. A CD with Audacity software is also supplied to aid recording. There’s also a 16-bit/48KHz analogue-to-digital converter that allows you to connect the turntable to a computer via USB to digitise your vinyl records. However, this is understandable considering it is servo and not quartz-controlled. Wow and flutter is specified at <0.25% for 33 ⅓ RPM so it’s possible to discern fluctuations in pitch if you have a keen ear. Keeping the budget in mind, the specifications for the turntable are not the most impressive around. The cartridge is entry-level with a conical stylus, but of course, since this is a standard mount headshell, you can always upgrade when the itch comes. The tonearm on the unit is a static balanced S-shaped unit with an effective length of 220mm and a detachable headshell on which an Audio-Technica AT3600L moving magnet cartridge is mounted. In the box, you’ll find a 45 RPM record adapter and a dust cover. The power switch also houses a strobe light so you can check the speed. The interface consists of a rotary power switch with the start/stop button beside it, a pitch adjustment slider, and a speed selector so you can play both your 33 ⅓ and 45 RPM records. It makes sense as the whole unit is made of plastic, save for the tonearm and platter. Compared to the usual decks I’ve picked up over the years, the USB-1 is definitely the lightest. The whole unit is quite light, probably too light at only 4.4kg. While the company is known for its high-end turntables, what we will be looking here today is its most budget offering – the USB-1. Music Hall was founded in 1985 and is dedicated to manufacturing, importing and distributing well-priced, top quality, high-end audio components. IF you’re familiar with turntables, you must have heard of Music Hall at least once in your lifetime.

– Highly microphonic build quality and material selection could be better minor speed issues flat soundstage. + Easy to set up fun sound tracks well with little to no inner groove distortion beautiful glossy finish built-in USB and phono stage standard cartridge mount allows upgrades low noise floor affordable.

Music hall turntable