Could have been perfect
Written: Oct 10 '01 (Updated Feb 28 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: They look spectacular, the straight tonearm system works great, excellent pitch control, high torque.
Cons: Feels gimmicky in general. the extra features don't really add substance to the turntable.
The Bottom Line: The STR8-100 is a very solid, smart-looking turntable with very high torque making it great for professional DJs. Sadly let down by some apparent teething problems which cheapen its value.
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| in-effect's Full Review: Stanton STR8-100 Turntable |
If you're buying new decks (as opposed to picking up a second-hand pair), the Stanton STR8-100s are an interesting option. The first thing you notice is the looks; the chassis is brushed metal and, when you power on, an array of blue, red and green LEDs light up and make it all look very funky - this is a turntable to impress your mates with. I noticed a few practical issues almost immediately. The power switch is on the back of the deck making it a pain to turn it on if it's flush with the wall or an equipment console. You'd have either leave them on or switch them from the mains socket instead. Also, the Stantons don't have lids. Unless you invest in a pair of flight cases, you run the risk of these gorgeous decks becoming scratched and dusty. The power and audio leads are detachable and a pair of high-grade RCA leads are included in the box. You can also switch the output of the decks between line and phono, making it easier to connect to other audio hardware. There's also a SP/DIF (Sony Philips Digital Interface) output on the back of the decks for interfacing with a DAT or PC if required but, seeing how vinyl is analogue and most mixers don't have digital inputs, I can't see any good reasons for this feature being here to be honest.
The STR8's extra features certainly sound impressive. There's a 3.5mm line-in jack on the front-right edge of the turntable allowing you to plug in any device such as a minidisc or mp3 player into this, and the sound is then routed into the mixer, bypassing the cartridge. This is so that such equipment can be plugged in without having to mess around at the back of the deck. Where the power switch usually sits on a turntable (top face, bottom left) there is a motor off feature allowing you to wind down the record as if turning the power off.
The deck comes complete with the standard features: start/stop button, speed selectors (33, 45, or press both for 78 which is useful for those really slow records), retractable target light and a versatile pitch-adjust facility. The pitch fader's movement is very smooth and doesn't have a dip at 0% (that's a good thing). Because of this, there's a 'pitch off' button that sets the record at native pitch. One of the best features here is the ability to manually select the range of the fader - you can choose either 8%, 16% or 25% (8% being what the technics use). There's also a reverse button (which is becoming a standard feature on new decks).
Of all the extra features on this turntable, the most notable is 'key correction'. On a standard turntable, when you increase the pitch of a record you don't just speed it up - the sound transposes as well. This can be a problem with a slow vocal track because the more you increase the pitch, the more it seems you're listening to a chipmunks tune. This key correction feature is meant to allow you to increase the speed of the record without increasing the pitch of the sound. In theory, this sounds great but, in practice, doesn't work as one might expect. It only works at the native speed of the record i.e. if you're speeding up a record that normally plays at 33 and then change up to 45, it pitches the whole thing up. I have no idea if this is supposed to happen or not but either way, it makes the feature pretty useless.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
in-effect
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Reviews written: 2
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