Fluance RT-82 Review
An affordable turntable without some of the bells and whistles rivals have; but does this make for a better sounding device?
Verdict
The Fluance is a very capable turntable indeed for £300 and also offers the scope for future upgrades that makes it very hard to look past as an excellent starter deck.
Pros
- Genuinely compelling sound and performance
- Well-made and well finished
- Commendable level of upgrade stretch
Cons
- No phono stage or Bluetooth
- Fractional pitch wobble at times
- More performance still is available for a little more money
Key Features
- SpeedDC motor with electronic selection for 33 and 45rpm
- TonearmS shaped arm with detachable headshell
- CartridgeFactory fitted Ortofon OM10 cartridge
Introduction
The explosion of interest and demand for record players in more recent years has seen companies that never stopped making turntables expand their ranges and be joined by a number of companies returning to the business of making record decks as well.
Then there have been turntables from existing companies who have never made a turntable before and, even more remarkably, turntables from companies set up from scratch to build them.
Fluance is one of these companies. Based in Canada, it makes a selection of powered and passive speakers but they are best known for affordable record players that have now become a comprehensive range of products.
The RT-82 sits in the middle of this line up and takes a slightly different approach to some key rivals as to what a turntable does and doesn’t need at this price. Does this result in higher performance?
Availability
The RT-82 is sold via Amazon in the UK and retails for £299.99 inclusive of delivery if you’re a Prime member. There do not appear to be any other retail outlets at the time of writing (April 2024). In the US, the Canadian location of Fluance reduces that price to $299.99 (although sales tax might apply in some locations).
It is available in Australia for $A509. This is an extremely competitive price in all three markets and is partly achieved by a direct sale model which reduces overall costs.
Even allowing for this, there is no shortage of competition for the Fluance. Companies like Pro-Ject, Audio Technica, and Rega all produce models in this segment and devices like the JBL Spinner BT (which costs more but also does more) are also likely to be considered rivals. The Fluance does not have this part of the market to itself.
Design
- Substantial Plinth
- Choice of finishes
- Upgrade potential
The basic design of the Fluance is traditional but this isn’t a bad thing. The RT-82 is built around a substantial plinth that is made of layers of MDF built up into a thick section that complete encases the motor and the base of the bearing.
This has the effect of making the Fluance look both substantial and fairly neat at the same time. From the front, the only real control visible is the combined speed control and power switch which gives the RT- 82 a clean and elegant appearance. This plinth is available in four different finishes; black, white, walnut, and the oddly named ‘lucky bamboo’ which the review sample arrived in.
The finish on this and the general appearance is very impressive at the asking price. You get a lid too, which for anyone with a toddler or a cat is a very handy thing indeed.
Underneath the plinth you will find three rubber feet that are pointed rubber cones. These split the difference between very pliant feet that completely isolate the turntable and simpler feet that are intended to support it used in conjunction with a wall shelf or platform. Under test, the RT-82 has been pretty immune to interference used on a solid equipment rack but I can see people benefitting from extra isolation on some furniture.
As luck would have it, this is one of the things that Fluance offers owners as part of an upgrade program. The other option is an acrylic platter that replaces the standard metal one. These are useful options to have and give the Fluance a degree of stretch that many rivals at the price do not have.
Features
- DC motor with electronic speed control
- S shaped arm with detachable headshell
- Ortofon OM10 cartridge
- No on board phono stage
The RT-82 makes use of a belt drive arrangement which is in keeping with most rivals. The motor that spins this is a DC unit with a little wall wart type power supply. This is placed on an isolating sheet inside the plinth and uses a servo to help control the speed it rotates at 33 and 45rpm is supported so 78 fans will need to look elsewhere.
The belt acts on the outer edge of the metal platter which is topped by a rubber mat (unless you opt for the upgraded acrylic platter which would dispense with the mat).
The tonearm that the Fluance uses is quite unusual at this price point. It is an S shaped unit with a detachable headshell. There’s little to no shortage of detachable headshell arms at this price but almost all of them are straight tubes with an offset headshell.
The Fluance is one of the cheapest designs I can remember that has a straight SME type fitment. Why is it useful? It allows for very quick cartridge changes which makes upgrades and specific use cases easier to do. There are literally dozens of aftermarket choices and it gives you more flexibility to tweak the turntable to suit your needs.
As standard, the Fluance ships with an Ortofon OM10 moving magnet cartridge. This is an older design from Ortofon but one that offers a decent level of performance. It has a finer stylus profile than the Audio Technica AT-91 which many key rivals use and it tracks at a lower overall weight as well. If you fancy, you can choose a higher quality aftermarket styli as well as Ortofon continues to make a selection of them.
Perhaps as important as the things that the Fluance does have are the things that it doesn’t. Many rivals at the price have a phono stage built in and a number of them are equipped with Bluetooth as well. The RT-82 pointedly does without these features which helps it meet the price.
The lack of phono stage might be an irritation for people who don’t have one in the equipment that are connecting their turntable into, but many amps, powered speakers and wireless speakers now have one built in and the Fluance avoids doubling up. As there is no phono stage, there is no Bluetooth either.
On a personal level, with the exception of the gloriously bonkers (and portable) Audio Technica Sound Burger, I’m not completely sold on Bluetooth for vinyl use but, if you want it, the Fluance does without it. Instead you’ll find a pair of RCA sockets on the back and a ground post for which Fluance supplies good quality cables.
Sound Quality
- Fun, energetic playback
- Weighty bass response
- Not the most spacious sound
The reason why the Fluance does without the extra features of some rivals is to spend more money on the actual mechanical parts that make it a record player. It doesn’t take a very long time to establish that there is a fair bit of logic to this approach.
The business of playing a record is entirely mechanical; dragging a bit of industrial diamond through a plastic groove at just the speed and angle that, against logic and reason, music comes out. The care that Fluance has put into these mechanicals is impressive at the price and it really shows.
For starters, this is a very quiet bit of kit. It makes no squeaks, chirrups or other unwanted nastiness at start-up and once rotating, it’s completely silent. What’s more, once it is rotating, the amount of unwanted noise making its way into the signal is very low indeed. This means that you hear more of the record and less of things not on the record.
This means that when you listen to One True Pairing; the debut of ex Wild Beasts singer Tom Fleming, the result is more of his fabulously emotive vocals are apparent in the mix you hear. The result is that the Fluance is genuinely good at extracting information from the record itself.
Something else that makes itself felt, quite literally, is the bass response. The Fluance has genuine low end weight and impact for an affordable turntable. You can play Breathe by the Prodigy on the Fluance and that heavyweight bass line is something (speakers contingent) you can feel as well as hear.
It’s not simply blunt force either. The undulating texture of the bass is apparent and well defined. Change tack completely and listen to the beautiful version of Berlin Sunrise on Fink Meets the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the point where the full string section comes in is huge and forceful but you can hear it as a group of musicians rather than just a big noise.
Compared to a few designs at a similar price level, the Fluance is not the most spacious sounding device going. Music never sounds compressed or confused but there are turntables around for not a huge amount more that will convey a little more of the space that a piece of music is being performed in.
It’s also possible to find rivals that have a smidge more pitch stability that means that longer notes are delivered with a slight wobble to them. There isn’t much at £300 that significantly betters the Fluance but another £100-150 will start to unlock turntables that can deliver a little more.
One thing that not all of those more ornate rivals won’t necessarily do is sound more fun than the RT-82. With the gloriously overwrought Am I Really Going To Die? by the White Lies, the Fluance really captures the energy, punch and drive of the track. It’s good enough to have you stop concentrating on the hardware playing the record and have you listen to the record itself and, when all is said and done, that is surely the whole point.
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
Back to basics
If you have a phono stage and don’t need Bluetooth, the RT-82 delivers a level of vinyl replay that’s very hard to beat for the asking price. Fluance has spent the money where it matters and the performance reflects that.
Rival forces
If you need features like a phono stage on board, there are some very decent rivals available for not much more money that are more flexible in how you can use them.
Final Thoughts
Fluance has clearly put a good deal of thought and effort into the RT-82 and, if you don’t need the extra features, it’s hard to argue with the level of performance it offers. By concentrating on the basics, the result is a very capable turntable indeed for £300.
How we test
We test every turntable we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Tested for several days
Tested with real world use
You might like…
FAQs
There’s no Bluetooth support built-in for the Fluance RT-82 turntable
Full specs
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
