U-Turn Audio Orbit Special Turntable with Built-In Preamplifier

$569.00 OR

Color: Maple - In Stock

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Model: R165MPAORD UPC: 853986006494 Item: 1998

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U-Turn Audio Orbit Special Turntable with Built-In Preamplifier Overview

Whether you own a treasured LP collection or you’re just starting out down Vinyl Lane, you’ll find the made-in-America U-Turn Audio Orbit Special turntable one of the best-value audiophile propositions in today’s turntable world. For less than the cost of some phono cartridges alone, the Orbit Special Turntable is fully loaded, with the highly regarded Ortofon 2M Red cartridge pre-installed and a phono preamplifier built-in. Just open the box, plug it in to nearly any modern setup, and take it for a spin. The Orbit line is engineered to extract the most from your grooves without fancy frills or extraneous noise. And the precision tonearm with anti-skate compensation, adjustable counterweight and accurate cueing will caress those grooves with kid gloves.

Product Information

Product highlights

  • Multi-pole AC synchronous motor
  • Belt drive for low noise and rumble
  • Acrylic flywheel platter assures speed consistency
  • Precision gimbal tonearm for tracking accuracy
  • Cueing lever gently lifts and eases tonearm down
  • Low-noise phono preamp included for plug-and-play ease
  • Solid plinth of sustainably sourced hardwood in choice of maple or walnut
  • Includes Ortofon 2M Red cartridge with elliptical diamond stylus
  • Built by hand in Woburn, Mass.
  • Weight: 11.5 lbs.
  • Dimensions: 16.75” wide by 12.5” deep by 4.25” high (with included dust cover)
  • Warranty: 2 years parts and labor - World Wide Stereo is an authorized dealer for every brand we sell
  • World Wide Stereo 60-day guarantee and expert product support

Spinning in isolation

The multi-pole AC synchronous motor is isolation-mounted to the turntable base, to reduce the low-frequency noise called rumble that’s common when turntable motors vibrate through other parts of the mechanism into the stylus. And the motor is connected to the turntable platter by belt, further reducing any transmission of vibrations.

Acrylic platter smooths things out

Your albums rest edge-to-edge on a heavy, balanced, single-piece acrylic platter (topped by a thick felt mat). Coupled by the belt drive to the motor, the platter acts as a flywheel, eliminating small inconsistencies in the rotational speed.

U-work the U-Turn

There’s no automatic lift, no push-buttons to move the arm to the lead-in groove, no electronic lift and return when the record ends. The Orbit is built for simplicity and value. The power switch sets the turntable spinning. You move the tonearm over and down, with the help of the gentle (and quite accurate) cueing lever. When the record ends, use the same lever to lift the tonearm up and bring it home.  You even move the belt’s position on the motor spindle manually, to change the Orbit’s’speed from 33 to 45 rpm.

A tonearm with swing…

The Orbit Special’s tonearm uses precision gimbals (like a gyroscope) to provide nearly friction-free movement along its horizontal and vertical axes. That means it carries the cartridge freely and easily along the record surface, and up and down with the undulating record surface.

…And a cartridge ready to groove

Any vinyl aficionado can recount the tricks and travails of installing phono cartridges in a turntable’s head shell. Not here. The Orbit Special comes with one of the best value, most highly regarded phono cartridges – Ortofon’s 2M Red, with elliptical diamond stylus – already installed and tweaked for top performance. Plug in the power supply, cable the Orbit Special into your system, and fire ‘er up.

At home in the finest systems – and rooms

No wood veneer or pressed plywood here. The U-Turn uses sturdy solid wood plinths (FYI, that’s Brit for base) in its U-Turn turntables. The wood is domestically and sustainably sourced in the USA, in your choice of rift walnut or flatcut maple. It makes for solid construction and an attractive and stylish presentation in any room, and comes complete with hinged dust cover.

U-plug in, U-sit back, and U-enjoy

Sound systems have evolved over the past few decades from the traditional source-to-receiver-to-speakers setup. With new digital sources and wireless everything, today’s setups can be as simple as source and speakers. If your system is built around a receiver or integrated amp, it may have a dedicated input to accept a turntable’s low-voltage output signal. (Check in back for a pair of jacks marked “phono.” See them? What you want is U-Turn’s Orbit Special turntable, minus the preamp.) But a turntable with built-in preamp can skip the receiver or separate amp entirely. Just directly feed some of the best vinyl sound you’ve heard to a suitable powered speaker system with volume controls, such as the Audioengine HD3 or HD6s, lean back and enjoy. Vinyl nirvana gets no easier than this.

WWS: What we say

“It’s a neat trick to get a moderately priced turntable to perform like a high-priced turntable – you’d hear wow or flutter or rumble, or the arm wouldn’t be able to handle a good cartridge. The U-Turn Orbit is probably the least expensive turntable we sell that someone could conceivably put in a multi-thousand dollar system, and it wouldn’t do anything sonically wrong.” – Ken Zelin, World Wide Stereo product specialist

Specifications

Specifications

  • 33/45 RPM manual speed adjustment
  • Weight: 11.5 lbs.
  • Dimensions: 16.75" x 12.5" x 4.25"
  • W&F: 0.125%
  • S/N ratio: -79dBA
  • Rumble: - 63dBA
  • Input voltage: 115V/60Hz

What's in the Box

What's in the Box:

  • Orbit Special Turntable with Built-In Preamplifier
  • AC adapter
  • RCA cables
  • Dust cover
  • Felt mat

Reviews

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Customer Reviews for U-Turn Audio Orbit Special Turntable with Built-In Preamplifier

5.0 / 5.0
5 Reviews
5 Stars
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1 Star
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Rated 5 out of 5
Perfect.
This would be a great player to own for the visual presentation alone, but it also sounds perfect, even with a pair of bookshelf speakers.
This review was collected as part of a promotion
July 13, 2020
Purchased
over 2 years ago
Rated 5 out of 5
If you want the best forget the rest Buy from World Wide Stereo
Love it matched my other shelves perfectly
Was very easy to set up
Looks great and sounds great
Will probably buy another turntable for
Down stairs very soon
And have to get some speakers for the
Living room
This review was collected as part of a promotion
December 23, 2019
Purchased
over 3 years ago

Q&A

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