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Prefer old school audio gear to the soulless digital world of streaming? Then you're going to love the Mitchell Acoustics TT2 Phonograph Turntable. Audio expert Dave Taylor checks out the TT2 with some classic Ramsey Lewis and finds that there's a whole lot to like, especially with the matching Mitchell Acoustics uStream ONE Bluetooth speakers. Imagine, a turntable with USB out and Bluetooth connectivity. Pretty amazing.
Check it out at: https://www.MitchellAcoustics.US/
Visit Dave's Q&A Web site at: https://www.AskDaveTaylor.com/
#phonograph #turntable #mitchelacoustics #tt2 #recordplayer #lp #vinyl #vinylrecords #askdavetaylor
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0:00
God vinyl, how about a turntable? Let's check this one out
0:03
Dave Taylor here, and I'm checking out this
0:13
This is the Mitchell Acoustics TT2 Phonograph Turntable. It's really nice. It's a belt drive turntable, and as you can see, it has a nice plastic cover
0:24
But, I'm going to go ahead and take the cover off, because it makes it a lot easier for me to do the demo
0:29
I want to show you right off the bat that when you get this, you have to put the platter on the device
0:35
and it comes with a quick start guide. That's really handy. Underneath this sort of foam mat is the platter itself, and you'll notice it has some holes in it
0:47
and that is part of how you take the belt and put it over the spindle so that it can come up to speed properly
0:55
And then, what Mitchell Acoustics has done is they've really focused on making this really simple
1:01
It works with both 33 1 3rd and 45 RPM records. It even includes a little 45 adapter
1:08
If that doesn't bring back memories, then you're not as old as I am
1:13
Real wood veneer. There's two different wood finishes. There's oak or black ash. Both of them are really, really attractive
1:20
It's an aluminum tonearm. It is an aluminum platter with a belt drive, like I said
1:25
It has an adjustable weight, and it has anti-skate sort of adjustments you can make
1:31
because you want to have it where when you put the needle in and you drop it and you lift it up, it doesn't move anywhere
1:37
It stays exactly in that spot, so that's very much what they've done, once you tune it
1:43
On here is an Audio-Technica AT91 cartridge. These are very nice cartridges
1:49
They require a little more weight than others, so it did take me a little while to dial in the exact weight to get it to work correctly
1:57
You'll see that in a second. But, then we get into the 21st century
2:01
So, it has USB recording, and it has built-in Bluetooth. It's a Bluetooth 5.1 device
2:07
So, in fact, this is connected wirelessly to these speakers. These are Mitchell Acoustics U-Stream 1 speakers
2:16
They're 100-watt Bluetooth speakers. I've reviewed them before. Please go check out my review
2:21
They're great speakers, and this is a great setup overall. So, let's see. What else can I tell you is that if you're using the RCA output on the back
2:31
then there's actually a built-in preamp, which makes it work better. I'm going to just put on a Ramsey Lewis album, and old jazz. Good stuff
2:41
But, actually, let's go and have a quick tour of the back
2:44
You can see that RCA left and right, and you can turn on or off the preamp
2:50
And there's that USB output, and, of course, there's a plug for power
2:54
Looking down, you can see there's a Bluetooth pairing button. There's a speed control. There's a little arm to lift up and drop down the actual tone arm
3:07
And then there's the anti-skating control that you can adjust. So, all of that, and it comes with a bunch of different cables
3:14
So, depending on how you want to hook it up, you're good to go
3:18
And not only that, it even includes a piece of software called Audacity, which is an open-source audio editor
3:24
So, you can use that, hook this up via USB to your computer, and you can actually make digital copies of your LPs
3:34
That's pretty cool. But, let's go ahead and get some music. So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to just lift up the tone arm, and then as I move it into the space of the album
3:44
then you can see the album started moving. So, now all I have to do is drop it down
3:49
I don't think I got it quite at the beginning of the song, but let's see what happens
3:57
And so, what you're hearing is you're hearing it coming out of both of these Ustream 1 speakers
4:03
And obviously, it's a turntable. There's no volume control. There's no adjusting the bass or the treble
4:10
It's just a turntable. But, as I said, lift it up and drop it back down
4:16
You'll go right to the exact same place. That's what that anti-skating is about
4:21
Or, of course, as you get better with working with your LPs, you can move to another track, and then I can drop it down
4:28
And the speed at which it drops down shows you how well you've dialed in your counterweight
4:34
Because it should take about four or five seconds, about what you're seeing here
4:38
I could probably adjust it to be slightly faster yet, but it's super easy. It's super fun to work with
4:45
The only thing I was surprised by, let me lift it up again, is that as with many of the high-end turntables
4:53
when it gets to the end of the album, it'll get there
4:57
And then the very inside of a vinyl album has a thread that quickly moves it to the center
5:03
And then it just stops with the needle resting on the turntable
5:06
This is what audiophile turntables do. I'm used to having lower-end turntables where it would automatically bring it back
5:14
That's something you're going to have to do manually. Easy enough. You do that. You drop the little arm down, and you're good
5:20
But it was a surprise to me. There's nothing wrong there. That's how it's designed to work
5:25
Because what Mitchell Acoustics has done is they've really focused on giving you the best possible acoustic experience
5:33
And they didn't want any extra mechanisms, no vibrations, no stuff that's going to pick up a buzz or a hum
5:41
It's a really clean piece of audiophile gear, and it reflects it with really nice audio and really nice sound
5:48
So I will also say that the Ustream One comes with a remote control
5:53
This is not the turntable. These are the speakers. But this setup, collectively, I still need power, but I could have these speakers in a different room
6:02
I could have the turntable in a closed room, and then the speakers in a room with all sorts of people and a party going on and stuff
6:09
And then every so often, you go into the other room, and you flip your platter or you put on a different LP or something
6:15
So really fun. I really miss this sort of experience of having a sort of kinesthetic relationship with your music, if you will
6:24
Where you're putting on the disc, and you're putting the needle over it and everything
6:28
And it's just different to just punching in stuff on your phone or just letting Spotify or Pandora or SiriusXM or Apple Music pick what the next song should be
6:39
This is your musical world. When I decide I want to listen to some Ramsey Lewis, I pull out the album, I put it on, and I'm in control
6:48
And the sound is fantastic. It's really nice. I'm really, really impressed with this
6:54
Now, in terms of the device itself, it is 17 inches by 15 inches by 5 1⁄2 inches
7:01
And it's pretty heavy. It's 13 1⁄2 pounds. Again, audiophile turntables tend to be really heavy because it makes them less likely to pick up vibrations
7:12
And I can do things like this, and it's not going to bounce
7:16
Again, you want to get your anti-skating and your counterweight dialed in exactly
7:21
And that'll really help it not be affected by things going on around
7:25
Because otherwise, you're listening to your music, and someone slams the door, and the thing skips
7:30
And you're like, no, that's not what I want. You can adjust that. That's exactly what this is designed to let you do
7:35
So, that's really everything we need to talk about the price. Before we get to the price, go ahead and subscribe to my channel
7:43
Click or tap on that subscribe button. And if you found this useful and interesting, please go ahead and give me a thumbs up or a like
7:50
I do appreciate that, too. Great. This is the Mitchell Acoustics TT2 Phonograph Turntable, and it's $349.99 at MitchellAcoustics.us
8:04
If you're interested in the Ustream ones, these are a beautiful paired speaker for the turntable
8:09
The whole thing is wireless, giving you huge ability to put these speakers wherever the heck you want
8:15
elsewhere in the room or in another room. Those you can also find at MitchellAcoustics.us
8:21
This is a really fun setup. I have a very small number of albums
8:25
I am trying to increase my library. They're not so easy to find nowadays, but there are some at record stores cropping up
8:31
and they're definitely fun to go and check out. So, that's all I got. I think we need to go back to Mr. Lewis
8:39
Let's pick that second track. And with that, I think I am out of here
8:44
So, I'll have to catch you in my next video. ♪♪��
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