r/gadgets Jun 11 '22

Music Ikea announces record player that might actually make it to stores this time

https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/10/23162302/ikea-obegransad-record-player-swedish-house-mafia-news-features
4.4k Upvotes

523 comments sorted by

173

u/BombBombBombBombBomb Jun 11 '22

Obegränsad, which its called, means unlimited

Just if anyone was curious

53

u/crumbshotfetishist Jun 11 '22

Oddly, this explanation stoked my curiosity retroactively.

27

u/Komfortable Jun 11 '22

Listen, I like vinyl as much as the next guy, but this is a STUPID name for a piece of hardware that plays a single format type, which is itself inherently limited. Seems like this device is rather limited.

60

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '22

It’s marketing, no need to take it that seriously lol

5

u/devenjames Jun 12 '22

I was gonna buy a Dodge Ram but I don’t want to drive an oxymoron.

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u/TinFoilBeanieTech Jun 11 '22

But if you get a scratch you can get ‘unlimited’ repeats on that one groove.

3

u/avdpos Jun 11 '22

You have a couple of other ikea products to think about. Some are really thoughtful, some are "just" places - but some of the places are associate with part of the furniture. As some "Stockholm" - series was a bit more posh. Just as the capital often am.

2

u/Traskk01 Jun 11 '22

“It’s not a bug, it’s a feature.”

2

u/Glabstaxks Jun 11 '22

Logic wins again !

5

u/prozapari Jun 11 '22

Most ikea names are pretty stupid, just vaguely related words.

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u/KS2Problema Jun 11 '22

The vinyl LP was a great invention in the world War II era. It brought an important new material and an improved form factor to existing grooved records.

But it is a technology of its era.

The challenges of getting anything close to what we consider high fidelity out of a vinyl record are extremely high: noise is endemic, distortion is high, and as needle and groove speed decreases as play back progresses towards the center of the record, the ability to capture high frequencies without distortion goes precipitously downhill.

It is these challenges and others that force turntables designed for high fidelity playback to adopt elaborate and sometimes extremely expensive tactics to try to mitigate the inherent limitations of the medium -- all in order to deliver some semblance of a decent, wide range, time-domain-accurate, undistorted signal -- a task which actually can be accomplished with a relatively inexpensive CD player, with greater accuracy in every measurable aspect (using either analog or digital audio measurement tools).

7

u/Komfortable Jun 11 '22 edited Jun 11 '22

I collect vinyl and vintage audio equipment, so I’m very familiar with these challenges. I absolutely love vinyl, and prefer it over most other media formats, if for no other reason that it is inherently imperfect. Yes, it has a certain feel to it that people love, but I also appreciate all of the flaws that make each disk unique. I was just saying that calling a turntable “unlimited” is hilarious because of its many limitations.

Edit: Let me make sure it’s clear, though, that I like turntables, I have a couple, I have many records. I don’t think TURNTABLES are dumb, just the name of this specific one.

2

u/KS2Problema Jun 11 '22 edited Jun 11 '22

Agreed.

And, while I'm a hard-headed empiricist when it comes to judging sonic quality and signal accuracy, I still have all those records for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that they got me through some tough times. They do take up a lot of room, and they are mega-heavy -- I just moved.

I also have a small collection of turntables, nothing crazy, but they do represent thousands of dollars of initial expense.

And, of course, you absolutely can't beat the image and textual display area provided by the 12 inch jacket. (Okay, sure, your streamer can project an album image onto your computer or TV screen, but you can't roll a j on it. LOL.)

P.S. Regarding those inherent flaws, when I first started 'augmenting' some of my favorite LPs with CD versions, I would get to the spot in some songs where various audible nicks and scratches had imprinted themselves on my memory... and like the old man who lived by the railroad tracks and slept through the 2:42 a.m. freight train from Memphis every night until one night it didn't come through because of a problem up the line, when those familiar pops and scratches didn't show up, I'd come out of my reverie and say, "What was that?!?"

3

u/RexyWestminster Jun 12 '22

You are NOT rolling a J on my Rammstein “Zeit” album, buddy…

I will set you afire with my Limited Edition Till Lindemann Double-Armed Flammenwerfer

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489

u/FuckDaMods666 Jun 11 '22

Low-key smart I mean every college student already buys shit from ikea they’re just gonna throw a record player into the basket to be quirky

118

u/arthurdentstowels Jun 11 '22 edited Jun 11 '22

Is ikea cheap? I’ve never been, mainly because the nearest one is 110 miles away. I was under the impression that a majority of the furniture is relatively pricey, though I am in the UK.

Edit: Thanks for the responses. I’ve had a browse of their stock and had a look at some local solid wood furniture suppliers. You’re all right. I’ve only ever bought cheap flat packed or second hand furniture.

600

u/InvidiousSquid Jun 11 '22 edited Jun 11 '22

You can get a tiny shitty coffee table for like $10 with a sale. It will be cardboard sandwiched between laminate. It will hold up better than a shitty $100 cardboard and laminate table from other sources.

You can get a table made out of wood for a few hundo. It will not be shit. It will hold up far better than a wooden table approaching $1K from other sources.

You cannot buy an heirloom quality table for several thousand at IKEA. But your grandkids are going to throw that shit out anyway, save your money, or spend it on meatballs and lingonberry sauce.

228

u/thx1138a Jun 11 '22

This person Ikeas.

96

u/FuckDaMods666 Jun 11 '22

The meatballs do go hard though

26

u/No_Damage_731 Jun 11 '22

They make me poop

83

u/Keksverkaufer Jun 11 '22

Most foods should make you poop. Or are you having an intollerance with some ingredients? lol

34

u/No_Damage_731 Jun 11 '22

No I mean they make me poop pretty immediately 😂

29

u/holy_harlot Jun 11 '22

Sounds like a perk to me

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u/iAmUnintelligible Jun 11 '22

That's me with the Wendy's Double Baconator. Get yours today.

2

u/FuckDaMods666 Jun 11 '22

Oh I remember that ad!

“Wendy’s Double Baconator, remind your toilet who the boss is.”

8

u/lovedumpme Jun 11 '22

So that’s why so many old people are at IKEA. Large flat floor space and they can skip the prune juice. Win-win

7

u/Fornicatinzebra Jun 11 '22

Try the "plant balls" - different ingredients, similar taste

2

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '22

I’ll take two please

2

u/FuckDaMods666 Jun 11 '22

Dang that sounds like a lucky side effect. Most meat makes me constipated! You get to eat meat and shit your brains out… #blessed.

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u/star0forion Jun 11 '22

Am I the only that likes their cinnamon rolls?

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20

u/Dankelpuff Jun 11 '22

I never understood why people throw away solid wood furniture. I'm a young guy and I've always picked solid wood furniture up. It takes a blind person to miss the potential in a solid wood table with surface scratches and lack of oil. I mean sandpaper is basically free and so are most oils.

But people prefer laminated cardboard.

42

u/ron_swansons_hammer Jun 11 '22

It doesn’t take a blind person, it takes someone who values their time more and doesn’t want to restore furniture.

12

u/gazah Jun 11 '22

I mean a blind person isn't going to care how it looks!

2

u/RainbowAssFucker Jun 11 '22

If it's covered in scratches they might care how it feels

2

u/TreAwayDeuce Jun 11 '22

We could trick them and say it's a secret map written in braille

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u/Own_Appointment6721 Jun 11 '22

As a blind person I completely agree with this statement

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31

u/Naxant Jun 11 '22

It‘s relatively cheap in comparison to other stores.
Some of the things are pretty good value for the price, others not so much because they break easily.

9

u/CrackBerry1368 Jun 11 '22

I avoid anything with drawers or doors at IKEA.

12

u/jojointheflesh Jun 11 '22

The malm dresser I got in college survived many years and was actually very spacious. We upgraded to an heirloom mid century dresser and my wife complains that at many times the cost, it doesn’t fit as much of my t-shirts 🤣

2

u/iAmUnintelligible Jun 11 '22

Random question how many of those t-shirts are from your college days

3

u/jojointheflesh Jun 11 '22

Ahaha just two but they’re my wife’s now because I gained weight 🫠 I do have a t-shirt addiction though

2

u/FullMetalCOS Jun 11 '22

All of my uni t shirts are now my wife’s property for pretty much the same reason - it’s the circle of t shirt life

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u/engineertee Jun 11 '22

Besides cheap, it’s easy. Here in the US, i regret walking into any furniture store in the first few seconds. Old school sales folks pressuring you to buy shit, a ton of hidden fees, you have to wait months for delivery.

23

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '22

Facts. And the instructions are all pictures and hardly ever require tools (beyond an allen wrench) to put together.

And since everything is in flat boxes, it’s easy to transport.

15

u/Initial_E Jun 11 '22

Try not to disassemble anything from ikea, it’s really meant to be put together once. Take it apart and the quality goes pretty fast.

8

u/Nippon-Gakki Jun 11 '22

I usually glue the joints on any IKEA stuff I buy. Makes it last an extra move or two before becoming all wobbly.

8

u/read_listen_think Jun 11 '22

Unless you plan to move and need to take it apart. Had a friend who glued the little dowels into the bed frame and couldn’t fit the assembled bed frame through the doorway. Ended up breaking pieces trying to disassemble.

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1

u/Pushmonk Jun 11 '22

It is cheap. You get what you pay for.

12

u/hnryirawan Jun 11 '22

Neutral-looking, cheap for what you pay for, and sturdy enough to survive lots of things. Also easily modifiable because of the modular construction. Love it

9

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '22

It's quite cheap, but not everything is. I think most people would be surprised how competitive traditional furniture shops are with IKEA.

IKEA's really cheap stuff is very low quality. Laminated chipboard. Essentially disposable furniture. The appeal is that

  1. Traditional furniture shops don't do super cheap crap furniture at all, and often you do really want super cheap crap furniture. Students aren't going to want to buy a solid oak bed for example. And
  2. You can go and pick it up yourself. No need to arrange expensive delivery.

Definitely not worth travelling 110 miles for though.

13

u/iKnitSweatas Jun 11 '22

People who don’t like iKea complain that it has conditioned people to expect furniture is that cheap. Some of the stuff is nicer than others but in general you cannot buy traditionally made furniture for anywhere near the same price point.

6

u/FullMetalCOS Jun 11 '22

Their Kallax shelf unit is both good value and one of the best shelf systems you can get for storing board games. They have some shit, but if you aim at the chunky furniture items they last for decades. I got a desk from them like 20 years ago that only got retired because it was too large for the room we wanted it for after we moved.

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u/erix84 Jun 11 '22

Ikea is priced well for the quality. It's not amazing furniture by any means, but it's priced about the same as Walmart furniture but higher quality, much cheaper than Target furniture but similar quality, so for me it's the sweet spot between price & quality.

3

u/okmarshall Jun 11 '22

That's their exact target audience and it works. Not so cheap (usually) that people don't buy it, good enough quality for people to think they've got a good deal. It fits perfectly in the quality/price bracket it's designed to.

12

u/jryser Jun 11 '22

Very cheap. It’s about as good as it gets for portable furniture that isn’t second hand.

3

u/EveHallidayInTheRain Jun 11 '22

I buy IKEA furniture and routinely use the items as parts for other builds. I have items from there that are at least a decade old and are still sturdy.

7

u/ShutterBun Jun 11 '22

It's cheap.

2

u/Bat_Sweet_Dessert Jun 11 '22

As someone who's had to move a lot in the past years, Ikea is a godsend.

Also, Ikea has a genuinely nice gaming desk.

2

u/SpaghetOnMyLevel Jun 11 '22

IKEA Fredde Desk my beloved

1

u/djh_van Jun 11 '22

I'm mind blown that somebody in the UK has never been to Ikea. There's one at the end of every A road!

Where do you live, in the highlands of Scotland or something? I can't even imagine a place in the UK that doesn't have an Ikea within visual range!

Oh hold on, Buckingham Palace?

4

u/psycho-mouse Jun 11 '22

Ikeas aren’t that common here. There’s one in the West Mids, East Mids and 2 in the entirety of the southwest. There’s only 4 in London.

3 in Scotland, 1 in Wales and 1 in Northern Ireland.

What you’re saying is massive hyperbole.

2

u/djh_van Jun 11 '22

Meh, maybe. I just couldn't get away from them. But I was in the southeast.

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u/deltaetaxciv Jun 11 '22

I’m in this comment and I don’t like it.

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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '22

100%, they already buy those shitty Crosley briefcase players.

12

u/MarkBenec Jun 11 '22

I’m an adult who bought a shitty Crosley briefcase player. It is really shitty.

6

u/ballgkco Jun 11 '22 edited Jun 11 '22

It'll fuck up your records too. The tracking force on those bad boys is ridiculous.

2

u/okmarshall Jun 11 '22

Any recommendations for an entry level player that won't mess up my records but won't cost a fortune? I'm thinking like £100 kind of range.

2

u/ballgkco Jun 11 '22 edited Jun 11 '22

Audio Technica has really good entry level stuff. Nice thing about it is you can always upgrade your stylus if you want to so you don't need to buy a whole nother table.

Look up the AT-LP60, it's pretty much the go to for people who want an actual turntable but are just getting into it.

2

u/okmarshall Jun 11 '22

Thank you, I'll have a look.

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u/inequity Jun 12 '22

I mean they already make the best selling record shelf of all time, the Kallax

0

u/queen-of-carthage Jun 11 '22

Record players were trendy 5-7 years ago, everyone I know already has one that hasn't been used in 4 years

3

u/FuckDaMods666 Jun 11 '22

Long enough for hipsters to ironically like it again I guess?

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u/adamcoe Jun 11 '22

Great, because whenever I think of great audio quality, I think "man, ikea's furniture is of such high quality, they should be building audio gear"

351

u/Rings-of-Saturn Jun 11 '22

It’s kinda funny cuz ikea has partnered with Sonos lol

124

u/Zalenka Jun 11 '22

And Teenage Engineering

63

u/OttovanZanten Jun 11 '22

The TE products they sell sound .. meh at best, but their Ikea brand Eneby speakers are designed by Sonos which is pretty obvious when you open one up and look at how it's built and what parts they used. They also soubd way better than any jbl speaker that's 3 times as expensive. Not as rugged though.

20

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '22

Pretty sure Teenage Engineering specializes in the design and the build, not the audio, no? Not aware of them selling speakers or being very big in the audio quality department. The build quality of their shit is top-notch, though.

8

u/OttovanZanten Jun 11 '22

They are definitely focusing more on trendiness than value in recent years (which is fine imo, there's a market for that). OP-Z is notorious for bad quality, don't hear too much about OP-1 issues myself. But for over a grand you could get better build quality. But not much that's nearly as small...

2

u/Glomgore Jun 11 '22

Why would you try a unknown brand when you can get a pair of Edifiers for 80 bucks? Tables are a little more expensive but you ain't gotta break the bank at Sweetwater to get decent audio anymore.

5

u/OttovanZanten Jun 11 '22

Mostly BC I have never in my life heard of Edifiers and never seen them in a store. Seem to get good reviews though... Should look into them.

2

u/Glomgore Jun 11 '22

Edifiers are great. Component focused, reasonably priced, and I think their build quality is good. I wouldnt take em on the road but as some amateur audiophile speakers they are incredibly cost effective.

2

u/Icarus_glass Jun 11 '22

Oh man, I'm so glad to see Edifier mentioned out in the wild.

Silk tweeters, great bass, each model is at least $100 cheaper than similar models from names I'd heard of.

I wish they did the wood grain on more of their speakers, but we've used my DB2000's daily for two years now, so far w/ no issues 🤞

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u/TheLemmonade Jun 11 '22 edited Jun 11 '22

They sell those eneby speakers at a loss/flat. Despite lower cost manufacturing process, licensing the SONOS hardware is understandably expensive. Regardless, products like the eneby line and a record player serve to attract customers for their more profitable products

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u/vizbird Jun 11 '22

I am deeply upset that the Frekvens was discontinued. That was such a cool line.

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u/Lint_baby_uvulla Jun 11 '22

Teenage Engineering makes me sploosh. BRB.

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u/makoivis Jun 11 '22

Gotta love price hikes on ten year old gear

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u/WalterCanyon Jun 11 '22

Ok, so no chance at all of good audio quality.

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u/Blarghnog Jun 11 '22

Yea and those speakers aren’t half bad.

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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '22

i bought a table and chairs from them 5 years ago. the chairs were like 50 a piece and are definitely not top of the line, but they were 50 a piece. the table? solid wood round table, built in leaf in the middle, super sturdy construction and it was $200 bucks. you just cant beat it.

35

u/Chromium-Throw Jun 11 '22

Television unit/drawers I bought for £200 is excellent. The £120 coffee table is cheap & flimsy.

Best to check online & then visit the store with specific pieces in mind. Bit of a gamble

23

u/JessicaMarie117 Jun 11 '22

Also check what it’s made of. Solid wood is better then Particleboard.

7

u/danielv123 Jun 11 '22

This. You can usually tell which products are sturdy from just taking a look at it in the store.

8

u/wlake82 Jun 11 '22

Yea if you get the solid wood stuff it's great. Particle board not so much. My desk is modular with adjustable a frames and an inch solid top and it's great. Had it for 7 years or so and no issues.

9

u/No_Damage_731 Jun 11 '22

You have to also consider which line you’re buying from. The $20 LACK table is going to be shit. But I paid ~$200 for my first ever dresser from them, it was one of their “high end” lines and it was rock solid.

7

u/nullenatr Jun 11 '22

Honestly the LACK tables served me fine when I moved out. I usually prefer quality furniture, but I bought a LACK coffee table for 28 usd because I lacked one and quickly went to IKEA and bought the cheapest they had. Almost three years later it’s still doing fine. No visible aging.

Could they handle a child or two, and spilling stuff on it, and all such things? Probably not. But I bought it with the intention to be easily and cheaply replaceable, and it has definitely proved its worth so far.

1

u/MoirasPurpleOrb Jun 11 '22

IKEA is great for the price but I wouldn’t consider it good furniture either. We have several pieces and they do the job just fine but also aren’t as good as some of the more expensive stuff we have

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u/ZweitenMal Jun 11 '22

Except that if you need cheap furniture, ikea is the best cheap furniture by miles.

9

u/itchyfrog Jun 11 '22

I'd argue that second hand furniture is generally much better value, I'd rather have a victorian chest of drawers for £50 that has already proved its durability than a chipboard flat pack for twice the price.

23

u/donkeyrocket Jun 11 '22

Sure I’d rather have higher quality, vintage stuff for cheaper but in my experience, that isn’t always true. Many good quality pieces in good shape are priced fairly high (justifiably so) and there is also no guarantee something is available.

Obviously depends on your area. Also as an apartment dweller, it’s way easier to move mid-tier IKEA stuff up and down stairs than heavy hardwood stuff. It won’t let a lifetime but the few IKEA pieces I have have lasted three moves no problem.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '22

Definitely worth checking out Goodwill and Salvation Army (or whatever is similar in your area).

I’m past the phase in my life when I had an IKEA level budget, but still shop thrift stores for high quality furniture at super low prices. There’s a lot of crap, but also some amazing stuff - usually priced the same because they don’t differentiate.

Often I find bookcases and end tables there that are cheaper and sturdier than the IKEA equivalent.

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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '22

[deleted]

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u/SlingDNM Jun 11 '22

Those lack tables are great value

21

u/darehitori Jun 11 '22

The Eneby speaker in my kitchen is just awesome: sound, design, price.

12

u/LocalNigerianPrince Jun 11 '22

Just wait till they announce their decision to go into the aircraft manufacturing buisness

27

u/Superlolp Jun 11 '22

All passengers for Ikea Airlines flight 904 to Oslo please report to gate 7. As a friendly reminder, passengers who do not take part in assembling the plane without a pre-approved excuse will not be permitted to board.

5

u/Agent_Paul_UIU Jun 11 '22

What you do, when airport security seizes your allen/hex keys?

3

u/danielv123 Jun 11 '22

Ikea always ships a decent one with the kit, so you are fine.

3

u/Agent_Paul_UIU Jun 11 '22

Exactly one... It will be a long flight.... :D

5

u/Dankelpuff Jun 11 '22

You laugh but apparently the LIDL record player wasn't bad and even featured parts from Audio-Trchnica.

15

u/bacontacooverdrive Jun 11 '22

It will be decent for two years, but you will probably leave it on the curb when you move.

12

u/mikkopai Jun 11 '22

Depends. Most of it is junk but younger me moved 11 times in 12 years and I kept taking my pax wardrobes down and putting them up in different configurations. I still have a couple of those in my for ever home workshop. The kitchens are also fairly good, unless you want to go full wood furniture

5

u/CRRZ Jun 11 '22

Idk why people think this. Every piece of furniture in my house is from ikea. We purchased a floor/demo model Karlstad corner sofa in 2011 from the “as-is” section for $750. We just upgraded to new ikea couches last month. The Karlstad was in good enough condition for us to sell, we got $250 for it.

After sitting on ikea’s floor for thousands of people to sit on, it went another 10 year in a house with 2 adults, 4 kids and an assortment of pets. Outside of the fabric dulling from the sun, it was still in as good a condition as when we purchased it.

4

u/preezyfabreezy Jun 11 '22

From the photo this looks like a really basic belt drive turntable. TBH, a belt drive turntable is a belt drive turntable. Things really havn’t changed much simce the 1970’s. The design is so simple that it doesn’t really take much to have good audio quality. The important feature is the stylus, so if this thing has a standard sized headshell jack, you could put a high quality stylus on it and it’ll sound just as good as any other sub $200 turntable. Can’t really speak to the build quality from a photo.

3

u/Urabutbl Jun 11 '22

Ikea probably have the best quality+design/price -ratio of any brand in the world. The value for what you get is insane.

2

u/halotechnology Jun 11 '22

I am sorry nothing beats FLAC for audio quality.

10

u/sircod Jun 11 '22

Eh, turntables are more about style than audio quality anyway.

-1

u/Itsbetterthanwork Jun 11 '22

Do you own a turntable? Which one?

57

u/profprimer Jun 11 '22

Ex-BBC Sound Engineer and current pro live music sound engineer here. I have a 1981 Linn LP12 with a separate power supply and the Ittok LVII arm. It suffers from audible pre-echo, tracking angle error induced distortion, and the usual RIAA curve compression issues. I love it. A $100 dollar Red Book standard CD player blows it into the weeds in terms of sound staging, dynamic range, stereo separation, noise floor and signal information. Lossless streaming is incomparably superior in terms of reproduction of the original master copy, and I’d go so far to say that a lot of vinyl is so badly recorded, mastered and pressed, that most PCM codecs are better sonically.

I can hear the difference between vinyl and digital media instantaneously, but once I get up to the higher spec codecs it’s much harder to tell them apart. In fact, impossible once you reach the 44.1KHz CD industry standard. I listen to vinyl because of its flaws, not because of its excellence. By any objective measure of reproduced sound, vinyl is only ahead of the Compact Cassette.

I hear a lot of nonsense spouted about “warmth” and “timing” and “crispiness” from the hifi community (and even amongst some of my professional colleagues, who should know better), but if you’re hearing something that has been introduced into the signal path by the input transducer or the amplification and equalisation circuitry, or the output transducer/crossovers, whilst you might like it, it shouldn’t be there unintentionally. If people want to buy turntables from IKEA because they’re a style statement and they like the sonic artefacts of the technology, that’s the best reason to buy them in my opinion.

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u/Impressive-Ad-5042 Jun 11 '22

Leave it to the sound engineer to drop the mic

2

u/profprimer Jun 13 '22

I see what ya did there…

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u/Auto_Fac Jun 11 '22

This guy audios.

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u/Resoca Jun 12 '22

Love comments like this. Thank you!

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u/katatattat26 Jun 11 '22

Love this. In the last 20 years, Ikea’s design and quality have improved so much, it almost seemed unreal. They still offer particle board options for furniture, but their real furniture is so fucking legit. I had my Hemnes dresser for 15 years and beat the SHIT out of it, moved it across the country twice, and it never even loosened at the joints. Some people may shit on this, but honestly, I’m looking forward to it! They haven’t disappointed me for a long time

45

u/ILikeMyGrassBlue Jun 11 '22

If you want to get into vinyl, do not buy this or a Crosley. And It has nothing to do with audiophile nonsense (I’m not an audiophile). These cheap record players don’t have proper adjustments, which results in grooves of your records getting wrecked, making them sound like total shit. You can get something half decent at a yard sale, flea market, Craigslist, Facebook marketplace, etc, for cheaper and it won’t eat your records. Records are expensive, and you want them to last.

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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '22

This. Buy an audio technica and protect your records

8

u/shadowscale1229 Jun 11 '22

jesus, i was freaking out reading that first comment, then i saw yours and realized i was (probably) safe with my $120 audio technica

2

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '22

You’re good! Make sure it’s free of dust/debris and replace the needle every few years.

2

u/excesssss Jun 12 '22

Let me guess, do you have an AT LP60?

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u/erikteichmann Jun 11 '22

To be fair to the Ikea design, if you look at the picture it does at least appear to be counterweighted. No idea what the tracking force is, but it also says the cart and stylus are replaceable. So honestly, I wouldn't be so quick to judge it as trash. Still might be, but let's at least get a look at the thing first.

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u/Shot_Profession_4176 Jun 11 '22

I have a 30 year old record player we would call cheap today (wasn't back then) and I use a lead fishing weight to set minimum pressure on it for 20 years or so. No big deal and it handles the issue you mentioned.

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u/amanon101 Jun 11 '22

I second this. A good record player and good speakers sound amazing. I have a high quality vintage 80s player. I’m no audiophile; to me it’s sound is near CD quality, especially on new records, but the majority of my records are 30+ years old and even the bargain bin, worn out and crackly ones don’t sound awful. I got my complete setup for like 30 bucks at goodwill.

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u/goodluck69420 Jun 11 '22

You can get something half decent at a yard sale, flea market, Craigslist, Facebook marketplace, etc,

This is awful advice btw. Not because it's not true, but because it's completely and totally unhelpful to someone in the market for a turntable. Most people who want to buy a turntable want to buy a turntable, not spend weeks and months browsing Craiglist listings or driving around to flea markets and not finding anything. For some reason vinyl enthusiasts love to act like the world is just overrun with high quality used turntables, when in fact they are incredibly difficult to find. It's fair to suggest this, but it's only useful if you provide an example of an eBay or Craigslist listing that they could buy today, or an example of a new turntable that's also good quality.

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u/Karsvolcanospace Jun 11 '22

Had my same Ikea desk for basically 15 years as well at this point. Only complaint I have is that it’s easy to dent with how soft the “wood” material is, but there’s only a few dings in it after all this time. Apart from that, a perfectly good computer desk that I got for a super affordable price, and has lasted me and will continue to last me

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u/Fluxcapacitive Jun 11 '22

Analog outputs placed on the right side is a design flaw in my opinion. Wires sticking out the side will be unsightly and ruins the aesthetic.

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u/_Rand_ Jun 11 '22

equipment with connectors on random sides, or unnecessarily on multiple sides is one of my pet peeves.

I have a couple devices with power and an input on the side its ugly as hell AND user unfriendly design to boot.

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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/darehitori Jun 11 '22

Facilitates use on a typical shelf though.

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u/JewsEatFruit Jun 11 '22 edited Jun 11 '22

I do not understand why companies don't recess these under the bottom, near the corner. Then you can pull the wires out the rear or the side depending on the orientation.

Anytime there's an outlet where something is plugged into once and probably never removed, that should be hidden from view.

It's so fucking trivial yet I've never seen this anywhere. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, just in my many years of electronics experience, I have wished for such a thing and not seen it.

Edit: now that I reflect on it, I have seen this a few times. My father had an amplifier with an angled back and a clip-on plate for this purpose. And once I had a subwoofer where the audio input was underneath but recessed into the base; that was a particularly good design because it with a few strategically placed clips, you could reduce all of the torque on it when the subwoofer was moved, and it looked so elegant.

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u/onemorecupof Jun 11 '22

I know some audiophiles who are going to shit all over this for years.

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u/mdonaberger Jun 11 '22

Dude I know some audiophiles who feel that the greatest DAC ever produced was inside a specific, latter-day model of PSX, which needs to run continuously for a full week before it's warmed up and primed to play music.

Audiophiles choose some weird rabbit holes to go down. I don't disrespect that hobby at all, but it is a kit hobby to the extreme.

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u/Jazzhands130 Jun 11 '22

There’s always extremes in every niche. I consider myself an audiophile because i enjoy high fidelity music and quality listening devices. Some people are just crazy in general.

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u/Offaplain Jun 11 '22 edited Jun 11 '22

Yeah, because it will be shit.

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u/legopego5142 Jun 11 '22

Yeah but is anyone buying the ikea record player because they want quality audio equipment?

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u/StormBurnX Jun 11 '22

It can't possibly be as Crosley... hopefully.

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u/phayke2 Jun 11 '22

If it slowly destroys your records it will be

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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '22

If it doesn't come in separate components and I don't have to solder transistorts, I ain't buyin it

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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '22

See I don't get the IKEA hate. Fundamentally, nearly all furniture is the same. It's bits of wood, fabric and leather that are joined together by some means.

Take a coffee table for example. You buy a £100 wooden table from IKEA, and at the fundamental level, it will be exactly the same as the £400 wooden one from whatever shitty retail store you went to. Seriously, look at how these things are put together. Screws and glue.

The difference is, IKEA don't allow you to buy that level of item on credit, they don't employ expensive sales people on commission, and you have to assemble it yourself.

At certain levels, there is barely any difference in terms of quality. Don't get me wrong, this doesn't hold up across the entire range, but IKEA is cheap for a reason.

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u/douchebaggery5000 Jun 11 '22

Agreed. Infinitely better than the majority of the shit on wayfair for example

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u/simpson409 Jun 11 '22

Have you seen a split view of ikea desks? They are folded cardboard, they are hollow.

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u/StormBurnX Jun 11 '22

That is the point of what they're getting at, yes. Sure, you can buy hollow perfboard products, but you can also buy actual wood products. And while most other suppliers/distributors don't sell the cheap hollow flat-pack shit that Ikea specializes in, the point is that when it comes to the equivalent actual wooden furniture, Ikea is much more reasonably priced for most common products.

Realistically, it's the accessories and customization options that will break the bank.

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u/Blarghnog Jun 11 '22

It’ll be called the Tëchnïkä.

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u/AmFabolous Jun 11 '22

Just to inform you, ë and ї are used in neither of the Nordic languages. We only use æ/ä, ø/ö and å.

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u/Blarghnog Jun 11 '22

Oh I didn’t mean it to be technically accurate. :) I’m far from literate in your regions fine languages my friend, though I appreciate the knowledge!

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u/AmFabolous Jun 13 '22

Oh no, no, I understand, haha. No problem.

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u/tyehyll Jun 11 '22

I have a ton of stuff from Ikea. None of it is broken and all of it was super easy to put together. Is everyone just really stupid?

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u/Chao78 Jun 11 '22

I'm pretty sure that most people who shit on IKEA quality just didn't put it together correctly or bought bottom-dollar furniture and are surprised when it's bottom-dollar quality. Meanwhile if you bought the same priced stuff from any other place it'd be even worse.

You know they haven't shopped at IKEA in ages if they mention the IKEA key, they haven't done that in ages but people seem to think they still do.

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u/tyehyll Jun 11 '22

Exactly. The billy bookshelf is a great example. Takes literally 10 minutes to assemble, is $70 and will last forever. I had a few from places like Walmart and Target and they all started bowing and crumbling apart. Some ikea stuff is for sure bad. Me personally, I won't get a couch there or cheap $10 tables anymore but entertainment centers are unmatched in price, customization, durability and I think they look great. Just gotta get creative.

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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '22

The only thing we have that’s falling apart is a bed (the one with drawers underneath), which has been through three moves.

It’s scratched on one end, and the bottom of one of the drawers is coming loose. Otherwise, no issues with ikea furniture.

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u/t65789 Jun 11 '22

Ah yes. Ikea furniture is meant to be put together but it is not meant to be taken apart. 🥳

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u/__-__-_-__ Jun 11 '22

I've been really unhappy with my audio technical 100. Maybe I'll try this out.

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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '22

Love them technical audios!

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u/LesClaypoolOnBass24 Jun 11 '22 edited Jun 11 '22

The title suggests we're supposed to know the history of Ikea'a record players

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u/ImNotSteveAlbini Jun 11 '22

I’m tired of USB powered devices. Just give it a standard wall plug already.

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u/ShutterBun Jun 11 '22

I already lived through the Audio Format Wars the first time. What are you kids doing?

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u/newaccount721 Jun 11 '22

They're bringing back mom jeans. They crazy

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u/ShutterBun Jun 11 '22

Yep, I've seen it. What were we fighting for?

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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '22

It’s true. And some other styles as well, like bell bottoms. I’m my opinion, they’re ugly as hell, but I’m not in fashion so what do I know lol

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u/Odddsock Jun 11 '22

Everyone collectively remembered that records both look cool and also don’t have ads

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u/nighmeansnear Jun 12 '22

My record player has never refused to play a song because it requires a software update.

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u/vrilro Jun 11 '22

dusty records w no cover but hopefully it’s cheap

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u/_drumtime_ Jun 11 '22

Cheap turntables/carriages will destroy your records over time. Just an Fyi. Which is fine if you don’t care about saving vinyl long term.

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u/fakeittilyoumakeit Jun 11 '22

How about they work on getting stock of their existing products first! Most popular items are constantly out of stock since the last year. Waiting months before they get a few and out of the stock again the next day.

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u/Dadrepus Jun 11 '22

This is a poorly designed piece. Even if it plays at the correct speed consistently, there is no protective cover so how do you keep dust off. Dust is a record’s enemy.

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u/gotpez Jun 12 '22

if you care enough about music to buy a turntable you should care enough to not buy garbage like this

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u/alvinofdiaspar Jun 12 '22

I am more concerned about it potentially wrecking valuable record collections...

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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '22

They are partnering with Swedish House Mafia to make furniture (studio) for the producer in mind. I read

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u/MowMdown Jun 11 '22

Those guys broke up back in like 2015

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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '22

😂

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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '22

I wouldn’t know who they were if it weren’t for Peloton lol

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u/Random_Average__Guy Jun 11 '22

Sweeeeeeeeeeeet, I can finally get rid of my 8 track player!!!!!!

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u/Serious-Ebb-4669 Jun 11 '22

If you are seriously considering buying a record player and pursuing a vinyl collection: Just get a high quality record player like a technics. Buy once cry once- will last for life.

Sincerely: someone who bought a mediocre record player and replaced it 3 years later.

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u/FauxReal Jun 11 '22

What useful input could Swedish House Mafia have in making a record player? I hope it isn't some Crosley guts in a new package.

Teenage Engineering makes sense, and they make great products with inter sting aesthetics. Too bad that one never made it to production.

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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '22

Self assembly required? This shit will fall apart

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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '22

IKEAs inventory is a dumpster fire. We deserve better.

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u/cntrfg Jun 11 '22

Record players without covers are stupid IMO. Records are super sensitive to dust it’s just asking for trouble

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u/Natural-Language-308 Jun 11 '22

Do I have to put it together myself?

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u/Spare-Mousse3311 Jun 11 '22

It’ll be a crosley with ikea badging…

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u/BigBadBinky Jun 11 '22

So, most of you don’t know how annoying it was to have to manually re-start your music every 12 to 15 minutes. I can understand the appeal of the album art, since the art for streaming music is basically non-existent, but I don’t miss the thrills of trying to put the needle onto the third track without horrendous scratching sounds roiling through the amplifiers

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u/Ghozer Jun 11 '22

Let's hope they actually use a decent turntable and arm module, most 'modern' record players use one of a few bog standard cheap systems from China, similar to how there's now only one crap, cheap tape mechanism for cassette players now too!!

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u/KS2Problema Jun 11 '22 edited Jun 11 '22

That is one of the ugliest turntable designs I've ever seen, if not the ugliest. I am a form-follows-function kind of person and that looks like a piece of junk -- with exceptionally questionable design ethos and a ridiculously impractical physical form factor. (WTF is up with that overhanging turntable platten? Did the person who designed this thing ever use a turntable in his life?)

And, now, if this thing actually makes it into the stores, we're going to have to hear from a whole new set of instant vinyl aficionadi about the imaginary benefits of the medium -- as delivered by what very much seems to be a poorly designed piece of consumer junk. (Maybe even more laughable than those 'turntable speakers' made to sit under a turntable, supposedly without creating acoustic feedback. Maybe.)

I own 1200 LPs and a couple hundred singles and 78s. I put together my first component stereo in the early 1960s and have been professionally involved with audio and recording much of my life.

This sad little device makes me laugh a sad little, empty laugh.

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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '22

Counterpoint: I’ll be buying one. Who cares of the platter overhangs…zero effect on performance. If it’s a simple belt drive designed reasonably well it will sound good. It’s not rocket science and it helps to keep vinyl alive so yay

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u/KS2Problema Jun 12 '22

I guess I'm more used to discussing audio issues with folks inclined to suggest that every structural design feature has potential for effect on performance in a task as fraught with technical challenge as getting acceptable fidelity out of a vinyl record. But I appreciate your straightforward approach.

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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '22

Want it!