PYLE PVTT2UOR Retro Belt-Drive Turntable
Have you seen the PYLE PVTT2UOR Retro Belt-Drive Turntable with USB-to-PC Connection with Built-In Rechargeable Battery? This is a truly portable briefcase turntable record player. You can take it anywhere on the planet and listen to your favourite LP’s. Something that an Audiophile can’t do with his high specification snooty turntable. Make no mistake this is not for the audiophilliac that has the desire to be able to recreate the exact sound from a full philharmonic orchestra in his lounge room.
In this review I am going to tell you about the Pyle Retro belt drive turntable. We are going to look at the performance of this belt drive turntable and whether it may be suitable for you. Mainly designed around portability and has a low price. It is also battery powered and therefore has some compromises that may make it not suitable for everyone.
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Main Features of the Pyle PVTT2UOR
- 3 Speed Turntable: 33, 45, 78 RPM
- Stereo RCA Output
- Ceramic Stereo Cartridge
- AC Power Supply
- 45 RPM Adapter
- Free Audacity Software Included For Vinyl-to-MP3
3 Speed Turntable: 33, 45, 78 RPM
This is a belt drive 3 speed turntable with auto start and stop. 3 speed means that the Pyle can play all the popular vinyl record formats including
- 12 inch Long Play (LP’s) – 33 RPM
- 12 Inch Single Play (SP’s) – 45 RPM
- 10 Inch old Shellac Resin 78 RPM
- 7 Inch Single Play (SP’s) 45 RPM
Belt Drive Turntable
The belt drive turntables are versatile and use less power than some other types of drives. On this battery powered model every bit of saving helps. The belt drive is a mechanically simpler type of drive that makes servicing if it is ever needed, easier too. This drive is an auto start and stop version which means that when you lift the tone arm over to the record start it will automatically start the turntable in motion. When it gets to the end of the record it will automatically stop.
The Ceramic Cartridge
The turntable tone arm is fitted with a Ceramic Stereo Cartridge. Ceramic Cartridges are thought by some to be inferior. I believe that in the case where portability and reliability are of greater importance that the choice of Ceramic is a good one. Other types of Cartridges such as the Moving coil or Magnetic Cartridge may have some qualities that are more suitable to Audiophiles but in this case I think the Ceramic is a good all rounder that will stand the test of time.
AC Power Supply
This player will run off the AC but it doesn’t come with a power adapter. It does come with a USB cable that enables it to be played and charged from almost any USB power source. It can plug into almost any laptop of desktop computer and play and charge from that. If you have a AC adapter that has a USB outlet on it there is a good chance that it will play and charge the Pyle Turntable Record Player. Usually your phone or tablet or car USB charger will act as a source for the Pyle Portable Turntable.
The PYLE PVTT2UOR Retro Belt-Drive Turntable with USB comes with a 45 RPM adapter that fits over the centre spindle and enables you to play the 7 inch 45’s. the adapter has a recessed area on the top of the PYLE retro turntable that means it is easily accessed and yet cleverly tucked away while not in use.
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Free Editing Software
Free Audacity software that is supplied with the Pyle PVTT2UBK record player. This is not the only software that will work with the USB to PC recording system. The Audacity is not very sophisticated software but is certainly adequate for the job it has to do and it is easy to learn how to use. The audacity software has a very automated approach to recording and modifying your digital recordings. This makes it very easy for beginners to learn how to start processing the recording from the Pyle recording unit.
The software (Audacity) features 1 click recording and very few clicks for even fairly complex tasks. Editing is easy and produces quite good results with minimal intervention form the operator. I have included a YouTube of a fairly armature user demonstrating how to operate the software with little experience and knowledge of audio editing. She is able to produce very acceptable results.
Audacity can be updated from the Audacity website. There are versions of Audacity for Windows, Mac and Linux available. There is help and FAQ and Help files available for anyone looking for help. The Audacity Team also has contact details and plenty of information to help you with any difficulty you might have with the software.
Alternative Editing software
There is other software that can be used with the PYLE PVTT2UOR Retro Belt-Drive Turntable. Plenty of it is available for free or as a shareware program. There are other software that may actually be a little more flexible than Audacity. You could have a look at Goldwave.com, it seems to have more features and for some people may be more suitable but it is not free the cost is $45 for a lifetime license or $15 for a 1 year license. This seem fairly reasonable to me.
Other audio editing software is available but some go way beyond simply editing converted LP’s for analogue to digital conversion. If you were to purchase any software before actually putting out your money go to the manufacturers site and if needed ask if they have trial version so that you can see how easy it is to use and whether you like it or not.
RCA sockets for connecting to external AMP
The PYLE PVTT2UOR Retro Belt-Drive Turntable has RCA output socket or jacks if you prefer to call them that. The RCA outputs are mounted on the back of the record player and can be very handy if you have an amplifier or active speakers to connect them to. The built in speakers are not too bad if you are playing records in a room at home and it is fairly quiet. Under these conditions there is ample volume although the tiny speakers don’t provide any notable bass.
Comments From Purchasers
When you check out the Amazon sales page you may find that there are some negative comments about the sound quality for this vinyl player. This is to be expected at such a low price point. The speakers are a compromise that makes the portability so much more convenient. There will usually be compromises for the best portable turntables to make them useful and suitable for the purpose they are designed for.
Other comments for this player are made about the quality of the finish and the engineering of the unit in general. These comments are few and far between most people realise that the price point doesn’t allow for the quality that you would get if you were to spend $1000 on a turntable or even $500.
My Conclusion
To my way of thinking the PYLE PVTT2UOR Retro Belt-Drive Turntable is what it is. It will provide you with a good convenient player that you can take anywhere and not need a power point to plug it into. It is fun and convenient and allows playing of a wide variety of records and LP’s. Along with the convenience of converting those records to digital formats very inexpensively makes it a really nice portable record player.