A few years ago at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Crosley gave me a booth tour and education about the resurgence of vinyl and of course included some of their latest turntables.
The surge is still going and Crosley is producing some great turntables. The latest I tried was the C6 two-speed manual.
Easy is an understatement for setup. I used the RCA outputs for a direct connection to my receiver.
I set the turntable’s manually adjustable belt for 33 1/3 RPM’s because that’s all I own. To play 45s, just move the belt to change the speed. Other aspects of the setup are the tonearm counterweight and clicking on the dust cover. An Audio Technica Cartridge comes preinstalled.
Since it’s a manual turntable, use a cueing lever to drop the needle to start the music and when your record is done playing, manually lift and return the needle to its base. The bottom has vibration control feet.
Easy setup and great sound, but the C6 also looks great in a walnut-colored veneer shell, with an acrylic folding lid. Other choices are black or red.
I must admit with a smile on my face, among the records I used on the C6 were “Elvis Presley — Greatest Hits” and the “Chipmunks Sing Beatles Hits,” which were acquired along with about 30 other classics from a garage sale. Just a hint for those who poke around those sales.
At first glance, the C6 might be considered an entry-level turntable, which it can be but it can also be for any vinyl enthusiast. Like most any category in the electronics world, you can always get bigger and better, but if it does what you want, why change. That brings me back to my booth tour, there sure are a lot of cool things to choose from in the Crosley catalog.
www.crosleyradio.com $159.95
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An easy thing to forget in the digital world is sound. This can be freestanding audio or audio that accompanies videos, which always brings me back to something a videographer friend told me years ago; people will watch a bad video with great sound but will turn off a great video with bad sound.
Blue makes microphones that solve the sound part with ease giving you studio quality sound for podcasts, gaming, live streaming, conference calls, videos, or just calling mom, without the need of a studio.
The latest and greatest from Blue is the affordable Yeti Nano, built with two studio-quality 14mm condenser microphone capsules inside a swivel desktop stand (8.31 by 3.78 by 4.29 inches).
Blue has made the setup as easy as possible using the microphone for both Mac and PC systems. In today’s world, when something is plug-and-play and works perfectly on the first try, it’s gold. That’s what you get with the Yeti Nano.
I’m far from an expert on audio, so using a microphone like this doesn’t make me an expert but does make my audio sound like one.
Audio junkies will understand specifications of the Yeti Nano like recoding resolution up to 24 bit/48kHz and the gain can be adjusted within the Blue companion app. The app also allows headphone volume control, including mic mute, which will make the microphone’s indicator light glow red. When recording resumes, the indicator will return to green.
According to Blue, the Yeti Nano is recognized by any audio or video recording software including Skype, GarageBand, and iMovie.
A headphone jack is built into the mic for zero-latency direct monitoring.
Blue also lists the Yeti Nano as compatible with some Androids with a USB OTG adapter and to some USB-C devices with an adapter. The bottom has a standard 1/4 thread for connecting it to a camera and video tripods and with a 3/4 mount adapter, it will connect it to a Blue Compass boom arm or other audio accessories.
www.bluedesigns.com $99.99
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Contact Gregg Ellman at greggellman@mac.com. Follow him on Twitter: @greggellman
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