History of Crosley Turntables
Crosley Turntables were founded in 1920 by the appropriately named Richard Crosley. As reported by their manufacturer’s website, Mr. Crosley was dismayed that people were forking out large amounts of money for the best turntables of the time.
Mr Crosley decided to create his own turntable for cheap. The current day Crosley turntables are replicas of the turntables that were first created in the early 20th century. Whether the first generation Crosley turntables were of quality is unclear, as no originals remain. It is abundantly clear though, that Crosley turntables of the current generation are not good at all.
Current Generation Crosley Turntables
Current Crosley turntables are generally made on the cheap, with a large markup that exploits the ever present market obsession with retro goods. The 1920s Crosley turntable design has been progressed to include cheap plastic. In fact, cheap plastic makes up the vast majority of their turntables, including the tonearms and the platters. Crosley markets their new turntables as ‘entertainment centers’, complete with am/fm tuners and USB capability.
TIP: when searching eBay for vintage turntables, consider putting -Crosley in your search terms. That way, you can filter out Crosley turntables entirely!
Do yourself a favour and look in to some vintage turntables if you’re attracted to these retro turntables. For the same price or less, you can get a fully functioning, very high quality turntable. Crosley turntables are low quality, show pieces that output bad quality sound and can potentially damage your vinyl records.