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Instead of being just retro-styled in appearance, it was also retro in sound quality; it sounded like a poorly tuned in AM radio broadcast from 1935. The other functions were just as bad, so it had to be the amp or speakers or wiring, but in any case, I just returned it. I ordered the Crosley Entertainment Center as a gift for my wife who had admired it at a local store. but we were playing a good quality CD at the time. I suspect we got a lemon, and I won't write off all Crosley's (I really like the looks), but I won't order one on line either, I'll pay a bit more locally and ask to listen to it before leaving the store. I could have got her a smaller, more modern-looking unit, but the retro style of these Crosleys drew us both in. The problem -- and a huge one -- was the the sound was unbearable.
My mom was definitely a vinyl generation gal and she loves this. If you know someone who likes the nostalgic or yester-year, and yet wants a great quality sound, this is it. She loves vinyl but had nothing to play it on.
It's real wood, and I checked it out completely when I came to visit her.For the price, it is amazing. The package arrived intact and on time for the holidays. I was completely impressed with everything about this.
I got this item for my mom for Christmas. It was very easy for my mom to figure out how to use, and has a beautiful look to it sitting on her end table. The item comes with paperwork - I have not checked out the warranty info, but I am really happy with this product, and so is my mom.
She also kept getting CDs and Cassettes from well-meaning family members but had nothing to play any of it on. Not only does it have a turntable , it also plays cds, cassettes, and radio.
If you intend to use this item for CD and tape listening purposes i wouldn't recommend it (of course maybe that might just be my experience and won't happen to you, but i wouldn't take the chance). I got rid of it after a while of it just sitting there. The same thing happened when i tried it again and i was very disappointed.
It was a great starter turntable. I fiddled with it for several hours but couldn't get it to work. I had this player for several months and i have to admit it played records quite well for me.
Eventually i had to end up unscrewing the bottom and manually pushing out the CD tray. I don't find it worth the $100 it sells for here, i got mine for $75 at a local store and don't think it was worth even that. It didn't have a very high quality tape player but i was for the most part ok with that.
What was a real problem was that one day i put a CD in the player and when i was finished listening to it, the player wouldn't eject.
Don't waste your time. This bad experience turned me off to Crosley altogether. This would be a great product if it actually worked. This thing looks and feels like a cheap toy. If you're looking for an affordable non-Crosley record player I recommend the Califone 1005 record player.Record Player 1005 - Califone Electronics Unfortunately the record player is not built to last at all. The turntable gave out after a few days on both units that I purchased.
All the paprika has that is different is the tape player and a different faceplate. But be careful when you do this. As to how it performs; I knew it wasn't going to pump out 200 watts and have a goofy SUPER DOOPER X-BASS BOOSTER button (which in most modern boom boxes, all that does is muffle the sound), but I wasn't expecting dismal quality noise either. The sound that came out this was crisp and clear. I don't think the tape player is worth the extra forty dollars. Now, the only thing that really disappointed me about this model was that it had no Auxiliary outputs.
My version is the 837-OA which is basically the Crosley Paprika without a tape player. The quality adequately reflected the image of the system - majestic but not bashing you over the head. I decided I didn't want to bypass the Crosley speakers altogether because I liked the way it sounded. Rather, it's intent is to bring back the American craftsmanship of the old days and yet still retain some modern technology. It's intention is not to deliver the most powerful wattage and bass by way of a pseudo-space age looking boom box design. Very cool. I love this thing because it actually looks like someone spent some time and work crafting it together. The majestic wooden finish, the metallic face-plate, the speaker fabric, and the record player are all top-notch vintage-classy.
If you ask me, I would recommend this over the Paprika. If you run into problems with your system, I wouldn't think Crosley would be too happy to accept returned merchandise that has been tampered with, so please keep this in mind. If I wanted to crank it up loud through my receiver, all I had to to do was turn it on and I had the best of both worlds. Nothing has broke on me yet and I trust that it won't for a while. I unscrewed the bottom cover and voila, there were the speaker wires in plain sight.
P.S. You can simply plug in your cassette walkman at the MP3 auxiliary and it would work just the same. The Crosley entertainment center is one remarkable piece of retro-art. The woodwork even smells vintage. So far, I am very satisfied with this system.
I cut them and tapped in some RCA leads and hooked them to the back of my receiver. There was no muffling, no hiss, or resonance. I knew this when I bought it and I intended to make some modifications.
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