Victrola Re-Spin review – Darn Good for the Money
There’s a prevailing wisdom in the vinyl community that all record players with built in speakers are terrible. Many believe they are cheap, will damage your records, and are a waste of money. Well, in this Victrola Re-Spin review, I got the chance to spend some time with this portable record player in order to see what it had to offer customers.
Does it exceed expectations, or is it just more of the same? Let’s find out together.
Victrola Re-Spin Review (TLDR)
If you want the cliff notes version of this review (the TLDR or Too Long Didn’t Read) edition, here it is: the Victrola Re-Spin exceeds expectations of what a portable record player can do. Given its small form factor, it has surprisingly big sound and strong bass.
It’s also a versatile record player, as it can not only stream to your favorite bluetooth speaker, but allows you to stream from Spotify or YouTube Music on your smartphone to the record player’s built in speaker system.
For just $100 (less at certain retailers), this is a good record player for the money. It will never exceed what an audiophile turntable can do, but it’s not a record player targeted for veteran vinyl enthusiasts. Instead, this is an entry level record player targeted at new people entering the vinyl hobby, young people entering into the vinyl hobby, and those that simply want to get a taste of the vinyl experience without having to commit hundreds or thousands of dollars on a robust turntable.
Lastly, it should be noted that I was sent the Victrola Re-Spin for a review by Victrola. However, the opinions in this review are solely my own.
Key Features
Before we dive into the bulk of the review, I wanted to quickly point out a few worthwhile features that most stand out here.
First, this is a Victrola suitcase record player—meaning it looks like a suitcase (include having a suitcase-like handle) and opens and closes like a suitcase. This makes the record player highly portable.
Second, this record player plays at 33, 45, and 78 RPM speeds.
Third, this record player has an auto-stop feature. Do not confuse this feature with being a fully automatic record player—the Re-Spin is indeed a manual record player. However, it’s one automatic mechanism is its ability to have the record player automatically shut off once the stylus has reached the end of the record and played the final track.
This record player comes with a 45 RPM adaptor, allowing you to play 7” records at 45 Revolutions Per Minute. And speaking of records, one cool aspect of this record player is that you can completely lift the lid off of the base of the player. Once you do that, there are slots molded into the lid that intentionally allow you to use the lid as a defacto record stand for a handful of 12″ records you own.
And finally, the Victrola Re-Spin allows you to stream music on your vinyl from the record player itself to a wireless speaker. You can do this by selecting the “Vinyl Stream” mode. At the same time, if you turn the record player to “Bluetooth” mode, it’ll allow you to play music from your favorite music streaming service on your smartphone through the record player’s built in speakers.
Operating the Victrola Re-Spin
The first thing I like about the Re-Spin is that although it’s a suitcase record player, it doesn’t close with a metal locking mechanism that you see on a lot of portable players.
Instead, you need to apply pressure to a push tab located in the middle of the front lid of the player. I like this, because it almost feels like a child proof locking mechanism. It looks simple, but if you’re not paying attention (like a child), then you’ll be surprisingly hard pressed to open the lid.
I think this serves as a nice, low level security feature that will likely prevent little kids (or perhaps a curious cat or dog) from lifting the lid on a whim harming your record player.
As for using the record player, it’s a breeze. The power button comes intertwined with the volume rocker. To turn on the record player, just slide the volume rocker up until the power light illuminates red.
Once I checked that the record player was set to 33 RPM, I grabbed my first album (The Magnificent 7 by The Supremes and The Four Tops). I lifted the tone arm (which automatically makes the platter begin to spin) and placed the tonearm and stylus to align with the first track. I then lowered the cueing lever.
The sound I heard was fairly impressive. Admittedly, I had pretty low expectations of the Re-Spin—I’m used to suitcase record players sounding pretty dull and tinny.
That’s not the case here. In fact, the Victrola Re-Spin’s box advertises the record player as having “Powerful Sound and Big Bass,” and I will say that that’s quite accurate given the $99 price point.
I found the music filled the room with the volume at only about 60% capacity. The sound was quite clear, and bass was very noticeable and pleasing to the ear.
I then swapped out The Magnificent 7 for a greatest album by Percy Sledge. I then cued up the record to play the classic track “When A Man Loves a Woman” and found the result to be equally great.
Was there a little bit of distortion in the music or instrumentation that could be heard coming through the built in speakers? Yes, I could definitely hear that. With that said, I never found it to overwhelm the music. Like surface noise on a typical record player, so long as it’s not detracting from the listening experience by being too loud or overly present, it’s something you can certainly live with.
Speaking of playback problems, I was happy to see that the Re-Spin didn’t cause me any issues. I was waiting to see the tonearm improperly track the record groove or the stylus to slip and slide all over the record. None of this occurred.
No record skipped during my testing experience of the Victrola Re-Spin, and I didn’t experience an abundance of surface noise either. Again, for a $99 turntable full of a lot of plastic parts, I found this to be quite impressive.
Once the record reached its end, the auto stop feature kicked in. It brought the record player to a complete stop, including the motor shutting off. I do prefer a fully automatic record player in this instance, as it’s always nice to see the tonearm not only lift off the record, but return to its arm rest. With the Re-Spin, the stylus stops when the motor stops—meaning the stylus will still be in contact with the record.
This is fine in most instances, but I can certain envision a scenario where someone walks by or bumps into the record player accidentally, causing the tonearm to stray from left to right with the stylus scratching the record in the process.
Portability
I’m of course a big fan of manual record players that stay in one location of your home, but I can certainly see the value of having a record player you can pick up and move.
Whether you want your record player to travel with you around the house as you do your errands, or you just want to bring it over to a friend or loved one’s home, the Re-Spin has your needs covered. It’s pretty lightweight (just over 5 lbs) and is even advertised as being eco-friendly (incorporating recycled plastic).
This makes it lighter than a lot of other record players, and with built in speakers (along with the ability to connect it to an external amplifier), this a pretty versatile record player.
Bluetooth Connectivity
We all love vinyl records for their analog design, but because we live in the digital age, some turntables need to satisfy both needs. In my experience using the Victrola Re-Spin, it does a very good job handling all of the digital stuff.
First, you can use a mode called Vinyl Stream. Doing so will instantly cause the power button to blink purple. While it’s blinking purple, grab your wireless speaker, turn it on, and hit the bluetooth button on it.
Doing this allows the Re-Spin to find and connect to your wireless speaker. When it does, you’ll hear a chime and notice that the blinking purple light now remains solidly purple.
Playing records on the Re-Spin, and outputting the sound to my small JBL Charge wireless speaker, worked like an absolute charm. I could also increase the volume of the speaker output on both the JBL speaker itself, as well as on the Re-Spin.
One issue I noticed with this, however, was that you still hear a low level audio output of your record coming from your turntable. This is of course to be expected—but I also found it to be a little annoying to hear the sound coming out of both the wireless speaker and the record player (albeit at a lower volume).
So, to remedy this, I highly recommend that when you use Vinyl Stream, make sure that your record player is in one room and your bluetooth speaker (where you’ll be listening to the music) is in another room. As long as your Re-Spin has the auto stop featured enabled, you don’t have to worry about turning off the record player once the final track has ended.
Playing music from my YouTube Music playlist located on my iPhone worked just as well. To do so, I went to the Re-Spin and made sure the mode was set to Bluetooth mode. This caused the power button to turn from purple to a blinking blue color.
I then grabbed my iPhone, went into the bluetooth settings, and found the Victrola Re-Spin listed, and clicked on it. Once paired, I heard another chime from the turntable and the blinking blue light turned into a solid blue light.
Now, the Re-Spin has turned into a wireless speaker! I could now play all of my favorite songs from my YouTube Music streaming service and have it come through my record player.
Did streamed music coming out of the Re-Spin sound better than streaming music coming out of my JBL Charge bluetooth speaker? No, it didn’t. But, if you don’t have a good wireless speaker, or just need to use one in a pinch, it’s great that the Re-Spin can fit the bill here.
Victrola Re-Spin vs Victrola Journey
Victrola also sells the Victrola Journey and Victrola Journey Cassette—all of which are suitcase record players. So you might be wondering which turntable is better: the Victrola Re-Spin or Victrola Journey?
For the sound alone, I recommend the Victrola Re-Spin. It just sounds cleaner, stronger, and more full bodied. And unless you feel the need to also play cassette tapes (and would therefore go with something like the Victrola Journey Cassette record player, which literally has a cassette player built into the side of the player itself), I’d suggest you put your money into the Re-Spin.
Downside of the Re-Spin
The only thing I didn’t love about the Re-Spin was the cueing lever. I found it to be very flimsy, and it felt cheap and fragile in my hand. It also appears made of very thin metal with a plastic handle top.
Using it felt rickety to the touch, and I found that if I lifted the tonearm too high over the record, the cueing lever would automatically fall down. That’s a big problem, because if I were to then let go of the cueing lever, it would no longer hover mere inches in the air over your record. Instead, it would crash down onto the record—potentially harming the stylus.
With a little extra love and care, you can likely avoid these pitfalls. But it’s worth knowing about.
Best Victrola Suitcase Record Player?
Despite any shortcomings I may have found in this Victrola record player review, the Victrola Re-Spin is a very impressive record player. On the surface, it appears to depict the throwback aesthetic of a vintage Victrola record player. But thankfully, the Re-Spin comes with modern technology capabilities that allow you to enjoy vinyl records via both analog and digital means.
With a fun look (the Re-Spin comes in various colors) and room filling sound with strong bass, I think this is a record player that will satisfy the needs of most vinyl beginners.
Grade: B+
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