Bob Marley’s legacy lives on with the House of Marley line of audio products that are known for their earth-friendliness.
The products are made from sustainable or recycled materials, and they are known for their outstanding build and sound quality.
I’ve been testing the Stir It Up turntable ($229.99, www.houseofmarley.com), and while it’s feature-packed, it’s also gorgeous and sounds wonderful.
The turntable’s body is dominated by a bamboo top that’s surrounded by a cloth called Rewind, made from hemp, cotton and recycled plastic. The platter is made from recycled aluminum, and even the slip mat and noise-isolating feet are made from recycled rubber. Instead of a plastic dust cover, the Stir It Up ships with a cloth cover made from the Rewind material.
Oh, and the box and packing materials are also made from recycled cardboard, and the packaging is all very well designed and substantial.
The platter is belt-driven, and it took me a minute to figure out it won’t spin until you lift the arm and move it over the record. The platter also stops automatically when the needle reaches the end of a side.
The tone arm ships with an Audio Technica MM cartridge preinstalled, and while it sounds good to my ear, people who know turntables will be happy to know they have the option to replace it with a better one.
The turntable can play 45- and 33-rpm records, but not 78. I’m not sure how big a deal that is these days.
Setup and playback was easy enough. You have to stretch the rubber belt over the motor spindle, but the instructions were clear enough.
The Stir It Up has some interesting choices when it comes to playback.
On the front, you’ll see a 3.5-milimeter headphone jack for private listening.
Around back, you’ll see a set of red and white RCA jacks for connecting to a stereo receiver with a phono input and a USB port for making a connection to your computer so you can record the albums to your hard drive.
There is a switch for turning on the built-in pre-amp, which lets the user connect the turntable directly to almost any set of speakers, bypassing the need for a full-blown stereo setup with a separate receiver and amplifier.
I think a lot of people, including me, will just connect the Stir It Up to a nice set of powered speakers.
I have to admit, my wife and I gave away all our vinyl records about a decade ago. In order to review this turntable, I had to turn to my friend James to borrow a few albums, although I did find a Bob Marley album included in the packaging when I unboxed the turntable.
I’ve been listening to Bruce Springsteen’s double album “The River,” and I have to say I like the ritual involved in playing music on vinyl. There’s a lot to be said for slowing down and handling a vinyl record — setting the needle down and just getting lost in the music while you stare at that album spinning around.
I can see why vinyl is making a comeback.
I think the Stir It Up turntable is a fine choice for someone wanting to get back into vinyl, especially because of the output choices. I wish I had this turntable before I got rid of all our albums. I still haven’t replaced all those albums with their digital versions, and I’d love to have recordings straight off the records.
I know there are more expensive turntables, and I’ve run across some that cost much less, but for $229.99, the Stir It Up looks great, sounds great and is as good for the environment as they can make it. Well done.
