optonica rp 7100 James Bond Turntable ..?

[@geertwijma8178]

Thanks for showing us this funky turntable. This looks like something Techmoan would be interested in.

[@llucrescu9058]

In the world of vintage and modern audio equipment Kelvin will always be the guy that keeps it real.

[@MichaelYates]

Certainly looks the part and catches the eye. But how looks deceive. Thanks for sharing

[@stephenfurley1025]

I have one - in bits! Pressing "Quartz" should lock the speed at 33/45. The plastic resonant plinth and base don't do it any favours. A change to something more solid could only be an improvement.

[@gordthor5351]

I think the quartz button is referring to a quartz crystal clock which I am guessing is used to keep the RPM at the perfect speed. Maybe it is a calibration button that can compensate for any deviations of motor speed over time, via adjusting the voltage to the drive motor. If this is the case it's good engineering, because lubricants tend to dry up a bit over time causing drag on the motor and a tiny bump in voltage could keep it spinning at the perfect speed.

[@garysimmons4323]

The RP7100 got good and fair reviews when it was new, but it was a mass produced turntable, not a hand crafted Rega. The electronics inside to make the arm work are astonishing and huge, and the platter is very heavy, with a direct drive motor and quartz locking, that keeps it 100% at the correct speed. Unlike the auto return on many players this one uses electronics to tell it to use one of the two motors that control the arm to raise and then the second motor to return it. The arm is made from steel, and although it's not 100% audiophile, the fact that it's still working 40 years later is astonishing. If you think this one is interesting see the RP9100...that is one amazing bit of 80s madness.

[@michaelcerza871]

I have two RP-7705's, identical to RP-7100 except color on faceplate was black. They are quality built tables, still functioning beautifully and I am proud to show them off to people who are amazed with automatic functions and the APLD device. I would love to find the RP9100 with remote control, but I believe the top was plastic verses the glass on the 7705.

[@rdorenberg]

@@michaelcerza871 no also the RP-9100 has a glass top, I own 4 of these 3x Silver and 1x Bronze.

[@nicholas6823]

I remember the glossy ad in the UK hi-fi magazines in the early 80s. It looked very sophisticated at the time. Interesting to know it really didn’t sound as good as it looked.

[@AudioElectronicsChicago]

Good looking turntable!

[@donaldwilliamson4150]

You are a gift to Ole audiophiles everywhere including me keep up the good work

[@D1N02]

The sunk plateau looks funny, as does the seemingly double arm

[@astolatpere11]

Interesting. Thanks for the review of this tt.

[@richardcrook2112]

Choking back tears I brought the sledgehammer down on my Optonica rp7100, it's fancy glass lid shattered along with all my illusions.

[@vonster22]

id love to get one of those.....my rp-4705 has wow anf flutter of .035.....if you dont like the sound change the cartridge....it didnt come with a cartridge...it was up to the user to pick...its universal so you can choose a 10k cartridge all the way to a 29 dollar one

[@jean-pierrem34]

Thank you for your honesty.

[@hugobloemers4425]

Optonica seems to be always packing their products full with features. I guess they where catering for the needs of some people who cared more about that than sound. Perhaps that is where the expression "Less is more" came from in the audio world of that era.

[@MrRuffun]

Hey Kelvin, Just accidentally came across your channel today in suggested feed! I don't kno if you remember me, I lived down the road from your workplace and took your portrait I think back in 2016/17?Happy to see you are still excited about Hi-fi ad this is a real cool turntable

[@ginoonig4126]

Great vid as always, why don't audio folks talk about graphic equaliser much, my technical 8055 got me hooked back into hifi

[@goranartful]

What do you think about these two devices Sansui R50 ,sansui deck 95m. I mostly listen to records and some internet music. I have the opportunity to buy this device very cheaply. Thanks in advance for the reply

[@spacehopper77]

As with many such decks I expect that if you swapped the cartridge to something better and adjusted the arm to suit, perhaps swap the interconnect cables then it may actually sound decent.

[@msgillingham]

I have a Sony PS-X600 fitted with a Coral MC 81 shibata, fabulous sound.

[@AndyBHome]

That is the sort of turntable that I never really had any interest in, even though I was easily wowed by things like that as a teenager. Nonetheless, I'm curious about what kind of cartridge it has on it. Does it have the standard Japanese plugin headshell with a 1/2" cartridge mount?

[@OldSonyMan]

I remember turntables like these (though I can't recall the model numbers) and the two facts that come to mind are; A/ although they were badged as Optunica, they also carried their Sharp logos because that was who made them and they were good quality but not really in the First division of hi-fi manufacturers ! and, B/ The place that I saw these units (there was an auto everything cassette deck as well) was in my mum's "Great Universal" home shopping catalogue, so they weren't being marketed to the 'discerning few' (audiophiles). To sum up, I never actually 'Heard' the audio output of any of the Optunica Range but their 'features' made them Aspirational to some but by the time I was earning enough to buy my own hi-fi, I went for a Sansui system !

[@FDKAUSW]

Nice technic-Trick, But into the past we saw a lot of Tricks there. I think for the most people it is more important to hear more over soundquality of the retro HI-FI Components. For me it would be important to have old hi-fi speakers compete against current ones. (I would like to know what a real improvement I have to spend in order to beat my 75/1 (if that is even possible).

[@adamjones496]

You are a legend Kelvin! Could you do a review on vintage & new small speakers? Looking for something of a height of no more than 30-40cm good for home listening and won't annoy the neighbours but gives a nice accurate sound to mix with e.g. really nice mid range & treble. I currently have home DJ setup with a pioneer mixer & technics SL1200 so looking for something that would pair well with that! Thanks again, please keep the videos going!

[@socksumi]

I never bothered with the high tech gadget laden Turntables, the most famous being the ADC Accutrac. My preference was for simple, manual, belt drive TTs with heavy platter and sprung suspension like... Linn, Thorens, AR, Ariston... Rega too. Those tables just extracted more music from the grooves and sounded better. Although I did own a Marantz 6300 that was both gorgeous and a decent performer.

[@68wrko]

Q ...."James, you can choose whatever track you like on it". James Bond...."That's what she said".

[@raymondlang]

It's a wonder other companies didn't have this feature, very handy.

[@D1N02]

They did kzbin.info/www/bejne/aWWbnWied9qlq68

[@petertreid]

Is that Bowie on the platter? 'The Man Who Sold the World' I reckon! 😎 Btw, all the gimmickry in the world is no substitution for good sound!!

[@grandwazooX]

i just got one! In mint condition. i am happy!

[@socksumi]

Google the Optonica RP-3500 with a synthetic stone (granite) base that weighed a ton. A gorgeous looking "deck" and much better sounding too than the RP-7100. Of course it was built in the 70s when gear was beautifully built, not the 80s when Japanese audio generally turned to plastic shit.

[@bobsbits5357]

HI i sold al my records to get a 1 inch reel to reel sound craft 381-4 as i know alot of zonal tapes were going to hit the used market place you can get a good decks if you know the right people and alot of luck i have cats and they up set the records

[@MrBamboeman]

What you maybe did not know is....that the Optonica series of Sharp was not bad at all.... because the tonearms were most , not all by Micro Seiki if you study them closely you'll see the likeness ....inside electronics may need updates....this was not... a bad turntable.... Historically interesting needs to be in a museum side by side of the first Philips CD player the "CD-100 " So Optonica marks the end of an Era and the beginning of another one...

[@michaelcerza871]

I am sorry, but this "reviewer" picks on Optonica to make whatever point he wants to make. I have two of these tables, and they are well made and engineered, and has great stats if you look them up;(wow and flutter .03% is very good and rumble is rated at 70dB, also a very good number). With a quality cartrige, sound is excellent. I am currently running an XLM MK II improved cartridge on both of these units I own, and the performance is excellent. I have them mated to an Optonica SA-5901 (silver panel) and SA-5905 (Black panel), and if he feels those receivers are not up to his standards, he should check the stats on those. Power and T. H.D. are rated at 125 min. RMS per channel into 8 Ohms, from 20Hz - 20kHz with no more than 0.02% distortion. Not too shabby. My units were rated over 130 watts per by a technician! Back to the turntable: It has a glass top verses plastic on most, so I would disagree with him that these units are not good. The fact it has the automatic features do not discredit its performance capabilities. For the money, these turntables are great vintage pieces that were well made and still work well. The greatest in the world, certainly not, but still excellent equipment for their price back in 1979.

[@johnsweda2999]

Thought that was a quadraphonic at first ever tried a quadraphonic TT

[@thisisnev]

Some Japanese turntables were better than others though, Kelvin, and I suspect most were better than a Sharp! For example, some later Sonys look plastic, but use a low-resonance resin compound. Then there are the Technics linear trackers - particularly the SL-10 - which were well-regarded at the time. The Yamaha P-220 has a good arm, and I'm fairly sure its plinth is resin too.

[@stereoreviewx]

Thanks for the info cheers K

[@Sebastian-tk5cp]

Muy buena bandeja. Tu canal está genial amigo, aunque me cuesta el listening del inglés ja ja.. Greetings, dear Audiofilo

[@sarahduncan9101]

Was the amplifier any good?

[@stereoreviewx]

Yeah I reviewed it be out soon

[@raceingdemon6464]

Bib Of a Gimic If You Ask Me !! Stick With Your Very Nice Thorns TD150 Kelvin Regards mike.

[@andygee8716]

Optonica: Sharp's supposed higher end of hifi components from the 1980s. Visually striking, however not that great sounding, unlike Phillips' Black Tulip, Sony's ES Components, Aiwa's R Series and Toshiba's Aurex higher end hifi systems of that era, that sounded brilliant and are sought after items even today.

[@stereoreviewx]

Thanks for the info Andy

[@andygee8716]

@@stereoreviewx love what your doing, bro'.

[@Insightinvoker]

Not my taste , the simplest turntable are the best Acoustic Research XR turntable

[@stereoreviewx]

No argument for me there

[@laurentzduba1298]

Instant track access akin to a CD player made available to the vinyl LP - too bad it doesn't sound as good as the entry level Rega Planar 3. My 200 quid CD / DVD / SACD player probably sounds better by a wide margin. But I bet the hi fi uninitiated will be mesmerized by this "James Bond turntable" in its opetation.

[@MustangBoss1973]

James would have had one made by Aston.

[@PhonoDirect]

People that have no clue about turntables really should not do reviews of turntables.

[@ianducatidemonandrews4665]

You appear to have an interesting watch collection, why don't you give a brief description of the watch of the day, either at the beginning or end?

[@snuffpappy]

There was a somewhat similar turntable on an episode of Columbo. Careful, those turntables can be used to commit murder. :)

[@stereoreviewx]

Just one more thing

[@ethimself5064]

Lotsa features

[@stevemumford6983]

I think regardless of looks hi fi has to sound good / great. If you are just buying something just for the look then really it's just a a piece of junk interior design. 🤔😟

[@markfischer3626]

It's a knockoff of the ADC Accutrack.

[@markfischer3626]

Here's a rare video of an ADC Accutrac 4000 turntable still operational. The lamp used for tracking was in the cartridge. When they burned out there were no replacements. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iKnGfZqCi7Nqe6s The Unique feature of this record player figured in the murder plot of a Columbo episode that costarred Theodore Bikel called "Bye Bye sky high IQ Murder Case." It involved a club of super intelligent people like MENSA. Unfortunately I couldn't find the video clips of how the murder was carried out or how Columbo figured it out. It was a rather ingenious and somewhat convoluted method which depended on this phonograph.

[@stereoreviewx]

Wow this is great research and now I’m intrigued I want to see it too I really like columbo… Just one more thing

[@johnwestern5881]

Sorry to say this is a very poor review process. The reviewer doesn’t know the basics of how to operate the deck, what technology is used and how to adjust the deck. It uses an infra red led but a laser, its APLD not APSS, pressing the quartz button locks the speed precisely, and I could go on but then I’m in danger of taking more time than the reviewer!! I have owned one of these for 40 years without a single problem. Fitted with a decent cartridge like an AT VM540 it’s actually a very decent performer indeed. I also own an LP12 with a DV20XL cartridge and whilst that’s clearly better the Optonica is not shamed and the cartridge accounts for much of the difference. The RP7100 has a good solid soundstage, good dynamics and seems to love punk and 80s vinyl. Or maybe that’s just me 😀. Anyway, if you like the look don’t be put off by this substandard review. It’s a very enjoyable performer.

[@markfischer3626]

@@johnwestern5881 I'm glad people are still out there enjoying these interesting machines. There were others. The Fisher Lincoln was I think based on the original Capeheart design and Thorens had an interesting model also. These go back to the 1960s and 1970s. ADC made some excellent cartridges, notably XLM and ZLM. IMO the best cartridges of that era up through Shure V15 Type V MR blow the socks off today's cartridges in the one performance characteristic that matters most, excellent tracking at low force. With equalization you can match the tone of any one to any other one. Their prices weren't stupid high either.

[@jonfoss3437]

Your full of it