House of Marley Stir It Up Wireless Turntable – Sustainably Crafted Bamboo Record Player, Bluetooth Pairing, Recycled Rewind Fabric, USB to PC/MAC Recording, Dust Cover – Bamboo/Black
 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Speeds | 45 RPM & 33 RPM | 33 ¹/₃ RPM & 45 RPM |
| Connection | Wired | Wireless |
| Made from Sustainable Materials | ✓ | ✓ |
| USB to PC/MAC | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bluetooth | – | ✓ |
| Dimensions: | 40 x 40 x 8 cm; 5.5 Kilograms |
| Model: | EM-JT002-SB |
| Manufacture: | Ultimate Products Ltd |
Worked and sounded good enjoying playing all the old vinyl
Had an issue with the first one delivered, intermittently stopped playing, but replaced easily with no arguments.
Simple to use, preamp sounds great, Bluetooth connects easily.
My children and I bought this for my husband for Christmas and he was over the moon. All his old record collection has been brought down from the loft and he now plays music all the time. We love the wood design and think it looks very elegant, the boys and I are also happy that there is the option for him to use his headphones so we are not subjected to music we are not keen on. The sound produced is excellent and considering he is using old records at the moment you would never know.
Absolutely love it.
Easy to assemble, great quality.
Highly recommended.
4stars as there is always room for innovation and improvement
sounds great through my speakers.
Looks good
love there ethics
Money well spent
First play was Don let’s midnight tales
This turntable is definitely a great product, having looked at a variety of different ones and looking at lot of reviews. The only problem is the weight and anti skating does need fiddling with until you get it right, however this was part of the joy of playing a record and finally getting through an album without skipping. Looks great with the Marley duo speakers too
Connected to my Bose via the Aux. Sound is brilliant. You are able to adjust the tone arm to prevent skipping, sliding and repeating on some of your old vinyl albums that have developed scores and other needle damage over the years (if they are too badly damaged nothing will help).
But I had some that were unplayable on my previous turntable. Amazingly this House of Marley turntable allows them to play through with no problems.
My minor complaints are it doesn’t have built in speakers. The tone arm doesn’t automatically return to its cradle when the arm reaches the end of the record. You need to manually set it back on the cradle. Other than that, I am more than pleased with this turntable. Especially now that I can play albums that I thought were beyond help. Definitely recommend
It really is a thing of beauty, so well made.
I have it running through a sine wave inverter in my campervan and it’s awesome!
Great sound quality with the bluetooth, playing all my old vinyl collection in my van.
I’m not an audiophile, just someone who loves music and appriciates quality.
Five stars from a 55 year old music lover.
Was able to play all my old vinyl and it sounds really good through the Marley speaker. Set up was easy and for a turntable under 200 I have been impressed with it. There is no hard dust cover which is a drawback as the material one provided looks poor when the deck is not in use, which is most of the time.
I’ve found that setting the weight to 2.5 and setting the anti-skate to 2.5 doesn’t work. As it gets closer to the centre of the record, it sticks. I adjusted the anti-skate to 2.0 to allow the stylus to continue to the end of the record. Anyone else have the same issue – should they match perfectly?
Not sure what the “turn off amp” button does at the back? It still needs to be on even when feeding it through my stereo amp?
Things I like:
Price – reasonable, not cheap, but not expensive either
Setting up – Easy to do, I’d prefer adjustable feet to level the deck, balancing the tone arm is easy!
Bluetooth – pointless, any audiophile prefers wired connections, and anyone who buys this is likely buying for the warm analogue tones you get from vinyl, so I can’t see them deciding on Bluetooth speakers!
Sound: Pretty good not the best I have heard, but very good!
Build: Very pleasing the eye, and pleasing to see it’s made sustainably! BUT, why the soft clothe top? If Marley wanted to avoid a plastic / acrylic top I would not have minded a bamboo top! The soft top is a dust magnet and looks scruffy on a very eye pleasing deck!
Practical: I love the fact there is a pre-amp so you have the choice of just connecting to speakers or to an existing amp, but the headphones jack is a bizarr choice with no volume control just loud or avoid it! It’s almost like this deck was made by people that have never made any kind of audio machine! This alone reduced my score from 5/5 to 4/5!
despite my complaints overall I like this deck, but rather than this deck being something that is pure joy to use, it feels flawed and will leave you looking for a replacement if you are serious about playing vinyl! Which considering the brand is very disappointing, I hope that Marley take heed of the comments and reviews and make a version 2 that adresses these small faults, as their approach is exactly what the world needs from products!
This is a great little turntable, extremely well put together and easy to assemble.
Having the Bluetooth function is certainly the way to go, allowing you to pear up with an Echo/Dot or other Bluetooth speaker.
This has made me un-box records that haven’t seen the light of day for 22+ years!
And, as these were in the loft, some are warped, but the turntable allows for that.
Great purchase and worth the money.
Cant fault this turntable for design and appearance. Quality is good, it looks well, and can be put together from the box without too much trouble.
How well it appears and what standard of sound can we get? This is at the core of what you want the player for. Benefits are that it operates on Bluetooth, USB function and has RCA output and built in pre-amp stereo speakers.
Dual RPM 33 and 45 pretty standard and replacement cartridge should be available without too many problems.
Its hard not to like this turntable and it brings sound quality. Vinyl is back and has been for a while – with quality. Recommended.
On the negative side it lacks a proper dust cover but it does fulfil the Marley company’s eco ethos. The packaging is all recyclable and there’s no unecessary plastic in sight. The turntable does make a mechanical noise when engaged but not loud enough to interfere with music played at a reasonable volume.
All in all highly recommended.
For the last few years I have had a record collection sitting in the corner, not doing very much. I have always enjoyed the sound of music from a record player — less clinical than music downloads or CDs. Call it nostalgia, but there’s nothing better than playing a track from vinyl.
The packaging for the House of Marley turntable looks seriously premium. I appreciate their sustainable ethos and, rather predictably, all their packaging is recyclable. A small, nice touch. The unit features a quality feeling solid bamboo plinth and silicone platter pad which has a bluish granite look in sunlight. The metal tone arm and minimal use of plastic make it look almost too nice to hide away in a cabinet. Unlike my previous turntable, the Stir It Up does not have a plastic cover, instead opting for a black cloth dust cover. Honestly this is a better alternative, as it is less likely to discolour over time and develop cracks. Outputs include a standard 3.5mm input jack, USB type-A and RCA sockets.
When I first received this turntable, I had every intention to record all my vinyl music into digital files. However with the Bluetooth-out feature paired with a good quality speaker that I already owned, my priority has changed. Like many people nowadays, most of my music is consumed via online streaming services, so digital copies are not really required. Instead, I like going to my Stir It Up turntable and playing the records through that when at home. It makes it more of an event and there’s nothing more satisfying than setting up a record and listening to it via a wireless speaker that can be carried around the house. Set-up for this was straight forward after consulting the user manual. Simply flip the pre-amp switch and tap the Bluetooth button. Through digital processing, some of the slight imperfections audible through older records are ironed out, with fewer clicks and crackles than I remember being present with my previous system.
Despite using a belt drive instead of direct drive, there was no sound wavering detectable. There is a single rotary switch that allows you to choose between 45 and 33 RPM play speeds. Nice and simple. Unlike my previous record player, there is no auto-return feature when the record finishes. Instead, the motor switches off automatically and the deck slowly spins to a halt. Quite satisfying to watch! Also the tone arm has a nicely damped — helping to prevent damage to the needle and record.
In conclusion I really like my House of Marley Stir It Up turntable. It looks attractive, sounds good and boasts great functionality. I might start buying more modern music on vinyl too!
This turntable is gorgeously made and sounds great – although the sound quality is going to be limited by your speakers! It has old school cable jacks, plus a headphone jack and – hello 21st century – a USB connection and bluetooth, which means you can just fire up your bluetooth speaker and connect and start listening, without the waist-high stack of amplifiers and graphic equalisers which were the ultimate drool-worthy tech kit of the original turntable era. The only thing that i feel is slightly lacking – and might be a problem if you have a cat – is the lack of a lid on the turntable as the record turns. But if you fancy some original sounds, and you have ready access to a library of vinyl, this is an enviable piece of kit.
This is a fantastic looking turntable, with a beautiful bamboo body and high quality (but recycled) materials used throughout. It is very easy to setup (just connect the belt drive, and plug in), either via bluetooth, or via phono leads. The sound quality is excellent. The fact that this has it’s own pre-amp (if required) is a bonus, but as most newer users will listen via bluetooth this may not be necessary (although it did please an oldie like me)
The cover is a little strange, not the normal plastic ones we used to have and doe stake a bot of getting used to, but unlike others I actually like it.
This is a high quality, excellent sounding product for the 21st century. I am struggling to find fault with it.
I decided to get this turntable after deciding that my bush one from 2003 was looking rather tired, and I am so, so glad I did.
Even during the un-boxing this produced oozed class and style. The wood effect base looked (and even smelt) great the stylus and turntable attached with ease and the Marley quote inscription of the arm underlined the love and care to detail that has gone in to this product. The set also came with a turntable cover made from recycled products to keep it clean, and dust clear when not in use, which I thought was a very nice touch.
In terms of performance, the turntable is superb. I can connect old school headphones via a jack, wire it up to my home cinema via red and while audio cables, and connect to my wireless speaker system via Bluetooth, which is easy to operate and very east to set up and connect to any Bluetooth device. In regards to the quality of the sound, I was also very impressed – loud, full and “warm” just as you would expect from Vinyl records. The dials to adjust speed and the weight on the arm to effect the pressure on the styles were also easy to adjust and added to a very pleasurable listening experience.
I only had one issue with this product, and this was maybe down to my own ignorance. I was expecting the driver belt to be included separately in the box, or bagged in the same manner that power cables and stylus were, being as each had its own designated section in the box. It did not. After a long, long time searching and after a lot of frustration I do admit… I EVENTUALLY found the driver belt was wound around the bottom rim of the turntable (DOH!!!). So if anyone is looking for this believing it may be lost or not included….be sure to look there first!!
Overall, I absolutely love this product. It looks superb, its very very well made, and it sounds awesome. It has loads of connection options, and really is the very best turntable I have have owned. A one million per cent recommendation!
This turntable arrived in quite a nice, presentable box and the contents are stunning:
– great quality, also very eco-minded in design (lots of sustainable materials, etc)
– easy to set up (just set up the belt drive, balance the arm and you’re pretty much there)
– easy to adjust speed and adjust the arm as needed
– it took me ages to connect to a Bluetooth speaker (Bose portable speaker), I couldn’t work out the cause but it suddenly connected when I was on the verge of giving up – and the sound quality is fantastic!
– I might have missed it but the arm doesn’t return to the cradle at the end of a record (hence 4, not 5 stars)
– has a pre-amp built in, also has RCA sockets so connectivity is great overall
– it does come with a fabric cover which was a bit disappointing as it doesn’t feel like it’ll protect the unit adequately..
But overall, fantastic product (product support is also great – I received a very fast response when i had a query).
Highly recommended!
Well packaged, be careful to find the drive belt as it’s easily missed tucked around the turntable base. Easily setup and connection to Bluetooth speakers also Bluetooth headset, the sound quality is excellent. The instructions are basic no weight setting for the counterbalance, but there’s information on YouTube . It’s got a phono preamp and be connected to and amplifier. Also USB lead to connect to a PC . There’s a cloth dust cover. The real wood looks quality.
Took me a while to set this up as mine had no instructions how to install the turntable. I thought there was a part missing – the band that drives the table, but it was attached to that all along. Marley were very helpful giving me instructions. Other than this initial hurdle I love the product. It is very simplistic and the design from sustainable materials is very elegant and appealing. I connect mine to my Marley portable speaker and it plays my records great. I am enjoying dusting them down after many years in the garage and searching out classics in charity shops :). Loved that there was no plastic in the packaging and the solid quality of the player.
This is a fantastic looking turntable, with a heavy bamboo body (Grown from sustainable sources) with the lower section clad in the material the company called ‘Rewind’, which is made from recycled plastics, cotton and hemp.
The company’s ethos is based around re-use and sustainability, and the website contains more details on these materials.
The top has on it the logo and control panel containing the switch to change speeds and switch on, plus a bluetooth button and a volume control. There is the mat for LP’s with paint splatters over it and underneath as are the adjustable silicon feet on the bottom.
Setting up was easy, requiring the belt to be attached to the pulley underneath the platter which I found a little fiddley and screwing the counterweight onto the tone arm. I set the anti-skate knob to zero. The instructions tell you to change this if you experience any skating which has not happened so far.
I have mainly listened through bluetooth which was pretty simple to set up by pressing the pairing button on the turntable and it’ll connect to any headphones or speakers that are in pairing mode.
I’ve listened through various of my headphones from over ear to ear buds (always remembering to remove the needle protector beforehand!). The sound was clear with no crackles or pops.
A few more knowledgeable friends have listened and comment that the turntable is as capable if not more so than some of their midrange equipment.
For me the very useful auto start feature when you move the tone arm over the turntable automatically starts, and it also ends when you reach the end of the record.
The turntable comes with a built in pre-amp, so you can hook up straight to the your amp which I haven’t done yet
If you don’t have bluetooth headphones, there’s a headphone socket on the front. There’s also a USB connector as well, which I used to record an LP to a wav file using freely available Audacity software.
There’s no lid on this turntable, but it does come with a dust cover that can be placed over it when it’s not in use. This is the only con for me, as I’d prefer a lid to keep the dust out while I’m playing. The dust cover is made from the same ‘rewind’ material that has been used on the body.
Pros
built in phono (Some amps don’t have phono these days.)
bluetooth connection
USB for recording
Headphone socket in a good position (On the front!)
Good sound quality with new LPs and older LPs that have seen better days!
Sylisjh design, and constructed from recycled materials
Auto start/stop
Cons
No Lid (only separate dust cover)
Great product, easy to assemble (although a bit trial and error setting the counterweight on the arm), easy to pair with Bluetooth speakers and a joy to hear old records. Would recommend to friends.
Sound produced through the speakers is high quality. Even with the volume turned up.
Instructions for assembling the record player were good and easy to follow.
However, playing records themselves was not explained in the instructions and not having used a record player before I basically had to figure it out myself, which was not hard, but I didn’t want to damage disks or player.
The look of the record player itself is very stylish and very high standard.
I find this a little pricey.
My cousin got a beautiful record player in a little briefcase for about 80 and it sounds lovely and looks cute.
This sounds great too, but only has a light bag as a dust cover.
It is beautiful though. Lovely bamboo finish. And it has other tweaks that my cousin’s didn’t, like the bluetooth.
I found it straight forward to assemble. Just need to build up my record collection now!
Thiss was easy to set up straight from the box, it just needs you to locate the drive band(on the underside of the turntable) and pull it over the smallouter drive wheel.The unit was very easy to connect to my bose blutooth speaker system and the sound was top quality. The record app will be a good bonus but for now I’m just enjoying the sound of real recrds again.
The thing that the unit lacks for me would be a hard top cover ,the fabric one whilst practical in a basic way isnt robust enough to protect the player if left out on display as mine woulb be, for the price I would have expected a hard cover or a transportable case for i
I already have a set of earphones from House of Marley. They are earbuds. Wireless and very stylish. This is also a stylish piece of kit. I must admit. I didn’t really listen to vinyl so much with digital music being so easy to access these days. But I always kept my records. Without being a massive musical expert like others who have reviewed the player. I just have to say a few things of how good this is.
The first thing being the ability to pair. Obviously this isn’t new technology. But it’s great to be able to fix my cinema surround sound to play my records. You can also connect to any Bluetooth enabled computer to create hard copies of your LPs. Which is really cool. I love having the originals in FLAC format now. Another big bonus for me is the size. It’s pretty small. Not like the record players of old. So I can store it nearly when not in use. Although I do wish for a dust cover.
Realistically there are no negatives for me, but my knowledge of music doesn’t go as deep as some others giving reviews.
In conclusion. If you’re looking for a good record player made from ethical marerial, you won’t go far wrong here.
My immediate thoughts upon opening the box was that this was a very well made turntable. Primarily made from bamboo (a sustainable source) it felt rugged and hard wearing.
There are a plethora of connection possibilities including the ability to connect to a separate amplifier, connection to a PC via the supplied USB lead, connection to headphones via a 3.5mm socket and also bluetooth connection to a speaker or bluetooth headphones. Initially I had issues connecting via bluetooth so had to get in touch with the manufacturer for assistance. A method of contact via their website was not easy to find, though when I eventually did, and solution was given and I have had no problems since.
The provided instructions are quite poor. You are required to assemble the turntable and put in place the rubber belt which can be daunting if you don’t know what you’re doing. Thankfully, I do know my way around these devices so had no issues myself, but it is advisable to watch a video that is provided by the manufacturer on Youtube. This video is a good demonstration of how to use the anti skate weighting system too.
For initial testing I used a simple set of wired headphones plugged into the 3.5mm jack.
Slight whiring noise from the turntable was a little distracting in a quite room but this was not a problem once the headphones were being worn. Wow & Flutter (frequency fluctuation) was evident, particularly slow wow which was disappointing at this price point but not a massive problem, especially if you are not too sensitive to very slight changes in pitch. I say “At this price point” because this is by no means an entry level turntable at this price. There are alternatives that are far cheaper.
Another issue I found was that when I usually play an album (rather than a single) I like to place the lid on the turntable to minimise dust collection. This is not possible with the Stir It Up turntable as the only cover provided is a soft pouch type that can not be used while the turntable is in operation. This I consider to be the biggest issue of the turntable design.
Overall, I am relatively pleased with the turntable. It certainly looks very good and the fact it is made from sustainable materials is a positive step.
If you’re of a certain age then you may still have some Vinyl. Or if you’re an achingly cool kid, I guess you may have got into it recently with its mini revival. Either way, most folk like minimalist stuff now, and there is no escaping that a record player has to be a certain size. However, the certain size doesn’t’ have to be a full on stereo system like the early 90s. If you have bluetooth speakers you really do only need the deck, and this one is actually really very aesthetically pleasing. It’s a cool looking thing that can be a bit of a feature in a room. We’re really quite pleased with it! You can spend a lot less on a unit with a similar feature set (and functionally this is great), but if you are going to have it on show then you want it to look good and this does.
Unpacking this was a joy, even the box is beautifully made, you can feel the quality just from that. Taking it out of the box did not disappoint either, everything was neatly organised in their little sections.
The plinth itself is made from bamboo wood, major points for sustainability which House of Marley have made a major shouting point about. When assembling it is fairly easy, piecing the turntable onto the spindle is easy, the belt needs to be hooked into place, there aren’t instructions to do this and if you just piece evrrything together it will not spin. There is a video guide in the sheet that comes with the kit but this should be made more obvious. The pairing up is easy to do with bluetooth, there is also a pre-amp switch and ports for stereo out to connect to speakers.
The needle protector comes off easily (a little too easy) and quite fiddly to pop back on. You can switch between 33’s and 45’s using the attachment inbuilt into the table. There is also a headphone jack should you have overear headphones which you can zone out to. I am in no way a techie when it comes to audio equipment but overall the turntable offers a nice aesthetic, a bit disappointing it doesn’t come with a hard casing and only a soft fabric cover, the rubber feet makes it secure but doesn’t prevent the collection of dust. The sound quality is decent and the use isn’t difficult to figure out, it offers a nice piece within the house and the environmentally friendly materials is a bonus.
I haven’t had a record player for years but I’ve still got my record collection, been unable to part with it due to sentimental value and many happy memories.
When I had the opportunity to review this I jumped at the chance, especially as it means I can transfer my beloved collection to my computer.
I gathered from the title that it had something to do with the Marley family and apparently it’s his son Rohan who formed the company. It’s committed to producing quality products made from mindfully sourced materials, this particular one comprises of bamboo and the exclusive ‘Rewind’ fabric, which is made from reclaimed organic cotton, recycled PET and reclaimed hemp.
It looks much better than I expected and has been a real talking point for visitors ever since I set it up, it’s really surprising for most people to see a record play in someone’s house now, very retro.
Setting it up was fairly easy, it doesn’t come totally preassembled but the drive belt, platter etc only take a few minutes to put together.
You can choose to use the built in pre-amp or your own by simply moving the switch on the rear and with it’s Bluetooth connectivity it’s only takes minutes until you are listening to records that have been consigned to a dark cupboard for years.
The digital USB output can be used to transfer your recorded collection to hard drive.
I did find the instruction booklet a bit vague and fine tuning was definitely helped by watching the setup video, it gives a more in depth insight into the different features and how to get the best out of the turntable.
The sound quality is good, nice and crisp but would obviously benefit from an external pre-amp and really good speakers, maybe also a better quality needle and cartridge, depending on your budget.
My only gripe is the cloth dust cover, it’s in line with the companies policy of using sustainable materials but it doesn’t look particularly nice if you leave the turntable on display, I think I may have to place it behind the glass doors of my unit so I don’t have to cover it up.
In my opinion the price is reasonable for the quality of the product. Yes, you can buy cheaper turntables but the features and sound quality will be lacking. This turntable will last for years if cared for properly, it’s well built and I love the materials used, it just makes it feel that little bit more special and it’s just looks good, enough said.
Hope you found my review helpful.
Let me step back a few days though, to the moment of unboxing. And unboxing. And a bit more unboxing. This is the Russian Doll of products. It came in a huge box, in which came an admittedly well presented Marley box with additional sleeve. And then more boxes inside that. To be honest, the whole Marley ethos of sustainably sourced material got a bit lost with their packaging team. Can’t have got the memo.
Once you’ve dug your way inside, the turntable itself has very few components. There are several cables should you so wish to use them, but let’s focus on the turntable for now. It’s exposed top is made from a beautiful bamboo wood, one of nature’s fastest growing plants so fits in a bit better with sustainable materials. The recycled aluminium turntable attached to the central spindle, and is belt driven so you need to put you finger through one of the holes in the turntable, prise the belt away from the turntable and hook it over the drive mechanism in the top left corner of the deck. I’ll be honest, it took me a while to figure that bit out….primarily because while they were happy to chop a few forests down for the packaging they obviously didn’t have enough trees left to pulp together a decent instruction book.
At the rear you’ll find a power socket, a pre-amp switch should your system require it, and stereo audio out ports. The turntable came with an audio out cable, but only a cheap feeling one that had a single jack at one end and a double at the other. It meant I could only play through my Denon amp if I used the headphone jack at the front of the turntable, so I ended up buying a new AmazonBasics audio cable which is fantastic and highly recommended.
Once you’re all connected up to your speakers, you’ll need to configure the counterweight on the arm. These two items are separate so you’ll need to slide the counterweight over the arm, and then twist it until you get a good neutral balance on the arm. When you’ve got a satisfactory balance you then need to twist the black dial to zero (with me so far?), and then turn it to the manufacturer’s recommended setting of 2.5. Okay? Nearly there folks. Them you need to adjust the anti-skip mechanism adjacent to the counterweight, also to 2.5. Then, go and have a drink of sustainably source coffee or something, you’ve earned it. Honestly, it’s a bit of a faff, but we’re there now.
You can now play your records. Well, you can if you remember to take the stylus protector off. Anyone else forget? Was that just me?
The sound that you eventually get is very pleasing though. I’ve not listened to a record in decades, literally. In fact, I’ve yet to reclaim my old vinyl collection from my mum’s loft yet, so the only record we’ve currently got is my wife’s cherished Push by Bros. LP. Honestly, if I hear “When Will I be Famous” one more time……
I’m the first to admit I’m not an audiophile so in many ways a good quality record player is a bit lost on me. If Alexa can’t play it through my Amazon Music Unlimited account then I don’t want to know. But, my wife seems to like it so in turn I like it too.
My last comment is the cover. It’s a fabric cover. A soft fabric cover. I understand the sustainable whatnot stance, but my 9 month old dog doesn’t and sure any of you with your own dogs or cats or those two legged little things (children?) don’t understand when they’re bouncing around your living room. A soft fabric cover isn’t going to provide a great deal of protection for your delicate, sensitively set up turntable. So my conclusion is that the Marley Stir it Up is a beautiful turntable, which sounds lovely. It’s just getting to the point that it sounds lovely, and keeping it sounding lovely, is more of a challenge than possibly it could be.
The House of Marley Stir It Up Wireless Turntable is a design forward record player. From the box you have the lovely contrast of the recycled material lower and the warmth of the bamboo desk. The deck is accented by all the aluminum switches and arm. There is also some planning in those materials; being renewable or recycled – and in the case of the hemp and cotton in the fabric a bit of both. One downside to the renewable materials is the cover is fabric; so you cant cover your record and play it. Design clearly is a big part of the experience of this player; and I think having it on display for a few years it will still please the eyes. I have tried to render the visuals through the images attached.
Setting it up is a bit of a chore; as It is with most record players – thankfully Marley have it down to balancing the arm and connecting the platen. The latter is made more complex as the House of Marley have made it a belt drive player. There aren’t pitch controls so there must be some form of automatic pitch control in the player as every record I have tried sounded fine – and at least one of them needed a tweak on the Dual player I tested last month. One annoyance from a practical perspective is the device is powered by a plug style dc converter rather than an internal one; though this might help with the sound quality. There is a video on YouTube from the House of Marley that goes through the setup and its worth watching – it helped me realize I had the counterbalance on the wrong way for a start.
Once setup and sat on my side drawers it really does look the part. Its oozes nostalgia thanks to the chunky switches and contrast in the colors.
Coming onto sound the Stir it up gives you a lot of choice. There are phono outs; and thanks to switchable built in preamp you can connect to a regular or phono connector; as well as powered speakers. Finally; and my favorite for lights out music listening is there is a headphone jack – complete with a volume control. There is also a Bluetooth feature; but I couldn’t get it to connect to my speakers or headphones – I’m guessing as somehow you need to select them – and there isn’t an NFC reader to help the connection. To help connecting it to a speaker there is an RCA – Headphone jack cable in the box. If you have a vinyl library and you want to convert it to flac as I did with my cd’s the USB socket will let you connect to your pc or mac; and both of mine recognized it as an audio source.
If you are playing 45’s there is an adaptor puck that is kept on a spindle near the arm. This is plastic so you cant use it as a weight on other records. It centered the single in my photos just fine though. The stylus is a reasonable quality Audio Technica AT3600L and its connected to a super rigid arm. The recycled silicone matt; has an infuriating pattern that makes it hard to tell if its clean; and it has a texture in it that makes it feel like there is dust on it. It does grip records nicely though – they don’t slip. When the record plays the platen definitely rises and falls; this isn’t causing an issue with the audio but it doesn’t look great; especially on a design forward deck. The motor is very quiet and you can’t hear motor noise on the audio with or without the preamp enabled.
I find vinyl a faff compared to playing lossless back from my home storage. The sound doesn’t sound noticeably better and the odd hiss and pop is definitely worse. It does offer a tactile experience; taking the record from its sleeve and protective cover and gently placing on the silicone mat, before selecting the speed from the aluminum twist switch and gently placing the arm on the record. You definitely get close to your music through that.
The first time you do it you also missed in the manual that the platen doesn’t start to spin until you get the arm close to it so you aren’t sure if its working as you turn the dial.
I do like the stir it up has a headphone out socket on the front; listening in the dark via headphones is a nice experience even with the odd whistle and crack. A separate headphone jack on your amp will sound better but for me; I can plug the wire in and lay down on the couch with my eyes closed listening to the music.
The sound is good; and a record player opens up some of my older music to listen to. The Stir it up looks great; though sadly under its cloth cover you cant tell. You can connect it to a wide variety of speakers or headphones and kick back; till you have to flip the record over.
House Of Marley is known for its Eco responsibility, all of their products are sustainably crafted with various recycled materials and this turntable is no exception. This product uses responsibly harvested bamboo, recycled fabric, aluminium, silicone, plastic and paper for its construction components and packaging. The purchase of this product will also help to plant one tree in an effort to help global reforestation. Some people might not care about all of this, but regardless it is setting an example for other companies to follow suit and start caring about the sustainability of their products and the condition of the planet.
The turntable comes beautifully packaged in a minimalistic cardboard box which is of course fully recyclable. Inside the box you get everything you need to get started playing music, and setup only takes around 10 minutes. There are a few components that you need to install yourself, however whilst the quick start guide gives you the basics, I feel that the guide is not as good as it could be. One if the components you need to install yourself is the rubber belt drive, but this step is completely absent from the quick start guide. Fortunately, it’s easy enough to install the belt but for someone that might be new to Vinyl (arguably a chunk of the target audience for this product) the guide should at least mention it. Thankfully, the needle head is pre-installed and aside from the belt drive everything else is self-explanatory and easy to setup.
The turntable has multiple audio outputs that give you a lot of versatility to get your music played. You have RCA Outputs, USB to PC recording, and of course Bluetooth. The product does have a decent built in Pre-Amp if your equipment doesn’t have one — but if you already have existing equipment that has better pre-amps built in you can easily turn off the Turntable Pre-Amp. Bluetooth pairing is easy, press the Bluetooth button one to turn it on, press it again to initiate pairing, and long press to turn Bluetooth off — simple. To record your Vinyl with the USB to PC output, the computer will see the turntable as an audio device input and you can use your choice of recording software to record your Vinyl (the quick start guide recommends Audacity which is a free program).
The turntable motor does emit a noticeable hum when in use, although with music playing it quickly drown out any noise. The actual rotation of the platter is virtually silent, and the player has large silicone feet that help to absorb any external vibrations on the surface its placed on. In all honesty I would have preferred a direct drive system, but according to the product the Belt Drive provides rotational stability and quality sound. You will get a more ‘old school’ vibe from the belt spinning up and slowing down, but you may need to eventually replace the belt if it wears or breaks over time (though you shouldn’t need to do this over a few years) — regardless it won’t affect the usability of the product too much. You can easily adjust the RPM of the motor form 33/45 RPM to match the Vinyl, and the anti skid control works well when its halfway between 0 – 1 (depending on your Vinyl this may vary so you need to experiment with it)
Overall, there really isn’t another turntable on the market that offers a Bluetooth as an audio output option. Whilst I prefer direct drive turntables, belt drives are not too bad so long as you don’t mind potentially having to replace a worn belt. The build quality and eco nature of the product is solid and well made, plus the priced is a great entry point into the world of Vinyl.
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My father in law moved in with us 2 years ago and there has never been enough room in his room for the huge hifi unit he owned. I always felt bad depriving him of his vinyl. We tried to make up for it with Alexa!
When I was offered this as part of the vine program I immediately thought of him.
The player comes beautifully packaged (even if it was a box inside a box inside another box, the recycling bin is full to busting). We scratched our heads a little in getting it to work until we watched the video as they suggest. I had no idea it was all made by the family of Bob Marley and the sustainability credentials are impressive
Once we got it all working and a bluetooth speaker (not included) paired, we spent yesterday on a trip down memory lane. The smile on dad’s face was an absolute joy to witness.
The whole unit is neat and stylish and the dust cover protects it while not in use.
Thank you Amazo
If you are familiar with turntable setup, I don’t think you will have too much trouble getting started. If not, I would say the video referenced on a welcome sheet in the box is pretty much essential. There is another leaflet which has some setup information, but it is quite inadequate and in some respects even misleading. It does not tell you how to set the tracking force or even what that should be. And it says “normally the anti-skating force should be set to its minimum setting,” which is contradicted by the setup video, which says set it to the same value (2.5) as the tracking weight. Use the video.
I tried the turntable in various configurations. The primary one was with the built-in pre-amp ON so I could use the line in on my hi-fi amplifier. I also tried using the built-in headphone output, and Bluetooth connection to a wireless speaker. All worked well, though the headphone output has rather modest volume. Impressive flexibility.
There is also a USB port and cable supplied. This lets you connect to a PC for recording, with the free Audacity software recommended, for transferring vinyl to digital. I did not try this, but it could be useful if you have some records that you cannot easily find on CD or streaming.
There are a few issues with the turntable, none of them dealbreakers at this kind of price. The actual turntable is a bit noisy — that is, you can hear it whirring if you are close by and the volume is low. This didn’t seem to affect the sound, but it is not a good thing.
Second, there is a fabric dust cover supplied but no lid. So you cannot cover the turntable when a record is playing, leaving it more exposed to dust.
Third, the speed stability (wow and flutter) of this model is relatively poor. If you are sensitive to slight pitch variations I suggest you spend a bit more.
What is the difference between this and a top-notch turntable? A few things. The platter is rather lightweight, so less resistant to small speed variations. The arm has more friction than a high-quality arm, and the arm operates a switch to turn the motor on or off which is not ideal; it is better to have a separate switch for this. The cartridge is made by Audio Technica, a great brand, but is right at the bottom of its range (AT3600L).
This is nothing to worry about though. The Stir it Up turntable looks great with its bamboo plinth, and sounds a lot better than many budget turntables — better, in fact, than I had expected.
A few niggles then, but still looks and sounds good which is what matters.
This feels like very well thought-out and designed product. There are lots of very snazzy, very thoughtful features, from the Bluetooth-link, to the USB jack which allows you to record vinyl onto your PC, plus it also has output cables and a headphone jack for using “older” speakers and tech. The product is very sustainable and environmentally conscious – it has a bamboo baseboard, along with a fabric band made out of recycled garments. There are lots of beautiful touches around it that sing good taste.
The only downside is I had a bit of difficulty putting it together. This was my own fault because I didn’t watch the online setup video online. If you’re going to buy this, there is an elastic band on the bottom of the plate which connects to the spinning pin motor. I couldn’t find the elastic band and ended up phoning the House of Marley helpline for support (which was a fun experience, what other helpline would have music of “I want to love ya and treat ya right”?). I eventually found what I had missed. The other thing is the needle guard often comes off with the needle too. This worried me for a bit, but I realised that the needle can be reconnected without much difficulty.
The sound quality was brilliant and really captured the magic of analogue recording, analogue music and the energy of teenagers in the 60s and 70s getting freedom from their parents by spending their pocket money on vinyl. This product is probably more expensive than other record players, but I think if you have the money to afford this, it’s worth going the extra mile to buy it. There is maybe a slight “chinese factoryness” to the product that might put you off, but everything is made there nowadays unless you go for something really handcrafted and artisan, and that would be very pricey.
All in all, I’m very keen on this turntable and would say it’s the perfect record player for the 21st century.
I’m really pleased with this house of Marley stir it up wireless turntable vinyl record player with built in Bluetooth pairing for easy connection to your Bluetooth speakers . It’s amazing how much technology there is in such a slim well designed turntable and the main body is made out of sustainable Bamboo so very eco friendly so there is nothing not to like. All I know it plays all my old vinyl just perfectly the sound quality is brilliant and easy to use . So if you want to resurrect your old vinyl collection or maybe start a new collection then this is the turntable for you