Califone International 1035AV Turntable

I found this hard to locate item (a portable turntable that plays 3 speeds) at this Cousin'sVideo.com. This Califone turntable is much better constructed & works better than the similar models made by Crosley, & the price is about the same. Cousin's Video was priced so cheap that the better model Califone (the 1035AV) was priced less than other sellers want for the lesser Califone model (the basic difference is that one model has pitch control & the other doesn't). So basically, by buying at Cousins, I got pitch control for free. It arrived sooner than the stated date, was well-packed, & unlike a Crosley model I owned, it worked fine right out of the box. Some nice features of this turntable are: 1) it has a lighted tone-arm, which makes it easy to see the outer groove of the record for placement on the record, 2) it has a built-in 45rpm adapter (you won't be losing this one), 3) if you drop the tone-arm, the stylus can't hit the metal surface of the player, 4) it has a wide & tapered tone-arm rest, making it easy to put the tone-arm back when not in use, 5) it has a hard wired AC plug, which means that you can leave it plugged in all the time without using electricity (as most adapters do), 6) it has a separate "pause" button, for use when you want to change speeds without turning it off. Some features that need improvement are: 1) the arrangement of the controls on the surface of the turntable is very awkward; I actually use it with the back side facing me (otherwise you'd have to use it in a left-handed manner, which would be great for lefties), 2) I would like to see a left-right speaker balance control. Overall, a great product from a great seller. Highly Recommended.