Synq XTRM1 etc (English version of the review)

Geschreven door Reind Dooyeweerd woensdag, 04 januari 2006 04:29

Synq XTRM1/Omnitronic DD5250/Akiama DJ4000 Acura/AMDJ HTD4.5/Stanton STR8-150/ST150/Citronic PD45/Reloop RP6000MK5.

Now you are probably wondering, why a review of many turntables at the same time? Well, that’s easy. All these turntables are the same.. even probably the colour of the helixes are the same.
The difference is that it’s sold by various dealers that just print there own logo on the deck plate. (OEM Original Equipment Manufacturer) is the appellation for that.

The only difference is the price and the colour of the deck plate. Stanton has made a turntable that’s a little bit more different then the other Oem turntable’s. The ‘pitch reset’ button is at the top of the pitch fader instead of the side en it has square corners instead of round ones.
Besides that, Stanton has got a ‘key correction’ feature, which you will probably won’t even use.
Stanton has also got a thicker deck plate which is supposed to give to give more feedback en also the people at Stanton have put in some extra weight which resulted in a total weight around the 15 kilo. That’s around 33 Lbs)

In the meanwhile, Synq has also added a feature to the XTRM1 turntable. That’s a line out signal. In the beginning, when this review was written, Synq didn’t added this feature to their turntable’s.. Because of the line out you won’t have to connect a ground wire anymore en your mixer won’t have to have a phone line in.
You are able to still use the phono connection. There is a switch on the back side of the Synq which allows you to choose between phono and line out.


Allmost all turntable’s are supplied with a Stanton 505 cartridge. Stanton supplies a 520 cartridge and Akiyama just left the cartridge out. That isn’t such a pity since we all know the quality of the Stanton 500 MKII (505 = the same) since they became blue. Just throw them away when they are worn out. Just put in a Ortofon Concorde Pro if you have the money to buy them. But the Concorde does not only sound better, but they sure look a lot better on this turntable.

As far as I know, the turntable’s don’t come with dustcovers. That is disadvantage since dust is one of the biggest enemy’s of your DJ gear. Make sure you put something over it when you aren’t using it (like a thin towel) that will prevent eating dust from it.

Also these turntable’s have got blue leds (instead of the red ones on SL’s). It’s all got to do with taste. I don’t really love it to be honest.
Well, what is so special about this Turntable? The first is, that this is an OEM turntable which you will have to address by Sir. It wouldn’t surprise me if there will be other dealers that will also bring this nice piece of machinery on the market.

Stanton claims to re-invented the wheel (which is a bit lied) with this Turntable. But if you look good you’ll see the similarity between the OEM mixer and the good old Numark (TT1 & 2). Just look good at the round deck plate and the round knob on the arm lift. Also look at the round dimples in the height ring. Oh, didn’t Numark have the buttons in exactly the same place?? I could almost swear that this turntable was build for Numark, but they said: Ah, u can keep the deck plate, we’ll build one ourselves.. (The TTX and the TT200) Unfortunately this didn’t work out really well.. Everybody knows about the lousy tone arm and the “not so good” software on the TTX.. Ah well, to keep a long story short… You could almost say that this could have been the new version of the TT1. Just compare this 2 turntables and the similarity will be enormous! Even the dustcovers fit exactly on the OEM tables. If you run in to some TT1/TT2 dustcovers; by them. They fit like they where born to be together..

What else is so special about this turntable? Well the things that catches the eye first, is the extreme high torque and the handling when it comes to adjusting the platter. I get back to you on that later on ;-). Well, to proceed.. The turntable just looks nice, not to many things that won’t be used anyway.. Unfortunately for the people that use Technics, the OEM turntable is just as basic as the SL, so the argument that a SL = better/nicer because it’s basic won’t work here. Besides that, the designer of the OEM turntable’s (whoever that may be :D) van be proud of this good looking piece of machinery..


The question: Is this a Technics beater? It is just as good, but when it comes to handling you’ll say right away: This is the number 1! No doubt about it!
The first time I ran in to this turntable was in a shop in Germany.. It was standing there for demo’s.. After 20 minutes I was sold! When testing I really had the idea that this would become a big hit, and maybe it would even break the hegemony of Technics. Yes, the Technics that dominated the DJ world for a longggg time now!
All these years, there hasn’t been a single turntable that was capable of beating the Technics on all aspects.. (we only look at quality, so not at the price). The OEM turntable has got it all and that is something feel from the beginning. Never before there was a turntable (okay, Technics too) made that was build so well and was even better at some points then the SL. I would say: Welcome to a new era, of the turntable of today!
Are you going to be convinced? Probably after reading the following pages and else I’ll say: Just test it, and see for yourself. Watch out that you won’t faint when u see the beauty behind the already beautiful design!