Rekkord F100

Verdict

The Rekkord F100 gives you the option to have fuss free automatic operation without losing out on the performance a turntable at this price point should offer. It’s a pleasure to live with and capable of a very enjoyable performance

Introduction

Take a look through the various record players that have passed through the Trusted Reviews testing process and they generally have one thing in common. 

To start a record playing, the arm must be moved manually over the record and lowered into the run in groove. Then, at the other end, the process must be done in reverse. It’s time honoured and can be rather enjoyable but it’s not without some issues. 

Anyone with unsteadiness or dexterity issues can find the process stressful and leaving a turntable running with the cartridge in the end groove will wear the stylus out faster than it needs to. 

The Rekkord F100 looks much the same as any other turntable here but it has one key difference. The process by which the arm arrives and departs the record has been mechanised. Turntables that do this are referred to as fully automatic and the Rekkord, while unusual, is not unique. The mechanism to make this process happen, shapes how the turntable is built and has to be included in the final cost of the turntable.

Does the F100 hold its own against rivals that don’t have to budget for an automatic mechanism? How much does this convenience end up costing when you sit down and listen?

Availability 

The F100 is available in the UK for £329.99. A version with a phono stage built into the player is a available for £359.99. In the US it can be found for $399 but does not appear to be on sale in Australia at the time of review. 

Rekkord has been making and selling turntables for many years but their range is newly arrived in the UK and only beginning to filter into dealers now which means that there are not huge number of dealers at the moment but more are being added all the time. 

Design 

• Compact plinth 
• Simple controls for automatic operation 
• Good attention to detail 

The F100 is the most affordable model that Rekkord makes and the overall design and styling reflects this relatively low price point but that doesn’t quite tell the whole story as to how it looks and feels. Any automatic turntable needs to include the mechanism (and that choice of word is deliberate as it is a collection of cogs and gears in there) which means that very slender plinths aren’t really possible. 

When you take this into account, the F100 is a rather elegant piece of packaging that doesn’t look much different to more conventional rivals. The finish is a little on the sober side compared to things like the JBL Spinner but many people will prefer that. 

The automatic operation of the F100 means that the controls are a little different. A start/stop switch is combined with an arm lift and speed adjustment switch. It’s less immediately obvious than devices that have a single control to start and stop them but it is logical enough (although there are some quirks we’ll cover in a bit). The arm is an 8.6 inch long unit that comes with an Audio Technica cartridge pre mounted and the tracking force correctly set. 

The overall impression of the F100 is that it feels carefully designed by people who have considerable experience in the field of making turntables. It’s simplicity itself to set up and details like the usefully compliant feet and lid make it painless to live with a normal household. The level of build and finish is extremely impressive for the price too. 

Features

• Full auto operation 
• Audio Technica cartridge 
• Aluminium platter 
• Captive lead and wall wart PSU 

The key selling point of the F100- indeed its whole reason to be- is the automatic arm. There are other turntables available for a similar price that can do the same thing but the Rekkord is by far the most confidence inspiring one I have tested. Press the start switch and there are no weird groans or clicks as the mechanism sets to work and it has functioned perfectly every single time. These might sound like low bars but you might be surprised how often I have seen them not met. 

There are some caveats though which need to be mentioned. Rekkord has simplified the mechanism so that it has two operating states. If you have 33rpm selected, the arm will head to the outer edge of the platter. If you select 45rpm, it heads to the point where a seven inch single will play. This means that if you have a 12 inch 45rpm record, the arm will need to be placed manually. There is also no provision for 78rpm playback. How much of an issue this will be is really going to come down to the records you own; my gut feeling is it is worth the sacrifice for the smoother and more reliable mechanism. 

The actual turntable part of the Rekkord is a belt driven aluminium platter with a rubber mat on top. The belt comes pre fitted and the whole assembly feels solid and confidence inspiring. The arm comes fitted with an Audio Technica AT91 cartridge; a device that crops up on a large number of turntables at the price and that works pretty well. The arm of the F100 seems designed to work specifically with the AT91 so your upgrade options are a little more limited than with some other turntables at this price.

Like a few designs at this price, the Rekkord has a captive cable running from the arm which might limit your placement options a little but simplifies installation. It uses a wall wart type power supply that is far from the smartest device I have ever seen but that works well enough. In a world where turntables have Bluetooth, USB outs and headphone sockets, the F100 feels very simple but it does allow it to get on with being a turntable instead and avoids doubling up if you have these features already. 

Sound Quality 

• Exceptionally quiet 
• Pitch stable
• Detailed, articulate and flowing presentation 

Following on from the Rekkord moving its arm about in a quiet and wholly confidence inspiring way, this impression keeps up once the arm lands smoothy and squarely in the groove of the record. There is absolutely no perception of extra bits whirring away inside the plinth and the noise floor is impressive low. I used an iFi ZEN Phono 3 for testing which is a very quiet bit of kit indeed and the F100 injected very little noise into this. What this means is that you hear less turntable and more record as it should be. 

Something else that is worthy of note is that I ran a few tests with the F100 and found it is impressive pitch stable too. There is precious little instability in the speed it rotates at and the means that long sustained notes on records don’t have that wobble in their tone which makes them sound unstable. It cements the idea that the engineering at work here is verry good and that the F100 hasn’t scrimped on the basics.

This translates into a very engaging performance as well. The Rekkord is able to find little details in records that don’t always make themselves apparent when played on fairly affordable record players. The live album by Fink Wheels Turn Beneath my Feet is packed with incidental details that bring the venue and the performers to life as something more than a by the numbers rendition of the hits. Instead, you get a genuine sense of the music and space it was recorded in. The F100 also creates enough of a feeling of space in its performance that recordings feel pleasingly three dimensional as well. 

The Rekkord isn’t finished there either. It manages to secure a level of warmth and tonal richness from that Audio Technica cartridge that is not always something I associate with it (which does suggest it might be bit on the soft side if you change this without much thought). The peak eighties slickness of The Travelling Wilburys is as full and lush as you might reasonably hope for and, so long as you don’t have very warm partnering equipment, the balance is one that works with a good spread of styles and recording quality. 

Where the Rekkord has to give some ground to key rivals is the bass extension. Securing decent bass from affordable record players is hard and to its credit, the F100 is able to keep the same decent detail retrieval in the lower registers that it does elsewhere and it is pleasingly articulate. Compared to the Fluance RT-82 though which is slightly less expensive, there simply isn’t the low end clout from some records that I know they can deliver. 

Something more positive that shows across listening is that there is a definite presentation style to the Rekkord. Where a Rega Planar 2 is urgent and hard hitting, the F100 flows through material in a way that feels unforced and effortless. Listening to M83’s Saturdays=Youth on the Rekkord lends the music an effortless and comforting sound. You can undoubtedly buy turntables that are more ballistic but the F100 is an extremely pleasing device to spend time with.

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