Reloop is a German firm best known for producing equipment for dance clubs. In the not-too-distant past, it added a line of home turntables under the Reloop HiFi label. Priced at US$849.99, CA$1199, £759, or €799.99 as of early September 2026, the Turn 5 is third-up in that line, and includes a premounted Ortofon 2M Red cartridge.
Description
The Turn 5 is a direct-drive design, and bears a more-than-passing resemblance to the iconic Technics SL‑1200 series of direct-drive ’tables. The Turn 5’s sturdy dustcover even has a convex bubble over the tonearm pivot, just like the Technics models.
But there are differences. The base is black, not silver. And unlike all the variants of the SL‑1200, the Turn 5 does not have a pitch control. It does feature a stroboscopic light, and there are several rows of strobe dots on the platter’s perimeter. But the light is synced to whatever speed you select—33⅓, 45, or 78 rpm—and only registers the row with the largest indicators. That raises a question—why have a strobe on a turntable with no speed adjustment?
The Turn 5 uses a 16-pole, three-phase brushless DC motor, similar to that of the Technics ’tables. The die-cast aluminum platter weighs just under 4 pounds, including the rubber platter mat. The S‑shaped aluminum tonearm has an effective length of just over 9″.
Operational controls are concentrated on the front left corner of the plinth’s top surface. The main power switch is on the top of the strobe light. In front of that are the start-stop switch and the three speed selectors.
The tonearm is of the static-balance variety that uses a counterweight to both balance the ’arm and set the vertical tracking force (VTF). To the right of the ’arm pivot is the antiskating dial, which one sets to be equivalent to the VTF. The vertical tracking angle of the tonearm can be adjusted by loosening a locking lever on the tonearm ring and turning the ring until the ’arm is level when you play a record. The manual tonearm lift is highly effective.
The rear panel features a pair of gold-plated RCA output jacks, plus a grounding screw. To their right is a voltage-selection switch, to choose between 115V and 230V AC, and a two-prong power inlet. Models sold in North America come with a Type A power cable suitable for 115V outlets.
The Turn 5 comes with a nice hinged dustcover, an RCA audio interconnect complete with ground wire, and a terse, multilingual owner’s manual. I found the manual disappointing, as it offers little in the way of setup instructions. Vinyl newbies buying a Turn 5 might want to enlist the aid of their dealer or a knowledgeable friend for setup.
Setup
The Turn 5 arrived double-boxed and in perfect shape. Upon opening the inner box, I was greeted by the owner’s manual and the platter mat. Beneath those was the heavy plastic dustcover, protected by a polyethylene bag. Once that was removed, it was time to extract the turntable from the box. The counterweight, headshell-cartridge assembly, and hinges were taped within depressions in the forms that held the turntable in place. A small cardboard box held the power cord and the interconnect cable. Unusually, but not significantly (for me, at least), there was no 45-rpm adapter.
Once everything is out of the box, the first step is to place the platter over the spindle. This must be done carefully, as the bottom of the platter holds the magnet for the direct-drive motor. The mat then goes on top of the platter. Next, Reloop suggests installing the hinges for the dustcover and then the dustcover itself. All fit very easily.
It is then time to install the headshell (with its premounted cartridge) and counterweight. As is typical, there’s a union nut on the tonearm which clamps the headshell to the tonearm. Once the headshell is set, remove the stylus protector from the cartridge. The counterweight should be pressed onto the end of the tonearm and then turned until the ’arm is perfectly level with the top of the plinth. At that point, carefully hold the back part of the counterweight and turn the counterweight scale to 0. Check to make sure the tonearm is still balanced, and adjust if necessary.
Once the ’arm is perfectly balanced, turn the counterweight until the scale reads approximately 1.8g, then set the antiskating dial to the same value.
Next, plug the interconnect cable into the Turn 5’s output jacks, tighten the ground thumbscrew over the ground wire, and connect to your amplifier’s inputs. If your amp lacks a phono stage, you’ll need an external phono preamplifier. And finally, check that the voltage selector switch is at the proper setting, plug the power cord into the power inlet on the rear of the turntable and the other end into an outlet. Now, you’re set to spin some vinyl!
Once the turntable was completely set up, I used the RPM Speed & Wow app on my Android phone to check speed accuracy and stability. When set to 33⅓, the Turn 5’s platter spun at 33.24 rpm (-0.27%) with estimated wow of ±0.05%. At 45, the turntable’s average speed was 44.85 rpm (-0.33%) and wow was ±0.05%. Set to 78, registered speed was 77.7 rpm (-0.39%) with ±0.03% wow. These are very respectable results.
Using the supplied cable, I connected the Turn 5 to one of the phono input pairs on my vintage Apt Holman preamplifier, which has a very fine phono stage. The Apt preamp was connected to my NAD C 275BEE power amplifier with Morrow MA1 RCA interconnects, and the amp was connected to my Acoustic Energy Radiance 3 floorstanding speakers with Nakamichi Excel 12-gauge OFC cable terminated in banana plugs.
Listening
In my reviews, I usually start with a classical selection, and this time I chose a famous 1967 recording of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, performed by soloist Christian Ferras and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Herbert von Karajan (Deutsche Grammophon 139 021). As I expected from past experience, the Ortofon 2M Red showed itself to be quite forward in its presentation, especially in the upper midrange and highs. However, Ferras’s playing was reproduced very nicely, with lots of detail. For instance, about three-quarters of the way through the first movement, he has an extended period of trills, all of which came through beautifully. The lengthy solo cadenza near the end of the first movement, superbly played by Ferras, was brilliantly reproduced.
Turning to a classic jazz selection, I dropped the needle on “Take Five,” from Time Out by the Dave Brubeck Quartet (Columbia PC8192). Brubeck keeps the time with his simple piano riff in the background. Paul Desmond solos twice, perfectly, on alto sax. And Eugene Wright on bass repeats a very simple, three-note progression. All very good. But the star of the piece is drummer Joe Morello. He plays a long solo and never misses a beat. His drum rolls are near-perfect, and he easily keeps the rhythm despite the unusual 5/4 time signature. The Turn 5 reproduced the tune quite nicely, although Morello’s cymbals took on a more jangly sound than normal; I attributed that to the 2M Red’s slightly hot high frequencies.
I grew up during the folk-music era of the mid-1960s. One of my idols was Judy Collins—I admired the purity of her voice and her unusual musical selections. One such tune was “Hard Lovin’ Loser,” from her 1966 album In My Life (Elektra EKS‑74027). Here, the accompaniment is a jazz harpsichord, some lightly-struck cymbals, and a piano. She’s placed dead center, with the harpsichord on the left and the cymbals and piano on the right. Collins stands out in front of the instruments, and her voice is absolutely clear. The combination of the Turn 5 and the 2M Red cartridge was perfect for this song. It reacted instantaneously to the chords of the harpsichord but brought out the delicacy of the cymbals and the purity of her voice. I was most impressed.
I’ve read in several places that when Toto recorded the hit single “Rosanna,” from Toto IV (Columbia FC37728), three 24-track recorders were linked together, giving 69 tracks to play with (one track on each machine was used to keep them time-synced). That gave keyboardist David Paich plenty of opportunity to use multiple synthesizer and piano effects in the song. “Rosanna” gave the Turn 5 and 2M Red a workout. The 2M Red made the instruments sound slightly brittle but also brought out some subtle details I hadn’t noticed before. The soundstage was very fine—broad and deep. Vocals were crisp and clean.
The next song was a match made in heaven for the 2M Red cartridge: the title track from Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. (Columbia QC 38653). The soundstage was, again, broad and deep, with Springsteen right in the middle. The high-frequency emphasis of the Red worked to give extra snap to the cymbals, and the kick drum also showed up with extra authority. Springsteen’s voice had an edge I hadn’t noticed before, but it worked very well with this song.
Stories are legion about how persnickety Steely Dan’s Walter Becker and Donald Fagen were about their songs. On “Hey Nineteen,” from Gaucho (MCA MCA‑6102), that was quite apparent. The recording is well-nigh perfect; the mix is extremely unusual and Fagen’s voice is, as always, a bit odd. This track was a delight to listen to on the Turn 5. I couldn’t get over how incredible the instruments sounded, especially the lead guitar; it stood out so perfectly in the middle of the soundstage during the bridges.
Comparison
I compared the Reloop HiFi Turn 5 setup with my reference vinyl rig—a Technics SL‑100C direct-drive ’table (US$1399.99) and Goldring E4 cartridge (US$299). For this comparison, I chose “Bali Run,” from the 30th-anniversary reissue of Fourplay’s eponymous debut album (Evosound EVLP025). This piece has lots of dynamics, from deep, deep bass runs to crashing cymbals, multiple synthesizer voices, strong electric guitar, and potent drums and percussion.
On the Turn 5, the sound had a noticeable high-frequency tilt. The prominent bass part was subdued, while the cymbals were extremely forward. These are characteristics of the 2M Red that I’ve noticed before. The staccato snare strikes were good, but not as crisp as I remembered. The synth and guitar parts, however, sounded excellent. I have to say that the 2M Red cartridge is not really my cup of tea, but it acquitted itself fairly well here.
On my Technics with the Goldring E4, the sound was more refined and less strident. The snare strikes were momentary, as they should be, and did not have the longer release I heard with the Turn 5. The bass was more prominent throughout—almost too prominent—and fuller and richer. The cymbals were more subdued, and not nearly as crashy as on the Turn 5. However, the synth voices and guitar sounded very similar to the 2M Red’s output.
Of course, the Technics-Goldring combination costs more than twice as much as the Turn 5-Ortofon setup, and if you find the 2M Red a bit too much in-your-face, there are many other cartridges in the US$100–$200 range that deliver smoother highs. In all, I found the Turn 5 to be a fine turntable, but if it were mine, I’d probably use a different cartridge.
What else might you consider
My first thought was the Technics SL‑50C. It is priced similarly to the Turn 5 in North America (US$899.99 or CA$999; the SL‑50C is not sold in the UK or Europe), is also a manual direct-drive ’table, resembles the Turn 5 somewhat, and comes with the same cartridge. The major difference is that the Technics has an onboard phono stage while the Turn 5 does not.
Another possibility is the TEAC TN‑4D‑SE (US$899.99, CA$949, £599, €599). It is also manual and direct drive, and, like the Technics, has an onboard phono stage. It comes with a Sumiko Oyster cartridge, which is equipped with a conical stylus, rather than the elliptical used on the Ortofon, and has a tonearm designed by Japan’s SAEC.
If you’d prefer a belt-drive ’table, you might look at the Dual CS 518 manual turntable (US$899, CA$1099, £599, €699). I found this to be a very fine unit, with a good tonearm, a built-in phono stage, and a premounted Ortofon 2M Red cartridge.
Conclusion
The Reloop HiFi Turn 5 turntable is a fine entry in the under-$1000 turntable category. It has an unnecessary gimmick—the speed stroboscope that doesn’t have a complementary pitch adjustment—but that’s a minor gripe. This is a turntable that encourages you to put on some good, loud rock or funk and turn it up! It revels in playing high-energy music and does it well. It also does nicely with jazz and performs acceptably with classical. But the supplied 2M Red is just too much of a party animal, although it does pull out a lot of detail from the disc. The Turn 5 has an excellent tonearm design and is relatively easy to set up, but, as noted, I found the setup instructions in the manual pretty terse. However, if you’re in the market for a direct-drive turntable for less than US$1000, the Reloop HiFi Turn 5 definitely should be on your list.
. . . Thom Moon
thom@soundstagenetwork.com
Associated Equipment
- Speakers: Acoustic Energy Radiance 3
- Power amplifier: NAD C 275BEE
- Preamplifier: Apt Corporation Holman
- Analog source: Technics SL‑100C turntable with Goldring E4 cartridge
- Interconnects: Pro‑Ject Connect it E (Technics turntable to Apt preamp), Morrow Audio MA1 (Apt preamp to NAD power amp)
- Speaker cables: Nakamichi Excel 12-gauge OFC cable terminated in banana plugs
Reloop HiFi Turn 5 turntable with Ortofon 2M Red cartridge
Price: US$849.99, CA$1199, £759, €799.99
Warranty: One year, parts and labor
Reloop HiFi
Global Distribution GmbH
Schuckertstraße 28
48153 Münster
Germany
Fax: +49 251 60 99 377
Website: www.reloop-hifi.com
US distributor:
American Audio & Video
4325 Executive Dr., Suite 300
Southaven, MS 38672
Phone: (662) 342-4010
Website: www.americanmusicandsound.com
Canadian distributor:
Erikson Consumer
21000 Trans-Canada Hwy
Baie-D’Urfe, Quebec H9X 4B7
Canada
Phone: 1-800-567-3275
Website: www.eriksonconsumer.com
