For many people who collect records, a big part of the appeal is tactile. There’s something about the ritual of taking a record out of its sleeve, the weight of the vinyl, putting it on the turntable, cuing up the tonearm, wiping the surface with a static brush and dropping the needle. Often that appeal extends to the visuals. Not just appreciating the album artwork and reading the liner notes, but also appreciating the throwback experience, including audio equipment that looks the part. If you lust after the 70s vintage look of classic receivers like the Pioneer SX-1250 with its VU meters, aluminum face and control knobs contrasting with a wooden cabinet, then you might want to have a look at the Qlearsoul HiFire X.
This is a turntable audio system designed to invoke the spirit of the 1970s era record listening experience. It features a wood-look cabinet, Bookshelf speakers, an integrated turntable, and an aluminum faceplate with prominent control knobs and a pair of honest to goodness VU meters (backlit in a vintage amber).
Setup
I’ve had the opportunity to try out a few Qlearsoul systems and this audio brand has the whole turntable setup process pretty well smoothed out for owners. The cartridge is pre-mounted, and the platter has an opening punched out to make it easy to reach the belt and slip it over the pulley. They include a cartridge alignment tool, but you won’t be needing that unless you elect to upgrade the cartridge at a later date. Clear instructions are provided for balancing the tonearm and after that, the final stages are connecting the speakers (heavy gauge speaker wire is provided and the speakers are equipped with handy spring-loaded binding posts), snapping the cover into the pre-installed hinges and then connecting the system to power.
Qlearsoul HiFire X Key Specs:
- Two way bookshelf speakers with 1.5-inch silk dome tweeters, 5.3-inch woofers, bass reflex ports, spring-loaded binding posts, removable speaker grills
- 100w RMS per channel output
- Integrated DSP with optimized EQ profiles for each input source
- 2-speed turntable with pre-mounted Audio-Technica AT3600L cartridge, anti-skate control and adjustable counterweight
- Turntable/Bluetooth/Line In source inputs, RCA input, RCA output
- Aluminum front panel + source and input knobs, walnut finish MDF cabinet (main unit and speakers)
- Dual backlit VU meters
- Clear plastic hinged cover, 45 adapter, cartridge alignment tool and heavy gauge speaker wire included
- Main unit 16.85 × 13.78 × 7.48 inches, each speaker is 6.69 × 7.87 × 12.6 inches
- MSRP $399.98
The Turntable
The integrated turntable is a two-speed, belt-drive model with auto stop functionality. It’s equipped with an Audio-Technica AT3600L MM cartridge. This cartridge is noted for offering good performance at an affordable price–making it popular for turntables in this price rage–but you can easily get a quick upgrade by popping on a new stylus. Audio Technica’s ATN3600LE for example, which is a bonded elliptical stylus. If you want to really up the vinyl playback sound a notch, the adjustable counterweight and antiskate mean you could install a completely new cartridge.
Bluetooth Streaming
The HiFire X is built around a turntable but there are times when you might want the convenience of streaming your music rather than spinning a record. That’s no problem, just turn the source dial to Bluetooth and then it acts like any wireless speaker. There is also an RCA Line input around back so you could connect a CD player, or even a TV.
Audio
Besides offering true stereo sound, the bookshelf speakers are equipped with woofers and tweeters to deliver wide-range frequency support. There is 100W of power going to each and the system’s DSP optimizes that output based on the source–expect vinyl records to have analog warmth while digital tracks remain clean and clear.
The VU Meters
The highlight of the HiFire X’s retro deign is the dual, backlit VU meters. They are to listening records what computer music visualizers were to MP3s in the 90s.
If you like the retro aesthetic of the HiFire X, but are looking for a more compact package, check out my take on Qlearsoul’s ONE-S. This is an all-in-one turntable system with a similar vintage vibe, but with its speakers incorporated into the turntable base for a minimal footprint with no speaker cables to hide.
Disclosure: Qlearsoul provided a HiFire X for evaluation purposes but had no input into this article.
