Crosley Rochester Entertainment Center - Paprika (CR66-PA)

Product Details

Product Reviews

(1 stars) - This thing is a joke.
This would be a great product if it actually worked. Unfortunately the record player is not built to last at all. The turntable gave out after a few days on both units that I purchased. Don't waste your time. This thing looks and feels like a cheap toy.

This bad experience turned me off to Crosley altogether. If you're looking for an affordable non-Crosley record player I recommend the Califone 1005 record player.
Record Player 1005 - Califone Electronics

(4 stars) - VINTAGE RETRO AUDIO SYSTEM AT IT'S BEST!!
My version is the 837-OA which is basically the Crosley Paprika without a tape player. I love this thing because it actually looks like someone spent some time and work crafting it together . The majestic wooden finish, the metallic face-plate, the speaker fabric, and the record player are all top-notch vintage-classy. The woodwork even smells vintage!

As to how it performs; I knew it wasn't going to pump out 200 watts and have a goofy SUPER DOOPER X-BASS BOOSTER button (which in most modern boom boxes, all that does is muffle the sound), but I wasn't expecting dismal quality noise either. The sound that came out this was crisp and clear. There was no muffling, no hiss, or resonance. The quality adequately reflected the image of the system - majestic but not bashing you over the head. Very cool.

Now, the only thing that really disappointed me about this model was that it had no Auxiliary outputs. I knew this when I bought it and I intended to make some modifications. I unscrewed the bottom cover and voila, there were the speaker wires in plain sight. I cut them and tapped in some RCA leads and hooked them to the back of my receiver. I decided I didn't want to bypass the Crosley speakers altogether because I liked the way it sounded. If I wanted to crank it up loud through my receiver, all I had to to do was turn it on and I had the best of both worlds! But be careful when you do this!! If you run into problems with your system, I wouldn't think Crosley would be too happy to accept returned merchandise that has been tampered with, so please keep this in mind.

So far, I am very satisfied with this system. It's intention is not to deliver the most powerful wattage and bass by way of a pseudo-space age looking boom box design. Rather, it's intent is to bring back the American craftsmanship of the old days and yet still retain some modern technology. Nothing has broke on me yet and I trust that it won't for a while. The Crosley entertainment center is one remarkable piece of retro-art!!


P.S. If you ask me, I would recommend this over the Paprika. All the paprika has that is different is the tape player and a different faceplate. I don't think the tape player is worth the extra forty dollars. You can simply plug in your cassette walkman at the MP3 auxiliary and it would work just the same!

(5 stars) - Exceptional System for the Price
I'm really not sure what many of the more negative reviews are speaking of. One reviewer spoke of the records playing to quickly. As a musician I found absolutely nothing wrong with the pitch, and even tested the phonograph player's pitch next to a freshly-tuned piano. Nothing wrong.

It seems as though many of the negative reviewers' 'issues' could be solved by reading the instruction manual a bit more carefully. Also, don't be misinformed by the reviews that say the tape deck does not fast-forward. It does. Don't be misinformed by the reviews that say the tone arm won't lift or the turntable won't spin. They do. Again, these are things that can likely be remedied by reading the manual.

It's unfortunate that other customers have had to deal with a defective CD player, although mine has yet to go bad and shows no signs of doing so, though I tend to handle this system as carefully as I handle other electronics I own. The warranty printed in the manual is pretty clear cut about such issues.

I've owned the system for a while and in my household it has played everything from old Beatles to AC/DC to Wagner's Ring Cycle. The sound is great, and I'm sure as long as long as it's not abused or pushed beyond its limits, it will still function as amazingly as it does now..

At under a hundred dollars I'm impressed that it includes iPod capability. Having the four basics plus iPod capability at such a price and in such an attractive package is quite a value.

(5 stars) - Crosley bought as a gift
I purchased the Crosley Entertainment Center for my husband as a birthday gift. He was very happy when he saw his present. All the records that he has had stored can now be played. He is a musician and is just really enjoying this record player. He also, was excited to see that it also played CDs and tapes. We are satisfied with the quality.

(4 stars) - Does exactly what I bought it for
I purchased this product to one thing: play LPs. I've had it for a little over a week, and I couldn't be happier. I briefly checked out the CD player, radio, and cassette player and all functioned, but I will never use these features. For the price it does everything I want it to. I have read the other reviews, and they are either really positive or completely negative. I really just wanted a turntable that had speakers and this product combined both of these features, and while I could have gone with a standard turntable and plugged it into my surround system it just wouldn't have been the same. This unit triggers the nostalgic feelings I had listening to my parents records as a child in an all on an all-in-one unit in the early 80's. Yes, there are better turntables available with lots of bells and whistles but NOT at this price.

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