Vinylengine Reviews 43

I have had accounts on both vinyl and hi fi engine for some time. Upon going to use them again recently, it appears that they have been deleted. Don't know why this is - I've never posted on the forums or broken any of the site rules. It also appears that the owner no longer accepts new or re-registrations due to the management overhead being more than he can handle or afford and it has been this way for at least two years. If he is readng this, it would be a really nice thing if he could offer this, as a resource hosted and owned by him, but assembled and curated by a far wider community, to someone that CAN manage the migration to newer forum software and it's ongoing hosting, support and management. It would be a great shame if this valuable resource, built by the wider community, died before without the owner offering someone else the oppurtunity to make something of it.

I've been registered for a while, i remember my password, but unfortunately i don't remember my username and i can't log in. There's no way to recover it. It's incomprehensible!

Owner seems to have a stick up his butt. This site has been established by the input of others.

good content and on the face of it useful for anyone into vinyl, but marred by the membership block, the guy that runs the site should reflect on the fact that knowledge base has come from the members, but don't suppose he cares much, so good resource will die a death, having done further research it appears registrations get suspended due to fishing bot attacks, hence the on off nature of availability its a shame but the viewable none member content is always worth a look

An idiot is blocking access even though I’m not using a VPN. I can’t log in even through mobile data.

The website seems very useful on a surface level, but soon enough one will find out you need an account to download its many resources. Which is fair enough! I'd happily create an account for this; but sadly it's impossible to register as of August 2025. The owner left no additional contact details so potential new members are left in the dark.
Patiently waiting until the owner of this website gets their stuff together, until then, 1 star.

Registration on the website is closed and there's no way to contact the owner.

Nice site for those of us still into vinyl recordings and the equipment to play them on.
Years ago I was registered there for about a year but suddenly could not log on. Tried on and off for several months, no luck. Finally gave up.
Now having some vintage turntables to work on, searches took me to their site (they must still rate very high with search engines!) but encountered the same issue as before. Says my username isn't recognized. A note says they have deleted accounts that haven't had activity. Only option is to re-register, but registration is disabled (and apparently has been for at least a couple years). You can still access basic information on the site but cannot download anything (manuals, etc.) without signing in, which I guess only a few people can do.
Thankfully turntable information is available on multiple other sites.

The concept is great, the website is well made and simple and the forum full of interesting information. The database and documents related to turntable is the best you can find in my opinion.
For a website that has no sponsors it is quite impressive.

Unfortunately, I was never able to register. I started to use the website to gather information or get manuals but had to find them through other sources.
It seems that people post more and more documents outside of vinyl for that reason. I also wanted to post and upload some documents and information that are missing from the database as i have renovated a dozen of old turntables but could not do so. a bit frustrating. Without that i would have given 5 stars

I tried to register several times over the last few weeks, because I want to engage with the community about vinyl, and I keep getting the same notice:

"Sorry, but we are not accepting new registrations at this time"

How is the forum supposed to work now?

There is no explanation as to why its closed. No indication of how long this is going to take to resolve, or whether it will open again. No way to contact the owners of the site (contact page is just a bunch of FAQs and there is no info there about the closure).

I did a search of the forum and there is little or no information about any issues with registration apart from Austria (I am not in Austria). I looked at the News section and there is no info there either.

As hifiengine and vinylengine are linked, I write a review for both. Easy to navigate, clearly structured and foremost, lots of information. The only downside is that I can only access hifiengine. For some reason I can't get myself registered on vinylengine (again?). I thought I had the same login/e-mail as on hifiengine but apparently not. No way to get in touch with the site admin (at least not that I have found) to get a new login for vinylengine unfortunately. That's why I deduct 1 star.

Hi there,

Vinyl Engine - is it possible I could sign up to your site please?

Richard

Great site for info on turntables and
on vinyl but some of the members can get nasty.I get it its a forum. This is a British site from what am told .I deleted my account or I thought so ? All of posts/comments and threads are still on there . I asked to take them down . Looked the other day and most are still there. Seriously .
Who runs this site?
MKIV was my user name .So get to work .
Remove my info on there. Your able to reply on here what a joke VE really is
This guy has now sent me very condescending messages . Like take your message down or else . Or else what Vinyl Engine .
I left as many others did because of the nastiness on VE .
AVOID this site
What lies post every review I wrote on your site and let TP be the judge not you
Also when I delted my account I could not use that name again . So I opened another one 1200G wrote a comment to defend myself and asked you to remove my posts and than deleted my account . So how is that trolling .
You the one saying take doen this review or else .
As for the 1995 Metal master used for a new UHQR KOB pressing .Do your home work it is not an industry secret .
Also look at other sites many had issues and they replaced the copies.
Sorry TP that this has to be played out on here . But this guy is emailing me .
Just accept the review and move on .

This is the most exceptional center for turntable information on the internet. I was a user several years (and email addresses) ago and got away from audio around the beginning of the pandemic. I just came back into it and got the message to re-register. Much to my disappointment, registration is closed to "new users". There appears to me no way to get it opened up, so I can only hope it opens again at some point. I will keep checking. For those of you with current registrations, please keep enjoying the best site on the web for this type of information. Thanks

There doesn't seem to be a week that goes by where I'm not brought to the Vinylengine site and the kicker is that I'm not setting out to find the site per se' but merely looking up one thing or another for thoughts, reviews, repair tips and other resources. Without fail Vinyl Engine comes up and I dutifully follow the link and graze through the bountiful discussions. There is, aesthetically, something very 'late 20th century' about the site which, to be clear, is a compliment as it takes me back to the days of the bulletin boards and all of the requisite hopes and dreams about what "cyberspace" could be. In many ways, Vinyl Engine fulfills that unspoken, idealistic mandate except for one serious issue: I can't join. I've tried disabling the privacy oriented addons that I count on when online but nothing changes. For reasons that I am not familiar with, new user accounts can't be created. The irony here is that a site that seems to so natrally represent those early ideals of community and the open sharing of knowledge that gave me so much hope in the 90s also sits, in part, behind a metaphorical walled garden> This is too bad. I can't tell you how often I've clicked on a pdf link and been denied access to the material because I'm not a member. I hope that this will one day be resolved. Until then this review is going to be woefully incomplete and, at best, provisional. I hope to one day access the vital ammount of information available to registered users. From what I can tell everything from schematics to original user guides is available to those priveliged users who maintain a proper account. To the people or person behind this terrific site,please know your work is much appreciated. There are still people out there who are passionate about their hobbies and and know when to check the seeds of division at the door.

Best site for information on most any turntable. I'd love to donate but site manager doesn't accept. Kudos to him

Been using Vinyl Engine for a few weeks now as I was looking to replace my turntable. Today, I have been banned with some absurd reason stating that there is a ban on my "user name" What's more, I am now unable to make any contact with the site whatsoever as my IP address has also been banned. Real shame as it is a very good site. Hopefully the owner of this site might read this review and realise how many people he is upsetting.
Update 25/08/22 This must have been a "Glitch" on Vinyl Engines site. Have now managed to access site.
Update 12/0922 Can confirm vinylengine's reply, I am now able to access site as usual with no problems.

All VE users... The problems I previously posted have been cleared up in great fashion and I am now back on the site. I received personal guidance from the administrator and it went smoothly. VE is a unique site for vinyl fans and I highly recommend it.

Been a member for more years than I can remember. For an audio website, where opinions prevail and sometimes little spats break out. The Vinyl Engine is an even keel and socially sane place to look, learn, pontificate and contemplate. Some websites of this type are like a mixed martial arts fighting contest. So, the simple directive on this one is to simply "Behave". It's the pearl before some of the swine behavior seen so much online. And it's totally free. With as mentioned tons of useful technical downloads and some of the most knowledgeable, proficient audio members on the planet to help out anyone. Sour grapes for the naysayers. Some I remember.

Excellent site for sharing information on the Vinyl industry. Lots of interesting things to discover. Recommended for all lovers of music and hi-fi equipment. Long life to VE.