Audio equipment can start to get expensive very quickly, especially when you want to be able to listen to multiple sources of media. That is until you take a look at the Electrohome Kingston 7-in-1 stereo system. With a turntable, Bluetooth, and a CD player built-in, it’s ready to be an all-in-one solution for playing music from almost any source. So how does it perform for the $200 price point? Head below to watch the video and find out.
Out of the box
Thanks to its need to house a turntable, as you can imagine, the Electrohome Kingston isn’t the smallest system. Measuring at 12.25 x 17.3 x 13.5 inches, it takes up a bit of space wherever you place it.
On top, the lid opens locks to reveal the turntable. On the front of the Electrohome Kingston is a soft cloth grill that covers the four speakers to give it a vintage look as well as most of the controls. The large knob on the left controls volume and enters standby mode, while the dial on the right can cycle sources by pressing in and adjust tuning by turning it left and right.
In the middle, there is a simple screen surrounded by buttons for playback, EQ, Bluetooth, and even a button to record tracks onto a flash drive in the USB port. Under the screen is a CD tray.
On the back, we have another input with the AUX-in as well as two RCA jacks for audio out.
Crafted from MDF, or medium-density fiberboard, the Electrohome is covered in a wood veneer to give it more of a vintage look as well. Electrohome has really nailed the classic style with the Kingston.
Coming in at $200, the affordable all-in-one design does start to show some of the cost savings with lackluster touchpoints. While most of the cabinet’s construction looks and feels solid, the dials feel cheap and wiggle more than would be desired.
Electrohome Kingston: Video
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=helBpwDdCyw&w=560&h=315]
All of the ins and outs
As an all-in-one solution, the Electrohome Kingston can play almost any form of media. Most notably is the turntable that can play multiple different speeds. Functionality on the turntable is pretty basic. The needle will automatically stop, but the tonearm will not return to it’s home without some help.
Bluetooth is easy to get set up with the dedicated Bluetooth button. Using Bluetooth 4.1, I didn’t have any connection issues in my time testing.
Beyond just playing back music from a CD, the Electrohome Kingston can also record tracks and transfer them to a digital file. By inserting a CD and a USB drive, pushing the record button, and using the navigation buttons to select a single track or the whole disk, you can quickly get a song onto a drive. The Kingston can also digitize vinyl onto a thumb drive the same way. The USB port can also be used as an input for playback as well.
Cycling through the inputs, the Electrohome Kingston also has a tuner to listen to local radio stations as well. Finding stations is easy with the remote or the tuning dial. There are different source modes for FM and AM.
How does it sound?
Another place where you notice the cost savings in the all-in-one design is in the sound of the Electrohome. Don’t get me wrong, it sounds decent, especially for the price considering everything else that it can do. But compared to a set of stereo bookshelf speakers like the Ai40’s from Fluance, the Kingston lacks some clarity.
Listening to Alabama Shakes on vinyl sounds good, but you do lose some of the nuanced details. On busy metal tracks like Mist by Protest the Hero, it starts to get a little mushy in the guitars. The low end is present, but the two 2-inch and two 3.5-inch speakers don’t quite reach down far enough on Solar Sailer from the Tron Legacy soundtrack.
There are some EQ options to try and dial in the sound a little more, but these are limited to six adjustments on bass or treble. It’s nice to have some adjustment.
But, the neat thing about the Kingston is that if you find yourself unhappy with the sound, it’s easy to add another pair of speakers via the RCA audio out jacks in the back. Combine this with a powered set like those from Fluance and you’d have a great sounding setup ready for any media.
Wrapping up
Overall, if you love the style of the Electrohome Kingston and the ability to listen to almost any media in an all-in-one solution and don’t do much critical listening, then you’ll be quite happy with this stereo system. If you do seek the best audio quality, that’s going to be a stretch from an all-in-one solution at $200.
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