Groov-e Vintage Turntable – Review
By Steve Crabtree, November 2026
It must be close to thirty years since I last owned a record player. Maybe longer. Yet, tucked away in cupboards and in the garage, I still have a decent stack of teenage vinyl, my dad’s old record collection, and a handful of weird and wonderful singles that seem to have followed me around for decades without me ever remembering buying them.
The trouble nowadays is finding something to play them on that actually suits your home, and sits in a fair price bracket. Modern turntables seem a bit desperate to stand out in wacky, garish colour schemes that look more like children’s toys than audio gear. Groov-e, however, have taken a very different path with this unit. Its tasteful wooden finish that matches the look and feel of our living room furniture meant that this one was the one for me. The one I wanted to try out.
What’s in the box
- Groov-e Vintage Turntable unit
- Mains power adaptor
- Instruction manual
“A handsome addition to the living room”
Straight out of the packaging, you can see why it stands out. Visually it’s a nice piece of kit, and in the hand the wood casing feels sturdy, and thoroughly well put together. It slots right onto a sideboard or shelf and looks like it belongs there. It’s a handsome addition to the living room, and it’s roughly 30cm x 27cm, so it’s nice and compact. You’ll need a little more space around it to play your 12″ vinyl though.
There’s enough weight to it to feel robust, yet light enough to pick up and put down wherever, whenever.
Then there’s the set up, which takes no time at all. You plug the power cable into the back, remove the protective stylus guard, and you are ready to spin your favourite records. It comes with a proper hinged dust cover too. That keeps the deck completely protected from dust and rogue pet hair when you are not playing music.
One thing that surprised me though, it connected automatically to my bluetooth speaker in the front room without any intervention from me. I loved the ease of that, but then I wonder if I could ever accidentally connect to the neighbours devices the next time I’m spinning my Nik Kershaw ‘Wide Boy’ 7″ picture disc..!
“Classic, familiar crackle”
With the turntable set up and in place, I started by digging out a few treasured 12-inch albums that had sat silent for far too long. Now 12 featuring Wet Wet Wet and Aswad. Bros’ Push album. My dad’s original The Blue album by The Beatles. Dropping the needle onto the groove gave that classic, familiar crackle that instantly brings back memories. It plays at 33 and 45 RPM – so whether you have full LPs or dusty old 7-inch singles, it handles the lot .
The built-in stereo speakers do a nice job for casual everyday listening. They’re 1W speakers, so you’re not going to get a nightclub feel going off over your living room, but you’ll be surprised at how nice it sounds. When I connect it to my Edifier D12 bluetooth speaker, we get that gorgeous, rich warm tone that does old vinyl proud. You also get an auto-stop function, meaning the platter stops spinning once the side finishes.
I do miss the needle returning to it’s starting point at the end of a record though. That didn’t happen with the Groov-e Vintage Turntable, so that’s the only minor memory missing for me.
But, if you want an even bigger sound, Groov-e even included a 3.5mm headphone jack on the back for late-night sessions when everyone else has turned in. I’m definitely a fan of buying myself a huge pair of wired cans for that trip down nostalgia lane!
What Groov-e says
“The Groov-e Retro Vintage Turntable delivers stylish nostalgia, with its classic 33/45 RPM speeds and sleek rotary volume control, while also featuring a modern Bluetooth V5.4 connectivity for added convenience. You can stream your music to your wireless speakers/headphones or jam out to vinyl through the turntable’s two 1W speakers. The turntable plays vinyl of all sizes and it also features a 3.5 mm Line Out Jack plus an alarm clock.”
The verdict
I am genuinely chuffed with this turntable. It has finally brought decades of untouched music back to life in our house, and it looks brilliant doing it.
The unit isn’t an ultra-specialist audiophile deck, but for easy, joyful listening straight out of the box, it hits a sweet spot. It sits comfortably in the room, sounds lovely, and lets you enjoy the tactile thrill of dropping the needle on a record again. If you want a dependable, classy player that looks good and breathes new life into your old vinyl, this is a cracking buy.
The Groov-e Vintage Turntable is available from groov-e.co.uk. RRP: £59.99
Give Steve music, give him food, give him theatre, tech or travel… and he’s a happy man. He’s been writing professionally since 2003, turning to journalism in 2017 when it offered him the chance to enjoy a lot of his existing passions, and learn some new ones at the same time. Steve can be found spending many of his summer nights watching bands at The Piece Hall in his hometown of Halifax, or enjoying a bite to eat and a drink with his wife anywhere in Yorkshire at any time of year. Random fact: He does the best impression of Zippy and George from Rainbow that anyone has ever heard.
