Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have had two units so far - my original and its replacement. I have had this experience with both of them. First, about me: I'm not an audiophile, but only because I don't have the money to be. That being said, I will still tinker endlessly to squeeze the best possible sound out of my equipment. I take exceptionally good records and will only accept records from Amazon that are in near-perfect condition. I'm running this record player through a Sony 7.1 channel receiver which I'm very happy with. It's a digital receiver so the built in pre-amp on the turntable was essential. The build is cheap plastic. It's not a concern to me. My concern is the sound, not the look. Still, this turntable is small and takes up very little space. It's not ugly. It's not awesome. It's just, well, serviceable. The lack of a latch to keep the arm in place is a major minus, especially for a klutz like me. I have bumped it off it's resting spot a fewer times. It's not a deal-breaker, but it's something that I really wish that this player had. Out of the box, I was pretty meh on the sound quality. It wasn't what I was looking for. After some adjustments on my receiver, this thing came to life. I was really, really pleased with the quality of its sound. Again, I'm not an audiophile but I have a musically trained ear and I heard things in the music that I never heard before. It was wonderful. So, this thing can sound great or mediocre. It just depends on your ear, your setup, and what you think sounds good. Once the stylus was properly broken in, the sound quality got a noticeable bump. It was about that time that it went south. At random points in the album, the speed would drop and then pick back up, changing the pitch. I tried cleaning everything properly and there was no change. Now, it's fully possible that you may not notice it. It depends on how you listen to the record. To me, it kills the experience. I'm not willing to tolerate it. I can handle the small, subtle variations that all turntables have, but when the pitch noticeably changes, that's unacceptably to me. In terms of fixing it, I can fix too slow. I can fix too fast. I cannot fix inconsistent. I live by the rule that once is an isolated incident, twice is a coincidence, and three times is a trend. I've had two. I am sending my second back and have ordered number 3. I will adjust this review based on that experience. If it's the same, I'm switching to another brand. EDIT: I'm keeping the original text because it may yet be relevant. Just a little while ago I decided to do some "tinkering". I got an app on my phone that measures RPM. Sure enough, there were major speed variations. Then I noticed something curious - as it spun, the speed increased and decreased at the same spot. That told me that the platter was not level. I went and got my level and confirmed my hypothesis. I got some index cards and stuck them under the side that was low. The closer I got to perfectly level, the more consistent my speed. Before leveling the unit I had a 2-3% variation in speed. That's unacceptable. Now I have a <1% variation in speed. That's normal. Further, I have had no major RPM dips. It runs fast - 33.7-33.9 RPM, but it's consistent. Like I said earlier, I can fix slow.