Customer Ratings & Reviews

Just like their high end audio products the quality is excellent. Easy setup and experiance is great.

So simple to set up & works exactly as I'd like. Perfect for a beginner like me who's just getting into the hobby.

Finally!, a record player with good sound. I dont mind that I had to buy speakers to go with it. So worth it. If you have had a bad experience with some sound distortions or random skipping with cheaper quality record players, take a look at this beauty.

The AT LP70XBT is a reasonably priced belt drive entry level turntable to either get into vinyl for the first time or enjoy your old record collection. Especially if your old turntable doesn’t work anymore. Please read my old turntable vs new turntable at the end of the review. Note: The AT-LP70XBT does Not have Bluetooth. The device is well packed and set up was simple and the quick start guide made it easy to do. I highly advise going to Audio Technica’s website and downloading the user manual to it. And their web page on it shows the upgradable stylus options. Use care when removing the tape holding down the tone arm and other secured components. What’s in the box is the turntable, aluminum platter, felt platter mat, 45 RPM record adapter, lid and hinges, power adapter and RCA patch cables with ground connection with a U shaped connector at both ends to slip under screw down posts. I connected the AT-LP70XBT to the JBL MA710 with Stage 2, 260F speakers. The audio quality sounded as good as the album or 45 it’s playing. If it’s a bit worn out, it will sound it. If it is in good shape with few plays, it sounds much better than a well played one, as expected. Using a record cleaner will help an LP or 45 sound better. Especially a well played one. It will remove most any dust and dirt trapped in the grooves. Some come with liquid cleaner that will help with that and help suppress static charge that will attract dust and can create pops on LP playback. There are many sites on the web that tell the best way to handle and care for LPs and 45s. If you are new to vinyl, I recommend you check them out. Operation of the unit was as expected with only one exception I will discuss later. It runs quiet and smoothly. You will need to pay attention to the record size so that when using it to automatically play a record that it doesn’t drop the needle in the felt. In other words, you don’t want it set to 7” when you play a 12”. If you manually cue it and drop the needle, no problem. Note: my old Technics has a mechanism to sense the record size automatically to keep from dropping the needle on the rubber mat. I wish this had that feature, considering it’s 42 years newer. This product is equipped with an AT-VM95C Dual Moving Magnet Stereo Cartridge. The cartridge cannot be removed. But the stylus can. The J shaped tonearm is pre-balanced for the cartridge and stylus combinations, so there’s no tracking weight to adjust. That sounds good on the surface, but when playing old records, it might skip forward or backwards due to the tonearm being too light. No way to adjust for that. Like lacking an auto size sense feature, it’s probably a price point omission. Compared to a direct drive turntable, there’s not much difference sound quality wise. Performance and maintenance wise there is. A direct drive will start up faster and you can do DJ stuff with them. Belts wear out. They stretch and break over time. They can also turn into sticky goo while getting to the breaking point. That can create a nasty mess to clean up. I’ve dealt with that on tape decks I’ve repaired over the years. It must be cleaned off for the device to perform correctly. You can’t just slap another belt on. I’ve included a couple of photos showing how the belt looks when it’s been correctly installed. I do not have the equipment to measure wow and flutter, but my test tone LP sounded fine. Almost no warble detected. Only when I played a test tone along with it could you barely notice anything at all. Nothing you would ever notice playing typical music. Maybe classical with chimes or a piano solo with long sustained notes. Even then I doubt it. The soft rubber feet help dampen external shocks and vibrations. As for the felt platter mat, it’s inferior in many ways. Slippage, static, dust catcher and cheap. However, it won’t turn to goo or literally leak oil in 40 years. LOL! Potential buyers might want to upgrade the mat. Surface noise, pops, cracks are part of how vinyl is. No getting around that. Back in the day, records that weren’t sold got recycled. Shredded and melted down. Recycled vinyl was mixed with new and stamped into new records. The quality was inferior. On two occasions in the early 80s, I got two albums that had paper from the center labels of the recycled vinyl embedded in the music tracks. I had to take those back and exchange them. The record labels, companies in the case, would issue “virgin vinyl” copies of some artists. Those were the LPs to get. Then there were private companies that did “half speed masters”. They got a copy of the 2 track stereo master tape and cut LPs by running both the playback tape deck and record cutter at half speed. This gave better high frequency response and better sound in general. Also note, 45 rpm singles generally sound better than LPs for a similar reason. Another thing to consider is that almost all recordings from the early 1950s onward went to magnet tape before being mastered to vinyl. I’m not even going to get into vinyl vs CDs or music file formats. However, I do suggest anyone reading this do a search on the “loudness war” concerning CD mastering. One nice feature I like is that you have the option to switch between a low level phono out from the cartridge and a built in preamp. This makes the AT-LP70XBT compatible with anything with a line level analog input. The power adapter is light and feels like a switching design. They AT says having it external helps keep electrical noise down. I say it helps keep the price down. Overall, I think this is a good turntable for the price. especially since the stylus is upgradable. Build quality feels pretty good too. However, they did cut a few corners to reach the price point as discussed above. The lack of a little hub to store the 45 rpm adapter, felt mat and no way to adjust the tracking weight are my only three peeves. I give it my recommendation. I’d give it 4.5 stars if I could. Bonus reading with photos about my 42 year old turntable and its oil issue. I almost didn’t get this to review, because I have a vintage classic Technics direct drive turntable, but I was glad I did. When I pulled out the 42 year old Technics, I discovered the rubber platter mat had leeched all the oil out of it and turned into a brittle plate. The turntable works other than that. But I will have to get another mat for it if I want to use it. And that’s where the Audio Technica comes in. It’s new and should work many years without problems. As for sound quality, the Technics has a magnetic Audio Technica cartridge on it, but its output is too low for my new JBL receiver that I reviewed last week. It hums even with the ground connected. The new Audio Technica turntable does not. Plus, it offers a line level output via a built-in preamp.

Doesn’t have Bluetooth, but hooks up to my AVR just fine and works like a charm. As a a starter record player, for the price, this is your best bet.

This is a great old school record player. I like putting the arm down myself as well as being able to slow the spin of the record. My only complaint is I wish it returned the arm back after record play.

The Audio-Technica AT-LP70X is a fantastic entry-level turntable; it is an excellent choice for vinyl enthusiasts and newcomers alike. It does offer good quality sound, and it is also easy to use. The AT-LP70X comes with easy-to-follow instructions to put it together as well as, how to play your records, how to change the different speeds and how to connect it to your sound. The sound is impressive for an entry-level turntable and the stylus can be replaced easily as well as upgraded for a more refined sound. Either way it delivers clear, detailed audio with good bass. As for the connection, this turntable comes with RCA cables with a ground wire to connect it using the line output, connect this to the receiver and done. Also, on the phono position it bypasses the turntables internal phono preamp it can be connected to powered speakers as well as other devices. As for the fully automatic operation, this is one of the nice features this turntable offers, it is very easy to use and convenient. The tonearm lifts and places itself at the beginning of the record and returns to its place after it has played the entire record, it goes back to its place and turns off. The tonearm is gentle on my records, and I do not have to worry about scratching them. We can listen to both 33 and 45 RPM records. The AT-LP70X features a sleek, modern design available in three colors: black/gray, white/silver, and black/bronze and the last one is the one we liked because it goes with our décor. Its three-piece, anti-resonance chassis although made of plastic, feels well-made and well built. It does not have adjustable feet. Overall, the AT-LP70X is a great choice as an entry-level turntable, it does offer excellent sound quality, it is easy to use, it looks attractive, and it is well made. Audio Techinca does offer another option that includes a wireless Bluetooth connection.

The Audio-Technica AT-LP70X fully automatic belt-drive turntable is versatile, easy to use, has great audio quality and is very affordable Description Audio-Technica has been making great turntables for a long time. The AT-LP70X reflects their history of quality and high performance audio. The chassis is designed to dampen unwanted noise and resonance, and the aluminum platter and drive system produce very stable rotation. The phono cartridge is not removable, but the stylus can be replaced and there are five options in the AT-VM95 series. The turntable shipped with the AT-VMN95C conical stylus. In addition to phono level output, a switchable internal pre-amp allows line level output to devices like powered speakers or an AVR that doesn’t support phono input. If fully automatic pushbutton operation isn’t your thing, the turntable can be operated manually. It plays both 33 1/3 and 45 RPM records. Impressions The AT-LP70X was incredibly well packaged for shipping. Set up involved some very minor assembly, no tools were required. My impression is that it’s a very nice looking turntable, stylish and interesting. Fully automatic operation works without any problems, it’s very easy to use. The turntable audio quality is excellent. I still have an older component stereo system with a very good quality turntable. Listening closely with headphones, I couldn’t hear any discernible differences playing the same LPs on each turntable. A few years ago I got the urge to digitize my vinyl collection. I use Audacity for the heavy lifting, with a couple other tools to edit cover images and modify audio file metadata. For an additional comparison, I digitized an album side using each turntable. Audacity displays the audio waveforms and can plot frequency content. There aren’t any notable differences between the waveforms from each turntable. Neither appears noisier or cleaner than the other. The only real difference is a bit more signal amplitude from the AT-LP70X than from my older turntable. Plots of frequency content from each turntable tell the same story and are almost identical except for amplitude. The differences are few, small and hard to find. Audio-Technica describes the AT-LP70X as the perfect beginner turntable, which I think may be an understatement! It performs like a high quality turntable at a budget price point.

Bottom line up front: The AT-LP70X is an excellent belt-driven, fully-automatic turntable, with great functionality and an easy path to upgrade the audio performance. It is exceptionally easy to set up and use, tracks well, offers good sound, and comes in an attractive and polished (albeit lightweight) form factor. In my opinion, the AT-LP70X should be considered the entry point for anyone who wants to get into vinyl and thinks it might become a serious hobby and not just a diversion. And if you were into vinyl when it was the de facto format, the LP70X is a great way to rediscover your old collection, with the important automatic functionality you remember from back in the day, and none of the hassle of futzing with counterweights, cartridge alignment, and anti-skate. Pros: • Super easy setup process (took 8 minutes for an experienced person to set up!) • No need to ever set cartridge alignment, tracking force, etc. • Super easy to use automatic controls • Versatile in use (line or phono outputs) and upgradability (stylus upgrades) • Nice design and looks Cons: • Very lightweight feeling • No upgradable cartridge • No anti-skate or fine speed control • Stop button feels a bit squishy Background: I am a "budget" audiophile with a lot of experience enjoying vinyl records and deep love for vintage consumer-grade gear from the '70s and '80s. I am well acquainted with phono preamps, alignment protractors, and tracking force gauges. Although I have observed significant improvements from manual, belt-driven turntables with high-mass plinths and precisely-aligned cartridges, I am not a fully-manual purist who thinks automatic turntables are the bane of good sound, nor am I a belt-drive purist. Some of my favorite turntables are fully auto direct-drive! I believe that the speakers, preamp, and amplifier in a setup far outweigh the turntable when it comes to good sound. As long as a turntable has quality components in good condition set up to track well and use the proper tracking force, I am 100% on board. The one thing I'm not about is Bluetooth connectivity in a turntable. Bluetooth is great for digital music and streaming, but it should be kept far away from vinyl. AT-LP70X review: I am a big fan of Audio-Technica cartridges, but I've always shied away from their entry-level turntables, because I'm not much of an entry-level guy. I'm a vinyl guy, with plenty of gear that I use regularly. That being said, I'm reaching the age where nieces, nephews, friends' kids, and even my own teenager are getting interested in listening to music on vinyl, and that means people are asking me for recommendations. After spending some time with the Audio-Technica AT-LP70X, I can safely say that I think it's an excellent choice for a "first turntable" for most people, in many situations. Specifically, this is a great turntable to get if you have some space you can dedicate to a listening station, with at least a pair of powered speakers (properly isolated), and ideally an integrated amplifier with a phono input and standard speakers. I don't think this is necessarily the table to get for a college student living in a dorm, simply because using it properly would take up too much space. (Despite my distaste for Bluetooth, the AT-LP70XBT might be better for a kid in a dorm, because it can send music to a Bluetooth speaker, but can eventually be used as an analog source as described above). The benefits of the LP70X are that it is dead simple to set up and use, and produces really good sound compared to other turntables under $200. It is versatile, because offers a line-level output that can connect to any powered speakers or amplifier with RCA inputs, but it can also be switched to a phono output for use with an amplifier with its own phono preamp. The design looks classic and sleek, and the copper-colored accents are a really nice touch. The actually match perfectly to the look of modern Klipsch speakers, so you can have a cohesive design experience, even with products from two different companies. The tonearm is weighted pretty close to the ideal tracking force for the cartridge (I measured 2.44 g vs. AT's range of 1.8-2.2 g), and the included AT-VM95C is a great starting cartridge, and when it comes to replace the stylus, you can get a VMN95E for $50 that will immediately improve the detail and clarity of the music coming from this cartridge. I spent some time testing this turntable and found it to be very enjoyable. The VM95C tracks very well, and offers good musicality. I found the sound from the line-level output was a bit too harsh in the upper mid-range for my taste, and switching the turntable to phono output and running into the phono input of my Onkyo TX-8020 (and out to Paradigm Titan speakers) provided a great overall experience. The VM95C was sufficiently detailed, reproducing the intricate fretboard sounds in the right channel of Nick Drake's "One of These Things First" with decent accuracy. The stomping and clanging of Tom Waits's "16 Shells From a Thirty-Ought-Six" was on full display, and every snappy hit of the snare felt appropriately martial. The conical stylus shines when playing highly-sibilant recordings, because it dulls the bright 7-8kHz resonance of the "s" sounds in songs such as "Writing On The Wall," from Lene Lovich's Stateless LP. Switching to a VMN95E that I had on hand was super easy, and provided an immediate improvement in detail and clarity. The elliptical stylus tightened up the bass notes in the Nick Drake track and added dimensionality to the fretboard sounds. "16 Shells" sprang to life with a new sense of space. This is why I think the LP70X is a great turntable for people who want to get into vinyl and think it might become a serious hobby. It's good enough today to instantly play records and produce great sound, and when you're ready for a simple update like changing out the stylus, you can do it. The quality and functionality of the unit today can last you for years of enjoying vinyl. Once you've had some time with the LP70X, you may want to take the step into a more polished manual experience, and the LP70X will leave your records in great condition (unlike some cheaper turntables with lower quality styli). For all these reasons, I recommend the LP70X to all vinyl fans, new and old.

Simple and looks great! There’s something wonderful about the simplicity of vinyls and this record player works great, looks good and isn’t going to break the bank.

Love this player. punches well above its price range and the automatic tone arm feature is something even 1k$+ players dont have

– BUILD – The AT-LP70X is made primarily of plastic; at first glance, it does appear to have the look of solid construction, but once held in your hand, you can feel the weight (or lack thereof). I can easily carry this in with one hand like holding a 5-6 pound laptop. Nevertheless, the construction is very good overall. The tonearm is j-type and is also constructed of plastic. The platter itself is the only part of the turntable that is of metal construction. Paired to the tonearm is Audio Technica’s AT-VM95C cartridge; the cartridge can be replaced with any of the VM95 series cartridges offered by AT. – ASSEMBLY – The AT-LP70X came packaged with the platter and felt separated from the turntable unit. Installing the platter requires you to couple the belt to the belt drive; they facilitate this with an illustrated guide on how to pull the belt over the belt drive. It looks intimidating at first, but the belt itself doesn’t require much resistance to pull over the drive. After the belt is in place, the felt is placed over the turntable, and that’s it! The cartridge is already installed onto the tonearm. Finally, removal of any safety tape and twist ties before operation is required before playing your first record. – CONNECTION – The unit comes with grounded RCA cables and attaches to the rear of the turntable. There is a preamp switch that allows you to select either PHONO or LINE; your amplifier may have a dedicated PHONO input and switching to PHONO on the turntable will set the correct equalizer settings. Otherwise, an amplifier with LINE/AUX can be used with the turntable switched to LINE. Other than that, you simply connect your RCA cables to the back of your amplifier and turntable, assuring ground is attached to each end. – OPERATION – This turnable has two buttons: Start and Stop (and Speed, if you’re dealing with 45RPM vinyls). When you press Start, the record will begin to spin and the tonearm will automatically lift and drop at the beginning of the record. If you want to stop, press Stop and the tonearm will do the opposite and the record will stop spinning. It’s that simple. – PERFORMANCE – With the included AT-VM95C cartridge, the sound output is perfect for all types of music. The AT-VM95C is an Integral Moving Magnet phono cartridge that has a 0.6 mil conical stylus. This is their entry-level cartridge as the spherical nature of the stylus will not allow it to pick up the tiny groove modulations that are associated with the higher frequencies. But the benefit is that it will pick up less on the imperfections of the record, whether it be manufacturing imperfections or regular use imperfections. Think older records that you may have or have been passed down to you; this turnable will do it. My personal opinion? I did a comparison between streaming Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb and the output from the AT-VM95C and I much prefer the vinyl. It just sounds much warmer overall and I think you’ll find this true for all records you play through it. It is true that some of those high frequencies don’t come out as much, so I am interested in upgrading the stylus in the future as I’m curious how much more an updated stylus can pick up and provide as sound. – CONCLUSION – The AT-LP70X is a very budget friendly turntable that is belt driven and a very good cartridge to boot. It is very easy to assemble and use, and as a novice user like myself, there aren’t very many knobs or options to shoot myself in the foot with. Just drop in a vinyl and drop the arm over the record; it does the job perfectly. And having said that it is beginner, it does provide the ability to upgrade the cartridge for higher fidelity playback. This is not a one-trick pony and can provide you with hours of music enjoyment.

The Audio-Technica AT-LP70X is a great, stylish turntable that’s an easy way for someone to get into playing vinyl albums. It’s very simple to use and the setup is a breeze, and if one wants to pursue further upgrades, the replaceable stylus allows for more advanced models from the one included. I really liked the copper accents on this model–I feel like it gives an excellent “retro” feel to the record player, like it’s part of a 1970s hi-fi system. On the back are RCA left/right audio jacks, the binding post for the grounding wire, the selector switch for either phono preamp or line-out settings, and the power input. The included RCA cables (with grounding wire) are a bit short, so unless you can get quite close to your receiver or speakers, you may need longer wires. The power cord has an AC adapter, so consider that when thinking of where to plug it in if you have a tight power strip. Out of the box setup is very simple: there’s no counterweight or other things to calibrate. The only necessary assembly is attaching the turntable pulley (made easy with the red pull strings to guide you), the metal plate, and the plate cover. The integrated clear dust cover is just a matter of attaching the hinges and pushing them into place. Remove the stylus’s protective cover and you’re just about ready to go. All together you can go from out of the box to enjoying your favorite vinyl albums in a matter of minutes. As for playing a record, there’s a stylus lever, a speed selector (33/45 rpm; a 45 adapter is included), and start/stop buttons. You can just press the start button and the stylus arm (so long as the retention clip has been released) will lift and start playing. Pressing the stop button will lift the stylus arm and return it. The turntable will automatically return as well when you reach the end of one side, which is also helpful. Vinyl albums were a part of my early childhood, so there’s definitely a nostalgia factor to playing records. CDs were more of a major part of my musical memories. But there’s something nice about the analog nature of vinyl along with the special sense that vinyl album packaging has–often elaborate inserts and album art that doesn’t have the same impact when shrunk down to a CD cover. It’s nice to pull out an album, read its liner notes and lyrics without squinting to see, and intentionally listen to an album as a cohesive work of art, and the physical format of vinyl lends itself to that kind of listening. If that’s something that appeals to you, then this turntable from Audio Technica, with its great looks and ease of use, is an excellent way to get into that world.

I have wanted an audio technica record player for some time. I have a Sony player that has been functional but has always seemed to be missing that final something to put it over the top. This right here, is a fine beautiful turntable. Function and class all rolled up into one package. It just looks great setup and instantly becomes a talking point in any conversation. Out of the box it does need to be setup and comes with all pieces separate. The platter, cover, felt mat, etc. about 8 pieces that need to be installed but if you follow the manual it’s pretty simple. Took me about 10 minutes to setup. The design of this is pretty modern. Takes up a relatively small footprint compared to my older Sony player. Comes with a nice crystal clear cover so when playing your record if you have a special colored vinyl you can see it spinning. Comes with a slightly curved J arm which has automatic start/stop functionality but also has a manual option to lower and raise the arm if you prefer. I’m not quite sure of why you would pick the manual option but it’s probably so you can select a song to play? Not sure. It has the ability to play both 33 1/3 and 45 records. Comes with a special adapter for playing 45’s that you would need to put on before putting the record down. That could be annoying. I don’t own 45’s so can’t test this out. It comes with a red/black rca cable to connect it to external speakers. Any bookshelf speakers will do. Supposedly it has a phono option as well but again I didn’t test this out. Using external speakers is the best option to me. It also comes with a replaceable/upgradeable needle which is a nice option. The one it came with is plenty good for my needs, but I will be sure to research the benefits of upgrading. Overall this is a great player. Sound is great and has plenty of features. Looks great playing records and makes any setup look great. I have no complaints.

This Audio Technica automatic record player is a real nice piece of equipment for vinyl record enthusiasts. There is something to be said about analog record players still being produced to for audiophiles. This is what you would expect for great home listening. At first unboxing, it is simple to assemble, just use care when assembling it to ensure you have it setup accordingly. Once connected, make sure you either enable the built in pre-amp if you are running to a device that does not have one. For my testing purposes I used a soundbar that has a line in to see how the pre amp handles audio and I would say it works well. It will end up living most of its life with my home theater system that has its own pre-amp. Browsing through vinyl records to play is also something nostalgic, being able to browse your physical library and selecting something to throw on is part of the experience. It's easy to play a record with two speeds- 33-1/3, 45 RPM (with included 45rpm adapter). The included phono cartridge is also a premium option for high quality audio. Did I mention it looks amazing? Premium looking and great quality audio is all you need.

Digital versus Vinyl...... I have always loved vinyls ever since a kid. Even when CDs and MP3s came out there was always the rhythmic soothing appeal of a vinyl as it turns and the low rich tone that comes from the audio output along with the snap and crackle from the needle. Anyway, back to this player. Setup was super simple. I assembled the product per the instructions being careful with the rubber belt drive installation. Also I would strongly suggest making sure you connect the ground prong to the back of your receiver to reduce any potential hum created from electrical noise. I plugged in the Left and Right RCA jacks to the back of my Yamaha receiver and I was all ready to listen to my vinyls. The player itself is light so it is easy to move around. The overall appearance is sleek and modern. The start stop button use is re say to use as well as the slow lowering level. Sound is pretty nice. Options to upgrade the needle is there if you want to buy another different needle to you liking. I use this in my spare bedroom and imam very happy with the sound it generates. I would definitely recommend this player for leisure listening.

This A/T turntable fits my needs perfectly. I simply wanted a basic turntable with decent build quality and cartridge for playing vinyl. I neither want nor need audiophile quality nor professional DJ features. 90% of my music will still be streamed digitally. For the occasional times I listen to vinyl, this turntable sits in my living room on a small shelf connected to a CD/tuner amp through phono ports. I used the included gold-tipped RCA cables to connect to the amp and they work solidly well. Setup was quick and easy. All I had to do was attach the platter, dust lid, and belt. Super simple enough for anyone to quickly accomplish. I like the clean, simplistic minimalist design. Slim deck, attractive platter, simple yet stylish dust lid. It hits just right in my aesthetic. Large, heavily equipped turntables are too gaudy and unsightly looking for my living room. And unless I’m trying to live out some wild unresolved DJ fantasy, they’re mostly overkill. This AT turntable looks simple and basic, but my vinyl sounds really nice. It’s also fully automatic. I don’t have any 45’s to test (My extensive vinyl collection was accidentally trashed on purpose years ago. Long story). But my 33 1/3’s sound excellent. At least a 45 adapter is included for whenever I do finally snag a few new 45s. I haven’t tested any severely scratched or damaged records, and have no intention of doing so. I have zero complaints with sound quality. It’s not a high-end audiophile quality deck and there’s no adjustable skate, tracking force, or other fancy features. The tonearm is pretty basic, and it has fewer features than even some similarly priced units. However, I don’t notice any skips, vibrations or jitter. The stylus doesn’t damage records and if there are any sound issues, they’re minuscule enough to remain unnoticeable. Everything has the rich, warm sound I expect from an analog turntable. The quality of any connected amps, wires, and speakers play a role in overall sound, but the turntable also has a built in amp that can be switched on the rear and allows bypassing an external amp and grounding directly to powered wired speakers. Just one of the many reasons why this is a fantastic turntable for those just starting out who don’t have a ton of equipment. It allows practically anyone to get started listening to quality vinyl without breaking the bank. The included styli is both affordable and easy to replace. It can even be upgrade to a higher quality if desired. However, the AT-LP70X is not limited to newbies. This turntable is also a great option for seasoned audio heads like myself who have been there, done that, and just want a simple, easy to maintain and use, yet decent sounding audio setup.

This is my first foray into vinyl as an adult, and this turntable brings back lots of memories of playing with my father’s turntable or finding phonographs and related equipment at garage sales that needed some TLC. I imagine this new turntable has some upgraded electronics, but it’s got a mechanical drive and auto-play/auto-stop mechanism that looks quite familiar! First, the sound: if you’re looking for that beautiful warm and crisp analog sound, this will get you there. Compared to the compression common with streaming services, the sound is startlingly more present, with excellent clarity in the high end and a wonderful warm and full body to the sound. I am hesitant to say that it’s an unequivocably better format, because there are lots of tradeoffs. For one, even trying to be as clean as possible, a new disk got a few pieces of lint on it during about 10 minutes of playing—which translated into audible noise during playback (though some would say this is part of the experience!). The electronics are very quiet. No perceptible hum or hiss from my experience. And I love that it has a built in preamp (with bypass if you want to bring your own) makes it very easy to connect to a modern audio system, no questions asked. If you have old disks you want to play, or if you’re interested in starting a collection, this is a great entry point. It seems like it has a great mechanism, and the sound quality is excellent. My only complaint is that the arm is spring-balanced (I would prefer a weighted balance) and there’s no obvious way to adjust the balance. But until it needs adjustment, it’s hard to say whether it’s an issue. A note on unboxing/setup: it seemed like the packaging had a lot more plastic film than necessary. Since I try to be environmentally aware, this just seemed like more trash I had to send to a landfill. But presumably they wanted to protect the mechanism from humidity issues? I don’t know. Second, some assembly required! I wasn’t expecting this, but it was actually kind of neat because it meant that I got to see how it was put together and how to take it apart if for example I have to replace the belt. If you’re going to be spinning vinyl, it’s helpful to have an idea of how the turntable makes it spin.

My parents bought me this for Christmas and it is one of the best gifts I’ve ever gotten. A major step up from the Victrola record player I had before, this turntable sounds amazing with my Edifier 1280dbs speakers. It’s easy to use and looks great. A great turntable that won’t break the bank while still being an upgrade to the suitcase starter record player, I’d definitely recommend it.

The Audio-Technica Fully Automatic Belt-Drive Turntable is a good looking turntable which has a black plastic finish with a dark gold band around it. I really like how this turntable looks with my TV stand, which has the same color scheme. Nothing extraordinary about this turntable, it has two standard speeds 33rpm and 45 rpm, the latter which I do not have any 45s from back in the day. In any case the turntable comes in a few different pieces, a base with the motor and all the mechanical items, an aluminum platter and a felt mat where you place the record for playing. It was fairly easy to assemble with, although you need to place the belt around the spindle of the motor, which take a bit of skill, you have to ensure the belt does not get twisted. Also, the clear dust cover attaches to the base of the turntable via two provided hinges. The turntable includes an integrated stylus (needle) to pick up the sound from your records. Back in the day “Direct drive” used to be the sign of a premium, maintenance free turntable, however maybe things have changed and belt driven are preferable. Also on turntable of the past you used to have a standard fitting for a cartridge (stylus) and as they were interchangeable there were actually numerous brands of cartridges. As for this Audio-Technica it seems to have an integrated one (perhaps proprietary). On the back of the turntable there is a switch you can change the output from a standard “phono” input (where your receiver or preamp has a phono equalization circuit to convert the signal from the turntable to something usable) or use the circuitry onboard to send a signal any RCA style input (such as a AUX input). As for the operation of the turntable, it is automatic, just press the start button and the arm picks itself up and lowers it at the start of your record. There is also a manual queue lever in case you want to manually queue up the record or a specific track (tracks are separated by a visibly smooth circle between tracks - for those new to vinyl records). There is also a stop button which will return the playback arm to the holder and power off the turntable. I had two issues with the turntable that seemed to resolve themselves, first I could not figure why I was not getting sound fed to my receiver. That took a few minutes to figure out, but finally I determined even though the needle was making contact with the record, somehow it was not in the intended position. I looked at it carefully and used the manual lever to raise the arm, then lower it, the stylus (needle) then seemed to snap into place and I heard sound through my receiver and speakers. The second issue I had was it seemed the speed of my record was slightly faster than it sound be. The pitch (speed) of the record was slightly off. Since there is no pitch adjustment this initially seemed to be a problem. In the old days you would have a strobe light embedded in the platter so that when you adjusted the speed (pitch) a lighted line would sync up and appear to become stationary, indicating a good speed adjustment. In the past the pitch (speed) was also impacted by the frequency of your electrical system (In most parts of the world this is 50 Hz, although in the Americas and parts of Asia it is typically 60 Hz). However, the speed eventually seemed to set itself correctly (perhaps it did some type of calibration) as there is really no way to do this manually if you had to. If you want a versatile record player this is a good fit, with a basic feature set and components which produce a nice clean playback of your records. For older records I broke out the classic Discwasher (which the bottle of cleaning liquid had long since evaporated) >>> Pros >> Nice design and aesthetics >> nice stylus cartridge <<< Cons << no manual pitch control << start and stop buttons are located under the dust cover as opposed to outside of it, this could be an inconvenience.