Audio-Technica AT-LPW50PB Fully Manual Belt-Drive Turntable

This has been working flawlessly thus far, I love the simple and solid design, it appears to be very well made. While this item does not have a USB output, digitizing vinyl easily accomplished via an inexpensive pre-amp with USB and RCA connecitons so I have no regrets about going with this model.

I wish I could have gotten another one like this but the seem to be off the market now.Sound is really nice. Its hooked up to a 2009 Onkyo Receiver TX-8255 and a pair of Kenwood 3 way speakers model KSH51. I bought several extra needles seperately.The turntable looks nice in the teak wood tone and silver tone arm. I wish it was a real hardwood thought. Only reason I bought it was I'm tired of black finished products. Why does everything you use in life have to be molded in Black? Why?Easy to use. Simple twist button turns the unit on. Manual tone arm needs to be placed on the record and removed when through being played. The dampner lever sets the needle down easy on the record.......just make sure the needle is over the start of the record. Easy to read 45-33 speed numbers below a silver dial.I opted to buy a yellow, silicone record matt - the supplied black matt was throw away..... Nice clear plastic dust cover. I'm glad they made it clear instead of that smoked plastic on older models.The record player is set up in tight corner under a short shelf supporting a 100 watt bookshelf speaker that is used on a second receiver in the room. I have a dowel pin in the side of the book case I push out to hold the dust cover up (see picture).Easy hook up to the stereo. easy to set the tone arm tension. I barely had to touch the dial it seemed just fine out of the box. Well packed, wrapped and cushioned in the shipping box.

The media could not be loaded. What a great Turntable! 3 years of use and I do not regret it! AT may be huge but their quality is legit, this table works well! The 95e cartridge it comes with is ok but you can upgrade it to the 95ml stylus for greater instrument separation and clarity! It is great upgrade from the lp60 because this one also has its own built-in phono pre-amp. I’m not an audiophile but have been listening to music all my life, and this table changed the way I interact with some of my favorite bands/artists, seriously. It’s a great value for your money, and I would recommend it for anyone who loves music.

I'll start this review by saying that I spent weeks obsessing over the right replacement for my old LP60, which was a fine table to start with, so anything was going to be an upgrade.Going into my search, my requirements were that I wanted something that was automatic, had a pre-amp built in, had a removable headshell and cables for upgrading, wasn't just black, and was of a quality that it wouldn't breakdown in a couple of years. I had a budget of $300-$400.Much to my dismay, there's not really anything out there that matches that exactly. All of the fully automatic tables seemed cheap or overpriced. The Denon DP-300 had tons of reviews that said it broke down in a few years, it only came in black and the cables were built in. The AT-LP3, which seemed like a winner, had a cheap plastic-y build that just felt unstable. Everything else was a cheap brand like Crosely that I didn't trust.After that research, I figured I needed to expand my budget and I was set on Wirecutter's suggestion of a Denon DP-400. It had only auto-stop with arm lift - which felt like the more important half of fully automatic - but it had everything else I was looking for, including coming in white. But it had a really dumb dustcover that you can't use while a record is playing and doesn't really protect the turntable. As a family with cats, it was a deal breaker.I looked into the Fluance tables. They seemed really nice and had auto-stop (but no arm lift) and they came with nice needles already. But the RT-82 and up didn't have a phono pre-amp (which wouldn't have been a dealbreaker). The deal breaker was that I really didn't like the look of it. It was hulking and wanna-be classy. I also didn't like that the cheaper $250 RT-81 that did come with a pre-amp came with the old AT-95E needle instead of the new VM95E that is more upgradable without remounting the cartridge and the motor didn't have a sensor monitoring speed.So I decided to look into fully manual tables. I started with U-Turn and they seem like a great option, but it gets expensive quickly as I added on options. With pre-amp, a decent needle, and the color I wanted, I was quickly getting past $400 (and that was without some basics like a tone arm lift or a dial to select the speed).I did briefly look into old turntables and DJ turntables, but it quickly got too overwhelming for me. I didn't know how long the old tables would last and more of them didn't have preamps anyway. The DJ tables just had too many features I didn't care about and they didn't have the look I wanted.Enter this turntable. I decided that I'd give a fully manual table a try because this had a pre amp, speed dial, tone arm lift, looked great, came with the VM95E needle, had a functional dustcover, removable cables, and had a quality motor with a speed sensor. And the tone arm is carbon fiber, which only seems to be available on tables that are hundreds of dollars more. It even, contrary to some reports on the web, had adjustable feet so you can level it. All in all, it seemed like a lot for the money if I was willing to give up on auto-stop.So I got it and I couldn't be happier. It feels solid, much more substantial than my old LP-60. All the dials and dust cover feel like they'll last a while. It sounds great. Didn't have any issues with ground hum or the table being too boomy. For the record, I'm plugging directly into a Sonos Play 5 for now. It looks excellent. It's not quite as nice as the solid wood U-Turn tables since this is a veneer, but it's a great shade and it's sleek.Do I wish it was automatic? Yes, a bit. But it hasn't been as big of a drag as I thought and I get a kick out of lowering the tone arm lift and watching the needle gently drop. The tone arm mechanism is easy to set up and I cross checked it with a needle tracking force scale and it's accurate. The alignment of the cartridge was spot on out of the box. Everything was packaged safely and securely.So if you're in the some boat as I was - looking for something that will last without breaking into the $500+ range and still gives you a good set of features - I'd highly recommend this turntable.

The media could not be loaded. I ordered this based on the reviews since I have no first hand experience or knowledge when it comes to record players. I started collecting records a year ago and joined a bunch of record and audio groups on facebook. Quickly I learned there is a LOT to know about record players and speakers and amplifiers etc. I was so overwhelmed that I spent a year in frozen mode over what to buy. I had sold myself on getting vintage equipment but then became paralyzed over that as well. I was looking at all price points. I knew I wanted to avoid the stuff you can buy in the box stores. I was really wanting to find a complete set- player, amp and speakers. But not much fits into that category. So I finally went for this one based on the reviews and got a pair of Klipsch speakers, these are The Fives and the color match is spot on with the record player. I watched YouTube videos on them and decided it would be a great option. Memorial weekend they were marked down significantly so I went for it. I couldn’t be happier! Listen to this sound! It’s deep and sexy just like I had hoped for. If you are like me and you don’t know what you are doing, just type these names into YouTube and watch some videos. Thank goodness there are set up videos on there as well!!! Oh and in case you didn’t know this record player has a built in amp, so you only need to buy speakers. Also if you dig my music this is Chris Botti.