Audio-Technica AT-LPW50PB Manual Belt-Drive Turntable

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.

Everything was safely packed, 0 issues upon arrival. 100% back the seller

Being in the market for a new turntable, I have been doing a lot of research and I decided on the AT-LPW40WN and I’m glad I did. I looked at U-Turn, Pro-Ject DC, Fluance RT 81 among others, and while they all look like fine TT’s, the deal maker for me was the feature that keeps the speed accurate and consistent. All the others have had comments about variations in platter speed and to me there is nothing more annoying than hearing your music sounding different because it’s too fast or slow. This table is beautiful to look at and is simple to set up and operate. One of the few tables that the anti-skating actually works as it should! The carbon fiber tonearm looks awesome and the unit as a whole is solidly built. And at about $100 less than it’s competition, it’s a no-brainer to me. As far as sound is concerned, it’s the best performing TT I’ve ever used, and I’ve had quite a few.

Excelente calidad y relacion costo/beneficio. Funciona de lo mejor, excelente sonido y confiabilidad.