Audio-TechnicaLP120XUSBSV Manual Direct-Drive Turntable (Analogue & USB) Silver

The first review I wrote on Amazon was for an Ion record player which I was rather disappointed with. After a belt issue, I decided to get a motor driven turntable, and I saw this Audio Technica was highly rated. Now owning it, and having used it for about a month I can safely say I made the right decision. I managed to grab this for about £215 and it was well worth the money in terms of quality. The playback is perfect and all my records that used to skip on old turntables now play flawlessly (one is very scratchy but I am certain that is due to a bad pressing). I've played records including: heavyweights, 12" singles, 10" and 7" singles, I've played at 33 and 45 and everything sounds great. It has the ability to play at 78 but apparently you need a different needle for that. It has lights on the platter so you know if the speed's correct and can easily adjust. I have not had a single issue so far after hours of use. After you balance the tone arm (easily done by watching a YouTube video from their official channel) operating the player as a newbie is easy. Raise the arm, line it up with the record, hit start and lower the needle. Whilst it is sometimes a hassle removing the arm at the end of playback, I knew that is what I was getting in for. It is rather large and heavy if that is something you are concerned about. The power lead is also much shorter than I was expecting. Luckily I still managed to make it fit in the spot I had allowed for my older, smaller player. I use the built in pre-amp so I can play the audio via aux out of a portable stereo speaker I bought and it handles that great. Worth noting the output is stereo so you may need a stereo to aux lead, there are no built-in speakers. I just wanted a quality turntable to stand up to the somewhat heavy use I give it and this fits the bill. In my experience, record players now are a novelty and if you buy cheap you do not get quality. This turntable is sturdy and dependable and I cannot recommend it enough for anyone in the same boat as me. As a final note, some people say to buy a rubber slip mat, maybe this is my green showing but I am using the included felt slip mat and it hasn't presented any problems, so don't feel obligated to buy any extras, this is a full package (aside from the previously mentioned aux adapterif you are planning on that). I am very pleased with this player and wish I got it sooner! 5/5

I like my music a lot. Not quite to nerd level but pretty intense nonetheless! I did a fair bit of research before buying this turntable. I did my online research and asked music loving friends what turntables they had. A recurring answer was "I've got an Audio Technica." These were people whose opinions I trusted.I've bought the LP120 XUSB in black. I've had it for about two weeks and I absolutely love it.The fact that is has a pre-amp built in is a big plus. It means that you don't have to buy more expensive kit to play your records. I connected my turntable up to my old midi-hifi, which is just a CD player with AM/FM tuner with speakers. The red and white cables just plug into the turntable sockets and that's the connection sorted!The stylus is simple to affix, it just screws into the needle arm.Balancing the tone arm is the hardest of the tasks required to set it up. It's still simple to do though, especially if you follow the Audio Technica video for this process which is on YouTube.The whole body of the unit is metal and the turntable is a weighty piece of steel. The unit is well made and is of good quality.Playing records is simple. You just line up the needle over the grooves, lower the arm and away you go. The tone arm is manual and not automatic, meaning at the end of the record you need to return the tone arm to its' rest yourself.The sound quality obviously depends on the quality of your speakers. Mine are reasonably average and not at all specialist. However, the sound is immense! The tones are rich, the bass is deep and the overall sound is crisp. There is barely any vinyl crackle.I've converted a couple of albums to mp3 using the supplied USB cable. It is very simple. I am using a Mac with GarageBand as the platform that I record to. (Audacity is also a perfectly good platform to use too.)The quality of the recordings is excellent and now, albums that I've had for years that I only had on record, can be listened to in my car!Don't hesitate if you are thinking of buying this turntable. It is a lot of quality for the price and it compares favourably with more expensive turntables with similar features.

Literally just purchased and after listening to a few past and present albums the AT120 is worth every penny and probably more. Great tones, easy setup and oozes quality. Memories came flooding back to 1980 and nostalgia. 6 out of 5. Got myself a new Mod slipmat as well.