Audio-TechnicaLP3XBTBK Automatic Wireless Turntable Black

A quality product. Straightforward to set up and a pleasure to use. Sounds great too.

This player is very simple to use and set up. Sounds great with my Marshall Kilburn Bluetooth speaker. I’d say In my opinion of course that for the price it’s the best bluetooth record player around. I particularly like the removable head shell, makes it a lot easier to slide the stylus guard on with out destroying the stylus. It’s a great player the only thing perhaps that could be improved on Is the buttons at the front. I find them a bit clunky. My new record player Is now the ultimate in portability as I have discarded the mains lead and I am running it on 12v lithium batteries and they last for ages. So I can place it anywhere and be cable free from the wall as well as the speakers. All in all good value for money and a very good buy.

Very pleased, and surprised, by the quality of output from this deck. Thought I'd buy a fairly budget deck to start with as I wasn't sure what condition my old albums were in, having spent nearly 30 years in the eves of the attic. Pleased to report that albums (200 or so) survived perfectly thanks to their airtight LP boxes; AND that this turntable plays them perfectly. Excellent sound quality. I expected to have to upgrade to a higher spec deck if my collection was still playable, and if my taste in music hadn't changed too much (!). Instead, I have bought a new amp and speakers to complement its capabilities. The balancing weight and anti-skate work perfectly together. The lid can be closed while playing (careful - this doesn't apply to all decks). The start/stop buttons are a bit clunky - they work fine, but would have been nice if they were dampened. Not a big deal. The only other gripe is that the arm can't be locked onto its rest. That would have cost a couple of pennies. Again - not a biggie, just strange. Anyhow, I can't fault the rest of the kit. It's sturdy, looks good and sounds great. Has a good pre-amp which means I could plug it straight into an amp. Took about 15 mins to set up; to attach the belt and calibrate the arm. No close-up pic of the deck, just an overview of how I've hooked it up (in the attic). And, no - I don't play guitar. Found that lying around while clearing out.. :)

I wanted a traditional turntable - not something that can be attached to my laptop/phone/car/llama. I wanted it to play vinyl and play it well, with a beautiful sound. This does that. There's some set-up to do, which involved watching a video on the Audio Technica website (good videos, presented by friendly folk). I'm impatient with equipment, so setting the tracking arm and anti-skate felt fiddly to me. In real terms, it took about 5 minutes to watch the video, then 5-10 minutes of faffage and swearing. Trust me, though, it is very much worth it. I discovered - after glancing the corner of the turntable (lid down) with my elbow whilst dancing (Stone Roses first album, on original vinyl) - that even the slightest variation in the tracking arm, changes the sound of play. Follow the instructions and the video, to the letter. To the millimetre. That dealt with, I wiped down my Stone Roses vinyl (AT also do a great brush selection) and set it on the mat. Press a button, sit back. Auto-start/auto-return, very welcome. I'd forgotten the sound you get with a great turntable: bold, mellow and oozing from the speakers. A warm, homely big sound - without needing excessive volume; depends on your sound system, obviously (I have Mission speakers). Anyway, next up was some Neil Young. The sound was stunning. There's different cartridge heads available too (to buy separately - one cartridge head is included), which can change/advance the sound as required.In short - this a superb turntable. Smooth to use, visually has nice retro vibe. And the sound is crisp and delicious.

I bought this AT-LP3 based on several extremely complimentary reviews, such as WhatHifi, which recommended it a the best in class at this price point - and, on the whole, I've been very pleased with my purchase.Pros for me:- Inbuilt pre-amp - means you don't need a separate pre-amp (duh :) ). This appealed to me, because it reduced the amount of gear I needed - coupling these with a pair of powered Edifier R1280DB speakers means I only have 2 boxes on my shelf, which was exactly the kind of minimalist set up I was after.- Fully automatic, meaning you don't need manually lift the needle on or off the disc. You literally just need to push a button to start it up, and another if you want to stop before the end (it lifts off automatically at the end of the record).- Speed switch on the deck - meaning you don't have to manually switch the belt over, as on manual turntables.- Extremely easy to set up and play.- Great performance for the price (I think so anyway!). I listen mostly to rock, jazz and instrumental, and it handles pretty much everything I throw at it well.- Great intro turntable for a vinyl newbie like me, offering opportunity to do some upgrading as you go along thanks to option to change carts and add an external phono amp later if desired.Cons for me:- Out-of-the-box cartridge (AT91R), a conical stylus at the lower end of Audio Technica's range, offered very muddy sound to my ears and I was really unimpressed with its performance - so much so that I considered returning the whole turntable. Luckily someone recommended that I try changing out the cartridge - so, I switched it for a reasonably-priced (~£45) elliptical AT-VM95E, and - no exaggeration - it has been an absolute game-changer. Vocals and mids are now crystal clear and just the level of brightness I was after. I occasionally wonder if the VM95ML would have been even better, but I am currently more than happy with the VM95E (especially considering the former is nearly 3x the price). If you buy this turntable and end up feeling a bit disappointed with the sound, I can't recommend this enough.- The headshell is proprietary to this model - meaning you can't buy and use the Audio Technica replacement headshell+cartridge kits. I have no idea why they've done this, but it's really annoying since pretty much every other AT turntable is designed to use these universal headshells. Since the LP3 headshell is uniquely angled, it can't be replaced by either another AT model or popular alternatives like the Ortofon Red 2M. You can, of course, replace the cartridge easily enough with a compatible model, but...it's just a little more fiddly than swapping the whole headshell out.In short, the LP3 is perfect for me because of its fully-automatic operation (what can I say - I'm lazy and want an easy life) and its upgradeability. I've deducted a point because it would of course have been better if it had come with a better cartridge out of the box - if I hadn't upgraded the cartridge and seen the difference it made to performance, I'd probably be rating it at about 2/5. I think if you're a casual vinyl collector who just wants a decent, easy to use turntable to spin the occasional disc on, you can't really go far wrong with the LP3.