Lenco L-400BK Direct Drive USB Turntable
£199.99/$199.99
191
Key features Record to USB • Premium Audio Technica cartridge • RCA output Learn more lenco.com Available from amazon.co.uk
Now that you have read and digested our in-depth feature on converting your old vinyl collection to itunes, you’ll know exactly what gear is needed to complete the task. And we’re happy to divulge that the L-400 from Swiss audio specialist, Lenco, was used by us throughout the entire process thanks to its USB connectivity and all-round awesomeness.
Quality components
Perfect for professional DJS and vinyl collectors, alike, the L-400 is a direct drive turntable with an integrated stereo pre-amplifier (so you won’t need an additional amp) – you can just plug this into any existing home sound system or studio monitors with the supplied RCA cables.
The turntable has two speed settings of 33 and 45 RPM and a start/stop button to make it easy to cue the music. What really impresses about the unit, as a potential centrepiece, is the mechanical tonearm. Like the rest of the turntable, this requires some assembly, but everything slots together quickly and easily without the need for tools. A coollooking counterweight must be slid onto the tonearm, which can then be finely adjusted to get the perfect balance, and at the other end a premium Audio Technica moving magnetic cartridge can be affixed to deliver that rich vinyl sound quality. The whole process of getting it up and running from unboxing should take no longer than about 15
minutes. The turntable is set out so that the main power dial and the start/stop button are located in the near left corner, with a pitch adjust slider (which adjusts the platter speed) and speed select buttons in the near right corner. The tonearm has its own control level and anti-skate controls that help prevent the needle from skipping over the record – perfect for your less reliable older records. Speaking of which, this turntable even comes with an EP Adaptor to accommodate those ex-jukebox 45s!
The layout is completed with a target light that illuminates to aid accuracy when placing the needle. The supplied dust cover hampers the overall look, making it look quite old-fashioned, but this is obviously an essential for us non-djs.
Pitch perfect
The L-400 makes the process of digitising your old records effortless. It comes with a 3M USB cable that plugs straight into your Mac and a
CD of Audacity software, a guide to which is available in the main instruction manual. Once the conversion process has been completed, this will serve you well as a straightforward player and act as a fine focal point to the room. We love the way the pitch slider which adds versatility to the sound, and also the pilot lamp on the power switch which projects a beam of light at the strobe indicators on the revolving platter for a cool, hypnotic effect.
We were also impressed with how well the turntable handled old, battle-scarred vinyl. By fine-tuning the counterweight and making adjustments to the anti-skate controls, you can make those cringe-inducing ‘zips’ a thing of the past. If you have only made tentative steps back into the vinyl market with a budget turntable then the L-400 is the perfect step-up, offering premium components and a really satisfying sound at a very affordable price. The only drawback we suffered was that the button to switch the target light on and off proved unreliable and, as such, this light remained permanently illuminated. This slight niggle did nothing to dampen our overall enthusiasm for this product though…