Audio Technica AT-LP5
In France there is a literary prize named La Prix de la Page 112, in which books are judged exclusively on the value of their 112th page. The theory is that, though we all know you mustn’t judge a book by its cover, by the 112th page of a story it is only the best writers who’ve yet to lose interest or give up on their reader, retiring to bored prose in an effort to drag both parties over the finishing line.
Under the cover
And so it ought to follow that those who are able to write a remarkable page 112 will likely have written a remarkable book. The prize has substance.
You’re well within your rights to wonder why we feel compelled to tell you this, of course, but you may also have gleaned there is a parallel to be made here.
If you’re reading this review, as it appears you must be, then we are likely in agreement a turntable, like a book, cannot be judged solely nor even principally by appearance; but that is not to say it hasn’t also its own page 112.
It isn’t necessarily build quality, either, at least not purely in the sense of it being well-manufactured; it’s about how it feels to use, the touch of the dial to switch between rotation speeds, the weight of the tone arm and how it glides from its rest to vinyl.
That attention to detail is what fills us with confidence before we even listen to Audio Technica’s ATLP5 turntable. Before laying that first record on its rubber-compound-crowned die-cast aluminium platter, we are expectant. With the ATLP5 you’re treated also to a built-in phono stage and USB output for digitising your record collection.
You’ll notice the ATLP5’S J-shaped tonearm, harking back to those used by Audio-technica in the 1960s and 70s. More than a retro design quirk, the company says it is engineered to minimise tracking error.
Then there’s the AT95EX cartridge, exclusively designed for this turntable and fitted to an ATHS10 head shell for what Audio-technica claims is a perfect balance for its tone arm.
It’s like spying the present shaped exactly like a pirate ship on Christmas morning, so it is with some haste that we shake Nils Frahm’s live album, Spaces, from its sleeve.
Poise and balance
Frahm names the first track on this record An Aborted Beginning, but it is one-and-a-half minutes in which we can already rest assured we aren’t to be disappointed. There is firstly a great sense of the setting of the recording, a combination of spacious soundstage and detail as the natural reverb is exposed.
Further hints as to that amount of detail are present in the ringing synthesised notes and, though there are more rumbling lows than this system is able to produce, there is a really nicely poised, natural balance to the sound that doesn’t want for bass.
Says, the first track after the record’s false start, then begins to demonstrate the ATLP5’S brilliant understanding of rhythm. Not only does that hypnotically bubbling synthesiser pattern time wonderfully, its rhythmic and dynamic emphasis allows the piece’s six-minute build to grow rather than stagnate. It is an arrangement utterly dependent on anticipation of its climax, a task for which the Audio-technica here is adept.
Versatile player
Similar could be said of the following track, Said And Done, which for the opening minute Frahm plays on triplets of the same piano key; the ATLP5 is dynamically versatile enough to express the intensity of each note, allowing the most simple of patterns movement rather than mere relentlessness.
Switching to an external phono stage, each aspect is evidently improved, the sound opening up even more and allowing for even more detail to be dug out of those grooves.
Yet it is the ATLP5’S overall character that we enjoy so much, something that is unchanging whether using its built-in phono stage or running through a more expensive unit, so while the upgrade is an improvement, it is far from a necessity to enjoy such a talented player.
The only way, to our minds, you could wholly improve on so comprehensive a package as this is to up your budget fairly significantly.
Now you can get back to reading page 112 of all of your favourite books.
”The only way you could wholly improve on as comprehensive a package as this is to up your budget fairly significantly”
VERDICT A turntable you can plug straight into your amp and play, with a bonus USB output; there’s little better at this price