SOUNDBAR OR SOUNDBASE…
If the only audio system you’ve got is a soundbar or soundbase connected to your TV, you might be tempted to assume that adding a turntable simply isn’t on the cards – but you’d be wrong. In fact, with most soundbars and soundbases, it’s a simple process; just choose the correct turntable, depending on which soundbar or soundbase you have.
Let’s use our 2018 Award-winners as examples (we’ll tackle the Sonos Beam in the dedicated Sonos section, right): all three of the Q Acoustics M2, Yamaha YAS-207 and Sony HT-ST5000 have a stereo analogue input, in the form of a pair of standard RCA terminals on the Q Acoustics and Yamaha, and a 3.5mm (headphone-style) connection on the Sony. That means you can add any turntable with a phono stage built-in, or any standard turntable via an external phono stage.
We guess that at least part of your reason for choosing a soundbar or soundbase audio system was its neatness, and you’re probably keen to avoid adding too many extra devices and cables. So, we’re going to stick with turntables that have integrated phono stages for our recommendations. And, while these devices sound great for soundbars and soundbases, they don’t have the credentials to make the most of serious high-end kit, so it’s not worth spending a fortune on your new turntable.
With all that in mind, we think the Audio-technica AT-LP3 would be the best turntable to add to almost any soundbar or soundbase. It costs just £169, is simple to set up and sounds so good we gave it an Award last year. It has an integrated phono stage so you can connect it directly to any standard pair of stereo analogue terminals, though you’ll need a 3.5mm adapter for the Sony HT-ST5000.
And if you simply can’t stomach the idea of adding any extra cables to your system, you could consider a turntable that outputs via Bluetooth. Most soundbars and soundbases (including the three above) can receive via Bluetooth, and though Bluetooth turntables are rare – and there’s also an inevitable drop-off in sound quality compared with using cables – we’d suggest you look at the Audio-technica LP60BT (£149), which is the Bluetooth version of the Audio Technica AT-LP60-USB that we liked very much.