Audio Technica AT-LP3
The recent popularity of suitcase turntables with fully automatic functionality has, in some eyes, reduced the record player to a retro trinket. They appear to cater for those too busy to put down their craft beer to lift the needle, rather than the genuine hi-fi enthusiast.
But in the AT-LP3, Audio Technica has fashioned a turntable with the ease of use and affordability of suitcase record players, but one that also follows the rules of hi-fi – in particular, the one about technology never stealing the spotlight away from the performance.
All set for an easy life
In terms of facilitating the entry-level listener, there’s little else the AT-LP3 could do. As well as being fully automatic, it has a built-in phono stage, a foolproof set-up and a cartridge that can be swapped out for another alternative, although we doubt you’ll want to.
Those add-ons mean you’re really getting around £100 worth of turntable, but nothing about its build or general feel suggests it’s a budget deck. It’s marginally less substantial than its Award-winning sibling, the AT-LP5, but is just as easy on the eye.
Being automatic, the AT-LP3 has more switches: to play and to stop, to change rotation speeds and size of the record. There are separate controls for size and speed, so you’ll have no trouble with your 12-inchers that play at 45rpm, or the other way round.
Set the tracking and bias weights as per the manual and connect it to your amp and mains and it’s ready to play. In terms of performance, we could direct you to our AT-LP5 review (p39). Take away a little of the detail, space and dynamic reach, but there’s no mistaking these are from the same family.
As soon as we drop the needle on Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs, we are drawn in by that familiar, full-bodied musicality. At this price we may have been tempted to forgive some soft or hard edges if they were countered elsewhere, but there really aren’t any. The soundstage isn’t cavernously spacious, nor the detail microscopic, but it’s still probably more than you’d expect at this price.
The music comes first
Overall it’s a balance that keeps the music’s character its priority. With The Suburbs that means purveying the alternating lilt and drive of the record and capturing the cool expression in Win Butler’s vocal, which it does with aplomb. Change to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and there’s scale and power enough to give the performance heft, without it feeling as if the orchestra has been squashed into the soundstage.
Audio Technica understands what it takes to create entry-level products. It grasps what each performance is about, prioritising an entertaining experience ahead of focusing on any particular facet.
One eye on the future
If its performance wasn’t so enjoyable, we’d advise you to invest in a bunch of separate components instead. The fact it’s so easily upgradable, with separate phono stages and different cartridges, just emphasises that it’s pretty much the ideal entry-level product.
If you want an upgraded performance from the outset, then go for the AT-LP5, or Sony’s PS-HX500; but at this price there isn’t anything that gives us such an enjoyable listen. It’s an almost-all-in-one, budget turntable that treats your records as music and not a mere curiosity.