THE SETUP
I will admit, it has been years since I have assembled a belt drive turntable. I generally tend to find myself using turntables more aimed at the DJ market, but the home listening world offers a different beast altogether. So, out with the instructions as I set the pretty easy task of getting this unit ready for action. Once I found the belt, it was pretty easy-locating that at first had me a little perplexed, but we were up and running soon after. Check the underside of the platter folks. With the turntable set up, it was fairly easy to get a record playing with the slow dropping automatic tone arm that gently glided onto the record’s surface without and fear of damaging it. A firm slip mat is provided to ensure the record sits stable on the platter and the belt driven action provides a smooth, even rotation at both 33 and 45 RPM. It’s everything you could want in a simple home-use turntable, and it doesn’t weigh much at all either.
GETTING IT OUT THERE
The internal phono preamp that is included is a handy feature, so if you aren’t running it into a mixer or amplifier with a phono input, you can set the output level to Line and get listening right away. The analogue output is supplied with a 3.5mm connection that splits out to two RCA connectors with the supplied cable, but it could easily be adapted for any cable requirement for connection to a range of devices. Of course, you don’t even need to worry about getting the correct cable if you have a Bluetooth speaker system at home. This turntable has the ability to send the audio from the phono preamp to any Bluetooth device you choose to pair it up with, making it the ideal solution for listening to your old records on your newest, most modern stereo system.
For more details, head to audio-technica.com.au.
