Much to the detriment of my bank account, I take a certain measure of satisfaction in the fact that I’ve passed my love for collecting vinyl records on to my teenage daughter. Granted, her lust for vinyl has more to do with the artwork, cool posters and inserts, and expressing her fandom by collecting albums from her favorite artists, but even if this is your motivation, too, you’re still going to want to actually play those pressed plastic discs. And for that you need a turntable.
Buying your first record player comes with a lot of questions like how much to spend, what kind to get, do you need a phono preamp, what is a phono preamp, and what the heck is a cartridge? Luckily we’ve been reviewing turntables for years and are here to answer all of your questions. Here are four things I wish I’d known before buying my first turntable.
How much should you spend on a turntable?
Let’s start with the first question I ask anyone who asks me about buying a turntable — what’s your budget? Take a look at our guide to the best turntables for a quick reference point as to how much record players can cost, but the price will range depending on what you want to use it for and what you hope to get out of it, keeping in mind that, like most things, the more you spend the better the quality it’s likely to be.
If you’re a beginner, or have a kid (like mine) with a handful of records that they’d like to play casually in their bedroom, or like the aesthetic and ambiance spinning a record delivers at social gatherings, there are plenty of excellent entry-level options for under a few hundred dollars. They’re basic, usually come pre-setup to play out of the box, and often have push-button automatic play features.
If you’re a step-up from that and perhaps have a bit more money to play with, you can improve not only the sound quality you get from the turntable, but the likelihood you’ll have a player that will last you years, maybe even decades. For a few hundred dollars and up, you can find turntables with upgradeable parts, such as headshells, tonearms, cartridges and styli (more on this in a minute) that can vastly improve sound, making for a sound investment for the long term. Of course, adding a few turntable accessories can help a lot, too.
What’s a phono preamp and do I need one built-in?
A phono preamp, also known as a phono stage, is the electronics required to boost the low signal output that comes from a turntable’s cartridge and stylus so that it can be amplified by whatever speaker system you’re using. A phono “stage” is required at some “stage” between the turntable and your powered speakers, amplifier, or whatever you’re listening through. It can be built-in to the turntable itself, in a set of powered speakers, or as a “phono input” in many, often older, stereo receivers an integrated amplifiers.
Many modern turntables come with a phono stage built right in, and can often be switched on and off as needed, giving you the ultimate freedom for connecting to your gear.
If, for example, you have a pair of powered speakers that has a phono input (preamp built in), you do not need a turntable with a preamp; it’s covered. If it comes with one built-in anyway, you can switch it off and use the speakers’ preamp.
Additionally, if you’d prefer to use the one in the turntable, you can switch it on and instead plug the turntable into the speakers’ “line-input,” if it has one. A line input does not have a preamp-boost, which is why you’d need a phono stage before it. Still with me?
Lastly, as I mentioned upgrading above, if you have a little extra money to spend, many audio lovers choose to use what are called external phono preamps (we have a list of the best phono preamps you can check out). These separate devices often offer much better sound quality and dynamics than those built-in do. They range in price from under $100 to several hundred, and is something you could explore down the line.
For most people, especially casual listeners or beginners, a turnable with a built-in preamp is a great no-fuss solution, and the good news is they come with many of today’s record players so you don’t need to really think about it much.
What else do I need with my turntable?
As we discussed a bit in the above section, in addition to a turntable and a phono stage at some point in the connection, you’re going to need two more things to make sound from your new record player — amplification and speakers.
As we also mentioned, these can come in several forms. The traditional way is with what are called separates or components. The basic setup would be a stereo receiver or integrated amplifier that drives a set of passive (non-powered) speakers. Most people, especially audiophiles, lean towards this setup as it sounds the best and each component can be chosen, swapped, and upgraded as you desire based on your budget, space, audio quality you want, and more.
Next is going the route of powered (or active) speakers that have the amplification built right into them and often have other features like built-in phono stages and connectivity like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi (more on these below), HDMI, optical and more, for use with other devices you have. Many also have built-in streaming services like Spotify and Tidal. Among the benefits of powered speakers, like our favorite Edifier S1000W bookshelf speakers, are that they can save you money and take up less space.
Headphones are another popular way many people listen to their vinyl (for some ideas, check out our list of the best headphones you can by). Maybe you have roommates or like to have late-night sessions, and headphones are a great go-to. To do this, however, there are a couple ways.
If you’ve already built a powered speaker or amplifier-based system with a headphone jack, you can just plug into that and you’re good to go. If you’re set on headphones being your main method of listening (many do), or don’t have the budget for all that gear, then the next way is to get a turntable with a headphone jack built-in. There aren’t many out there, so your options might be limited.
The next way is to add a headphone amplifier to your turntable. For this, you’ll need a turnable with the aforementioned built-in phono preamp or an external phono preamp that is then connected to the headphone amp, which will have its own volume controls and sometime other EQ and sound features.
Another way more and more folks are playing their records is wirelessly, which we get into next.
What about wireless turntables?
It’s a wireless world, after all, so it’s no surprise that with vinyl’s resurrection into the modern mainstream, eventually the cable-free technology would find its way into the nearly 130-year-old invention.
We dive deeper into all the reasons you should and shouldn’t get a wireless turntable in another article, but what it boils down to is that if you already have Bluetooth or wireless speakers in your home that you love and/or maybe want to save some money by not having to go buy a whole new set of speakers or amp to play records, a wireless turntable bight be a good option.
Starting with Bluetooth turntables, luckily there are some really good options available now as their popularity has risen. And while just by the nature of Bluetooth’s compression technology, the audio quality currently can’t match that of a record, with Bluetooth tech like Qualcomm’s aptX baked into many Bluetooth turntables, the sound is getting better all the time.
With a Bluetooth turntable, connecting to a set of Bluetooth speakers or headphones is as easy as pairing any other Bluetooth device — a couple of button presses. Sound quality is generally pretty good, and you can bypass the need for messy wires (especially if you want to have your turntable across the room).
Additionally, you could buy a pair of Bluetooth-capable speakers, like the Fluance Ri71, that also has HDMI and RCA connectivity so you can use them for other uses, too. Our favorite Bluetooth turntable for most people is the Audio-Technica AT-LP120XBT-USB, a tried and tested workhorse of a deck that will last for years.
If you want to take things a bit further, however, the other wireless turntable option is using your home’s Wi-Fi network for hi-res streaming to a system like Sonos. While the options for turntables equipped with hi-res streaming are few and far between at the moment, iconic audio brand Victrola makes several turntables that support hi-res playback over Wi-Fi at up to 24-bit/48kHz with support for both UpNP and Works With Sonos, meaning that they connect seamlessly and can be accessed through the Sonos app. Models include the $800 Victrola Stream Carbon that we’ve personally tested, and the $600 Victrola Stream Onyx.
There are other ways to connect a regular turntable to a Sonos system, too, should you prefer that route. The point is, there are some great wireless options available for listening to vinyl, which is great for those who already have these systems in their homes and just want to add vinyl.
Buying your first turntable is an exciting endeavour that will put you on a hopefully long path to enjoying listening to vinyl records for years to come. Hopefully this explainer helps on your journey.
