Audio-Technica AT-LP3BK Fully Automatic Belt-Drive Stereo Turntable, Black

10 reviews for Audio-Technica AT-LP3BK Fully Automatic Belt-Drive Stereo Turntable, Black

1. 

   5 out of 5

   Listener – January 23, 2020

   This a great turntable — sounds great and speed is spot on.I had a problem with the auto mechanism and contacted the manufacturer by email. I received a quick reply with the instructions on how to reset the mechanism and also the service manager’s phone and extension numbers. The reset procedure didn’t work so they immediately issued a pre-paid return label. I shipped it to them and received it back repaired 4 days later at no charge — AMAZING!I can’t recommend the product and the support more highly, they are terrific. I also enjoyed talking to 2 excellent people who wanted to make sure their products work.

2. 

   5 out of 5

   Bailee – February 22, 2020

   This turntable was really easy to setup….had it going in 10 minutes. It sounds pretty good. I like the fact it had an upgraded stylus and I love love love the auto return. I can now walk away while an lp is spinning and not worry about the needle destroying itself on the runout. Down the road I can look for an audiophile quality TT but for now this works well for me. Great TT for beginners…good quality and wont break the bank!

3. 

   5 out of 5

   Jonathan B. Hall – March 24, 2020

   My previous Audio-Technica turntable broke last fall…a plump kitty-cat was involved! This is an upgrade over the previous one, which didn’t have an adjustable tonearm. I’m not a high-end, reference-quality audiophile, but I regularly play LPs and intend to continue doing so. (My 78s have a separate turntable–this one is 33 and 45.) I appreciate a good, reliable turntable, and this one fills the bill. Again, if you are a high-end person, you may not even be reading this, but if you want something good and solid for a good price from a great company, this is to be recommended.

4. 

   5 out of 5

   ryan walsh – May 15, 2020

   Hands down THE BEST completely hands off record player!! I literally place the record on the turntale, close the lid and press “start”. The tone arm does everything else by itself. It even turns off when the record is through playing. Sounds amazing, even better than my iTunes albums and I’m not even joking. Hendrix has never sounded better. I can hear things that I’ve never noticed before in my 40+ years of owning these albums. Thank you so much audio technica for listening to your customers!! Some of us just want to have a hands off listening experience and this is absolutely the route to go, friends!!

5. 

   5 out of 5

   John P. – July 12, 2020

   I have owned probably 6 turntables since college in the early 70’s, and this unit reminds me of the “old” type of turntables – just push a button and do what you want to do. It was an easy setup. People who plug this into an old amp should realize they have to push the button on the back to “phono”, I forgot and ran through a bunch of testing before I realized my mistake. Sounds like it should.

6. 

   5 out of 5

   Some Dude – July 16, 2020

   This was my first turntable I’ve owned, and it’s about as good as it can get in terms of automatic ones. I spent a few days researching and getting an idea if there would need to be upgrades, however, I think the “experts” online saying you’d want to upgrade the included cartridge are all very wrong. There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of the included components. I have a simple 2.1 setup on an old AV receiver, and it sounds great even without the ground spade connected. The point of the spade would be to reduce the humming sound from electrical noise on the board by discharging it. However, the components are so well-built and isolated that you can’t even notice it unless you’re on full blast playing no music. Even then, it’s still very subtle compared to normal sound coming from my digital devices.This all being said, I do still think it’s a tad overpriced for the end-product at $250USD. The packaging for both shipping and the product box itself is extremely protective. Everything is neatly wrapped and feels like an quality premium product, because it is. But, if it wasn’t for the holiday gift money, I probably would’ve waited for it to go $200USD or less to purchase. However, I could just be wrong, as I’d like to believe these were hand-built, tuned, and calibrated to a very high standard of quality before leaving. So, maybe I’m being a bit too harsh asking for 20% off.

7. 

   5 out of 5

   Providential – August 13, 2020

   In my opinion there’s a big problem in the audiophile community right now where they look down on entry-level turntables, so you’ll see a lot of hate for this table online. You should ignore the haters. The AT-LP3BK is a lovely turntable for novices who want to become vinyl hobbyists, with plenty of upgrade room if you want to improve it later. I plugged my unit in and hit play, and my records sound good. Once I let the unit break in and do some fine-tuning, I’m sure it’ll sound great.Background:-The LP3 is basically an upgrade to Audio Technica’s entry-level LP60 line. The LP60 is also a fully-automatic, entry-level turntable. This means you can just put a record on the player, hit a button, and it will not only place the tone arm for play but also pick up the tone arm again at the end of the record. This is in contrast to many audiophile turntables, which are almost universally fully manual so that you must lift the tone arm yourself and it will just scratch the end of the record forever if you don’t stop it. The LP60 has decent sound, a low price point, and that automatic play feature so it seems like an ideal entry-level player for anyone.-So why go with the LP3 over the LP60? The LP60 has a fixed head shell so you can only ever use a small line of compatible cartridges. If you really only care about hearing mom’s vinyl again, that might be fine for you. However, the LP3 takes a fairly similar basic design, with the major upgrade of a universal head shell mount and necessary hardware (adjustable counterbalance, anti-skate control) to mount any cartridge you want. To my mind, that makes the LP3 the ideal turntable for anyone just starting in vinyl, but who might someday want to upgrade to a more serious cartridge as they get into the hobby.-The only people who should definitely skip this turntable are aspiring DJs. They should instantly step up to the LP120 direct-drive series, which are DJ-focused.Pros:-Fully automatic. It’s almost silly to have to list this as a feature considering this technology has probably been around for what, 40 years? Today’s top most expensive turntables are almost universally manual rather than automatic due to some sense high-end users have that this makes them better quality. I have no idea why, in any real terms, an automatic player wouldn’t be able to sound just as good. For a lot of casual listeners, automatic play and automatic stop makes this turntable arguably better than much more expensive models.-Everything you need. Has a power cable, RCA audio cables only (no optical out, etc), dust cover, 45 adapter, AT91R cartridge preinstalled on the head shell, aluminum platter, and rubber slip mat. Also has a built-in phono preamp which can be switched on or off, meaning it’s compatible with all modern systems. Also has switches to change between 33 and 45 rpm, as well as 12″ or 7″ disc. The automatic tone arm will respond to these settings accordingly.-Sound is fine. Audiophiles will yell that you need to spend hundreds more dollars on a turntable to get proper sound, but trust me this deck is fine as-is. I think most people just want their old records to play again, and this turntable does that in style. The included AT91R cartridge is perfectly fine for a first-time listener, and if you perform the usual tricks like isolating your turntable on a good solid surface and aligning the cartridge with free online tools, you’ll get great sound out of the box. Audio problems (“wow”, “flutter”, “crackle”, etc.) seem to be well within the parameters I expect out of a turntable. This table easily sounds better than anything my mom ever played around me back in the day.-Easy to setup and maintain. Installation more or less consists of putting the aluminum platter in place, and grabbing a red ribbon to pull the belt in place. AT produced a video on YouTube if you need any help. Doing this and a few other easy steps, such as screwing the cartridge onto the tone arm and adjusting the counterweight, can easily be done inside of 10 minutes and that’s only because AT’s setup video is 7 minutes long by itself. The dust cover also means less maintenance long term, as it’ll help stop dust from damaging your stylus over time.-Universal cartridge mount. The 1/2″ universal mount hardshell means this turntable accepts most modern cartridges, giving you plenty of room to upgrade the audio quality. You can also turn off the built-in preamp if you ever step up to a better one, so you have that option.Cons:-The RCA-only, non-removable audio cables are a bit of a drag. RCA cables are fairly universal for hi-fi systems, and you can instantly strip them to speaker wire if you prefer. I wish this unit would have had an easy change solution to move to TRRS (3.5mm or 1/4″) jack, but they do also make a bluetooth model for those purposes. Hopefully you’re going to set up this turntable once and never move it for years, so I’m not too worried about reliability. There is a ground loop if you need that.-No tone arm lock. Most people don’t really need this, but when you store the unit it’s nice to have a proper lock to hold the tone arm. From the factory you’ll see their solution – there’s a loop you can use to secure the arm with a “bread tie” wire. Works for me.-The aluminum platter is just okay. It’s light and obviously can resonate. I’m sure an enterprising person could figure out a way to dampen it a bit, but this is a weakness of the platform.-Can’t play 78s. To be fair, you do usually need special hardware for that above and beyond a speed selector. 78s usually require a special cartridge.Overall:When I’m jamming to a vinyl on my AT-LP3, I just can’t imagine paying that much more for a “good” table. I’m sure I could use a heavier platter, and I’m sure an S-shaped tone arm is superior. But when I’m chatting with friends with some lovely vinyl in the background, I don’t care about any of that. Someday when I fall asleep to a good jazz album with headphones on, I’ll know the auto-return will stop the record for me. I would take this automatic turntable over a much more expensive manual turntable any day, because this table does everything I’ll ever need. I’m super happy, and I can’t wait to do the fine-tuning to really make it shine.

8. 

   5 out of 5

   John Christopherson – August 22, 2020

   Nice turntable, mediocre cartridge. Knew that going in. Bought a better cartridge and haven’t looked back.Very happy with this unit.Sure you could spend a lot more, but why? I suspect, mostly bragging rights. Ifyour ears are that sensitive, I envy you. Years of concerts and noisy work environments have taken theedge off mine. Still, this is not my first rodeo, so to speak, and I can honestly say, this unit stacks up wellcompared to my old Technics TT with a V-15III. Having had it for about 3 months now. I am still glad I bought it.

9. 

   5 out of 5

   PierreNapa – August 24, 2020

   Purchased to replace a B&O RX turntable from 1985. If you’ve shopped for turntables, you’ve seen cheap ones, high-tech ones and those audiophile ones that cost several thousands. This turntable, for the money, has quality, really good looks, good sound, ease of use and easy set-up if you are able to follow clearly written instructions. Yes, you have to put on the metal platter, attach the belt, balance the arm correctly and be careful through the whole process…. it’s a turntable… not an iPod. We like the fully automatic functions of the AT-LP3BK, yet if you lift the tone arm and move towards the record, it spins the platter and you can use the arm lift to gently let the needle touch the record on the track you want. The 12″/7″ switch is great for running 45rpm 12″ disks. It has selectors for MM or MC needles, Line or Phono output, 45/33 rpm, start/stop. For the “under $300” shopper, this is a very good choice for those who refuse to give up their vinyl, those who still buy high end pressings and for those who are new to “records”.Update: December 2018 When I purchased the LP3BK, I also purchased two replacement needles. Just this week I put a new needle on the cartridge… not because of damage or sound problems, but it’s played a lot of records over time and I think of this as preventative maintenance. The replacement needle is inexpensive and easy to do because the cartridge can be removed from the tone arm. Clicking out the old one and clicking in the new one must be done carefully. For those who experience some speed issues, there is a way to correct the speed (google it up) carefully using a jewelers screwdriver and the “RPM” App ( I used an iPhoneSE ). This turntable was the right choice for us and we know it’s gentle on our old records and new high grade vinyl pressings. Ease of use, reliable, great analog sound and good looks.

10. 

    5 out of 5

    Bob – January 18, 2021

    Easy to assemble. Has controls to adjust weight on needle. Instructions for the adjustment could use more detail. For example, there is nothing to show what weight the stylus is rated for. Also, adjustment by turning slowly to the left only works after the adjustment control has been installed by turning to the right. I already had a pre-amp so turned the one on the turntable off. The automatic functions work well. Sounds great. I am happy with the turntable