Audio-Technica AT-LPW50BTRW Turntable Bluetooth Manual Belt Drive Wood Base Rosewood

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Flexibility first: a Bluetooth connection to your speakers means it doesn't matter where you place your products. As long as the turntable is on a level surface, the wireless speaker can be placed pretty much anywhere in the room. When we paired the AT-LPW50BTRW with the Sonos Era 100 away from our usual hi-fi reference system, we simply had them both on a desk, and it was eye-opening just how simple, neat and effective it was. For many, that is a perfect space-saving solution if you're living in a small flat or have to share space with family, housemates or pets. The Audio-Technica AT-VM95E delivered all the songs on ‘Harvest’ smoothly, fluidly and very musically, and you can’t really ask for much more than that. The AT-LPW50BT-RW turntable made the album sound even better when it had a wired connection to a component system. I tested it with both the built-in phono preamp and through my own NAD phono stage. The dedicated NAD unit sounded better with slightly more detail, but not by as much of a margin as I expected. Should you buy the Audio-Technica AT-LPW50BT-RW turntable? The built-in selectable phono preamp and detachable dual RCA output cable enable direct-wired connection to components with or without a dedicated phono input.

As part of the next generation of turntables, Audio Technica has brought in an internal selectable phono stage (pre-amp) which allows you to plug the turntable into standard or turntable input on your amplifier.The great thing about this record player is that there are different ways to listen to your music. You can connect it via AUX or phono output if you want to use the turntable amplifier, a receiver amplifier, or a dedicated preamp, meaning it works with both new and vintage setups.

Whether that's a codec compatibility issue or something else, the fact remains that the Bluetooth implementation and pairing process in these wireless turntables (which aren't necessarily cheap) is a letdown. It needs to be better thought out and offer the same seamless standard that we get in current Bluetooth headphones and speakers. Otherwise, it's a real frustration in what should be a really easy playing process. Some Bluetooth-enabled Sonos speakers can also be connected wirelessly to Bluetooth turntables. These are the Sonos Era 300 and Era 100, Roam and Move. What do you need to add a turntable to your Sonos system? This fully automatic belt-driven turntable also features a built-in switchable phono/line pre-amplifier, with speeds of 33.3 and 45 RPM supported, and a balanced straight tonearm with hydraulically damped lift control and rest. The turntable also has a built-in phono preamp. This means that you don’t need a separate phono preamp to connect it to any audio system with a line-level input. This is a useful feature for people who want to use the turntable with a home theatre system or powered speakers. Final Words Connectivity is largely the same, with a selectable phono preamp and dual RCA output for wired connectivity, along with Bluetooth support.

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Audio-Technica has revealed its successor to the AT-LP3 turntable in the AT-LP3XBT, alongside the newest edition to the brand's line of fully manual, belt-drive wooden turntables, the snappily-titled AT-LPW50BTRW. AT-LP3XBT The Era 300, Era 100 and Sonos Roam and Move speakers can also connect to a turntable over Bluetooth, providing the turntable has Bluetooth, of course. To pair, press and hold the speaker's Bluetooth button – when you hear a chime and the status light flashes blue, it's ready for pairing. Then press the pairing button on the Bluetooth turntable, such as on the Cambridge Audio Alva TT V2 or the Audio Technica AT-LPW50BTRW. When the LED on the turntable goes solid, you know it's paired. Switch to Tom Waits’ Foggy Night live set and the atmosphere changes to a more intimate one, his wry vocals soaked in whiskey and smoke coming through clearly as he chats in between songs. It’s also a piece that’s played by almost every amateur pianist on the planet because of all the most well-known piano pieces, it seems to be the easiest to play because if you look at the score, you’ll see it’s almost blank, with some spaced-out chords that don’t require much of a finger-stretch and then only crotchets everywhere else — there’s not a quaver to be seen, much less a hemidemisemiquaver. But when you try to play it… wow! It’s so difficult to make it flow. Overall, the entire setup took about 10 minutes. Then, it was time to tune in. Listening experience

On this album van Veen stretches the concept of slowness to the extreme. One critic wrote of it that: “he creates an hallucinatory effect, a kind of minimal music avant la lettre.” Measured at 45 rpm, the AT-LPW50B’s platter speed was even more stable, so that the measured frequency varied only between 2998Hz and 3000Hz. Again, this is an excellent result. Newport Test Labs has plotted these variations in the speed histogram (Graph 1). The Audio-Technica AT-LPW50BTRW is a belt-driven, fully manual turntable made for audiophiles and music lovers who want to listen to high-quality music. It works very well in terms of sound quality, build quality, and how easy it is to use. Highlighting the user-friendliness of the LP3XBT is its fully automatic belt-drive turntable operation with push-button speed control offering 33-1/3, 45 RPM. And it sounds good, too. Bluetooth may not be the best-sounding connection, but we live our daily life with Bluetooth earbuds and speakers offering great sound and value for money, so why can't Bluetooth turntables sound good, too? The quality of the vinyl stream also depends on the quality of the speaker you choose, which gives you plenty of choice in just how good you can make the system sound. You can opt for a high-end Naim Mu-so Qb model or even an active stereo pair like the Triangle AIO Twin, but more affordable (and more convenient) options such as the Era 100 or Audio Pro C10 MkII would be perfect choices. We'd steer away from more budget speaker offerings from Ultimate Ears or JBL – they're decent, but your vinyl does deserve a better class of speaker quality.

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A handful of Sonos devices can be used with a record player using a wired connection. These are the Sonos Era 300, Era 100 and Sonos Five speakers, and the Sonos Amp and Sonos Port (for these last two, you'll need to add speakers). The Sonos Connect, Connect:Amp and Play:5 can also be hooked up to a turntable, though all three are discontinued.

You just need the right speaker, the right accessory, and a little know-how. Allow us to show you how... Which Sonos speakers support a record player?I spent some time comparing the audio between these two turntables and with two styli – the VMN95E elliptical and the VMN95ML microline. When listening casually, there are no obvious difference between the two when using identical styli. But when I compared closely, it is undeniable that different turntables using identical accessories will sound different. For my tests, I am using the external Audio-Technica AT-PEQ30 phono preamp. I then tested how records would sound with the turntable's built-in preamp instead of going through my receiver. Audio-Technica's built-in preamp gives a crisper and cleaner sound than my receiver, but that is just barely noticeable unless you're searching for a difference between the two. Audio Technica AT-LPW50BTRW turntable is a belt driven turntable that features a number of very high performance features and technology into a beautiful design that should sit well with any hi-fi system. High Performance