USB turntable is a steal for under $200

Q I need help getting a new turntable for my sound system. Besides sound-system duty, I might want to transfer some of the music to my computer, too. My receiver doesn't have an input for a turntable, so I will also need a phono pre-amp unless the turntable has one built in. Do you recommend any of the USB turntables I see selling in stores for $125 to $200?

A The USB turntables selling in big-box stores look like, to put it bluntly, junk. They are made of flimsy plastic and are equipped with extremely crude tonearms and no-name cartridges.

As much as I love vinyl and encourage people to enjoy records for the sound quality and tremendous variety of music available at low prices, if you plan on going with such a turntable, just pass and stick with CDs. You will never know what vinyl is capable of if you use one of those turntables.

I did test an exceptional turntable recently that sells for about the same price as the flimsy cheapies. It looks good, is well built and sounds great. For less than $200, complete with cartridge, it is absolutely the only way to go if you are looking for an inexpensive turntable.

It is the AT-LP120-USB from Audio-Technica, a company long associated with quality vinyl playback. Although it lists for $300, I regularly see the turntable selling for $198 at sites such as Amazon.com. It is worth the suggested retail price, but at the discount price it is the vinyl record bargain of the 21st century.

The AT-LP120-USB looks like a clone of the famous Technics SL-1200, which was, sadly, discontinued recently. While the AT-LP120-USB does not duplicate the solidity and performance of the iconic SL-1200, your $200 gets you a quality turntable with a built-in phono preamplifier and USB connection for your computer. If your receiver has a phono input, you can bypass the turntable's preamplifier if you prefer.

I found the AT-LP120-USB simple to set up. Given all the features for the price, I was skeptical when I hooked the turntable up to my evaluation system. But my doubts disappeared the moment the needle hit the groove and the music started playing.

My only concern is that the supplied cartridge tracks at 3 grams, which is more than the typical tracking force of 1.25 to 2 grams for most cartridges. This extra force will wear your records sooner. Also, the stylus (needle) used on the cartridge is a primitive design that is not optimal for extracting fine detail from the record grooves.

When you are ready to upgrade the cartridge, the Shure M97xE for $55 or the Audio-Technica AT440MLA for $99 are good choices. Just take care that it is installed correctly for best performance.