AUDIO TECHNICA AT-LP3

This brilliant budget turntable combines features and performance to great effect

In the AT-LP3, Audio-Technica has fashioned a turntable with all the ease of use and affordability of ‘suitcase’ record players, but one that also follows the rules of hi-fi. We need those rules: particularly ones that tell us no matter how much technology you use to make things simpler for the listener, it should never steal the spotlight away from the performance.

As well as being fully automatic, meaning you need only jab a few buttons for your record to play and the needle lift itself at the end, it also has a built-in phono stage, use of which is optional, a fool-proof set-up and a cartridge that can easily be swapped out for another moving-magnet alternative.