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| Audio-Technica AT-PL120 Professional Direct-Drive Turntable | 
 enlarge | Brand: Audio-Technica
Category: CE
List Price: $249.90
Buy New: $186.88
You Save: $63.02 (25%)
New (26) from $186.88
Avg. Customer Rating:  192 reviews
Sales Rank: 1003
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 26.5
Dimensions (in): 21 x 17 x 8.5
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
MPN: AT-PL120
Model: AT-PL120
UPC: 042005132010
EAN: 0042005132010
ASIN: B00012EYNG
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 An Ok turntable August 20, 2008
Audio-Technica AT-PL120 Professional Direct-Drive Turntable
This turntable looks nice, seems nice, but it was hard to get to work and after a few months the stylus starts skidding across the disks. I modified the anti skating to 2.5 and 3.5 but it still did it. Then reading other reviews I found that shanging the cartridge may resolve the problem. I did and bought a Shure 97E and it now works Ok. However, the "humm" that some reviewers comment is also present in my case. I have not been able to get rid of it yet. For the price, I would not buy it again and I would not recommend it.
 Audio-Technica AT=PL120 Professional Turntable July 26, 2008
Audio-Technica AT-PL120 Professional Direct-Drive TurntableA great turntable, especially for the price.Amazon has the best price of all vendors I searched on the internet.
 Outstanding Bargain July 3, 2008
Like the other reviewers, I had forsaken my vinyl collection for CD's. After looking at all my LP's stored in the basement, I thought I'd like to enjoy the analog sound again. After a lot of research, I chose the Audio-Technica AT-PL120 based upon the reviews, the pricing, and the feature set. I was not disappointed at all.
My last turntable was an AR belt drive with a very good Pickering cartridge and stylus. While I am not an audiophile by any means, I do appreciate the differences between the better quality equipment versus the run-of-the mill junk sold in outlet or discount stores.
That being said, for the little money spent on this table, I really could not be happier. Nice, fairly heavy aluminum platter, target light, direct drive, heavy (22 pound) base, decent quality cartridge/stylus combo, remote start/stop (if desired) on-board phono amp (I use my amplifier's phono amp), adjustable feet, nice quality (for the money) tone arm, etc.
Do not hesitate to buy this. Spend the extra and get this instead of one of those cheaper ($ 100) USB turntables. You'll be glad you did every time you put on one of your old LP's. If you can afford it, the Technics 1200 at twice the price is really nice, but is aimed more at DJ type use.
This turntable has all of the features at half the price of the Technics. There are differences, but the casual user will be very satisfied with the Audio-Technica PL120. The only thing you may want to upgrade later would be the cartridge, but to my ears, the standard cartridge supplied with this table is more than adequate. Overall, two thumbs up!
September '08 UPDATE: I've now had this unit for a little over one month, and am still very pleased with it except for a periodic cutting out of the left channel. At first, I thought it was my Yamaha C-45 preamp, but upon further inspection, I found the left channel output cable from the turntable had a partial short in it, close to the RCA plug jacket cover. As I initially was not impressed with the cheesy pre-attached RCA cables that came with the turntable, this was an opportunity for me to replace them with higher quality cabling.
After a trip to Radio Shack, I removed the turntable base and then the pre-attached RCA cables in the unit. I installed RCA jacks on the base and soldered the connections. I was really impressed with the internal build quality of this turntable and feel that as stated earlier this was a real bargain for the price.
I closed everything up, and attached my new high quality (i.e., superior quality) RCA cables to the recently installed jacks, then to my preamp....... what an improvement!! The sound was richer, fuller, and low level noise was reduced dramatically.
If this turntable has a weak point, it is the cheap, awful pre-attached cabling that comes with the unit. If you are willing to take a little time and effort, you can really improve this unit by changing the cabling. It took around an hour to do, and the parts cost was less than $ 5.00 (exclusive of the new RCA cabling).
Another positive review June 18, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm very delighted with this purchase. It's almost disorienting to see something made so well these days. Nothing about this unit seems cheaply made. I assembled it in a flash and wow, what a thrill to hear some of my old LP's again!
As others note, this product is aimed at two quite-differnt markets: home users like myself and DJ's on a budget. This strategy is clear from the features. For example, the unit has a high-quality hinged dust cover but also a forward-reverse button.
There are surprisingly few tradeoffs for either type of user. As other reviews have mentioned, the cartridge has a fairly heavy tracking force for the stereophile. But as earlier reviews note, there are alternatives readily available on the market.
Oh, one useful thing missing that I was accustomed to with my old Dual turntable - a bubble level for leveling the machine. The turntable's feet can be leveled, but unless I overlooked it, you'll need your own bubble level.
Otherwise, this is just a fine, fine machine. I bought it partly to convert my records to electronic format. But heck, now that I've heard the results, I intend to play my records over and over and over. I strongly recommend this turntable.
Very pleased! June 14, 2008
I got rid of my old Dual turntable and most of my albums many years ago, but recently found a 30 of my old albums and some 78s my folks had.
I got this turntable because of it's preamp and 78 speed.
It's just great. Easy to set up and adjust.
I was blown away at how good the records sound.
I hadn't played one in years. No hum and a nice full sound you don't get from CDs. Even the old scratched 78s sound pretty good!
The next step is to rip the old 78s to CD for my folks. I haven't tried it yet.
I'm very pleased so far. I had read some negative stuff here, none, of which seems to be true of the one I have. No hum, easy to adjust. I just set everything at 2.5 grams. I left the cover on the stylus until I achieved balance, despite what the instructions said to do. Too much chance to damage the stylus until you get the arm balanced. Just take your time on tone arm balance step, set the weight carefully per the instructions to 2.5g and the anti-skate adjustment to the same.
I'd highly recommend it to someone who wants something better than one the bottom of the line turntables.
(mine is a refurb but works perfect and I saved a bunch)
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Addendum 6/16/2008
I just recorded my first LP to my laptop using Spin It Again 2.1.
Unbelievably easy with excellent results. Playing the CD sounds as good as the record, no hum, no clicks, no pops. You cannot tell it's off an LP.
I used some RCA to RCA coupling adapters I had, and a short RCA to 3.5mm mini plug cable.
I'm still using 2.5g for the weight and antiskate even though I noticed that the paper turntable lable said to use 3.5g. It works great so I can't see why to use more weight at the stylus.
I highly recommend leaving the cover over the stylus when balancing the arm and turning off anti-skate until you have it balanced. Use a light touch on the rubber grip rings at the rear of the weight when setting balance and tracking force.
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