Audio-Technica AT-LPW40WN Fully Manual Belt-Drive Turntable, 2 Speeds, Dynamic Anti-Skate Control, Carbon-Fiber Tonearm Walnut

I'll start this review by saying that I spent weeks obsessing over the right replacement for my old LP60, which was a fine table to start with, so anything was going to be an upgrade. Going into my search, my requirements were that I wanted something that was automatic, had a pre-amp built in, had a removable headshell and cables for upgrading, wasn't just black, and was of a quality that it wouldn't breakdown in a couple of years. I had a budget of $300-$400. Much to my dismay, there's not really anything out there that matches that exactly. All of the fully automatic tables seemed cheap or overpriced. The Denon DP-300 had tons of reviews that said it broke down in a few years, it only came in black and the cables were built in. The AT-LP3, which seemed like a winner, had a cheap plastic-y build that just felt unstable. Everything else was a cheap brand like Crosely that I didn't trust. After that research, I figured I needed to expand my budget and I was set on Wirecutter's suggestion of a Denon DP-400. It had only auto-stop with arm lift - which felt like the more important half of fully automatic - but it had everything else I was looking for, including coming in white. But it had a really dumb dustcover that you can't use while a record is playing and doesn't really protect the turntable. As a family with cats, it was a deal breaker. I looked into the Fluance tables. They seemed really nice and had auto-stop (but no arm lift) and they came with nice needles already. But the RT-82 and up didn't have a phono pre-amp (which wouldn't have been a dealbreaker). The deal breaker was that I really didn't like the look of it. It was hulking and wanna-be classy. I also didn't like that the cheaper $250 RT-81 that did come with a pre-amp came with the old AT-95E needle instead of the new VM95E that is more upgradable without remounting the cartridge and the motor didn't have a sensor monitoring speed. So I decided to look into fully manual tables. I started with U-Turn and they seem like a great option, but it gets expensive quickly as I added on options. With pre-amp, a decent needle, and the color I wanted, I was quickly getting past $400 (and that was without some basics like a tone arm lift or a dial to select the speed). I did briefly look into old turntables and DJ turntables, but it quickly got too overwhelming for me. I didn't know how long the old tables would last and more of them didn't have preamps anyway. The DJ tables just had too many features I didn't care about and they didn't have the look I wanted. Enter this turntable. I decided that I'd give a fully manual table a try because this had a pre amp, speed dial, tone arm lift, looked great, came with the VM95E needle, had a functional dustcover, removable cables, and had a quality motor with a speed sensor. And the tone arm is carbon fiber, which only seems to be available on tables that are hundreds of dollars more. It even, contrary to some reports on the web, had adjustable feet so you can level it. All in all, it seemed like a lot for the money if I was willing to give up on auto-stop. So I got it and I couldn't be happier. It feels solid, much more substantial than my old LP-60. All the dials and dust cover feel like they'll last a while. It sounds great. Didn't have any issues with ground hum or the table being too boomy. For the record, I'm plugging directly into a Sonos Play 5 for now. It looks excellent. It's not quite as nice as the solid wood U-Turn tables since this is a veneer, but it's a great shade and it's sleek. Do I wish it was automatic? Yes, a bit. But it hasn't been as big of a drag as I thought and I get a kick out of lowering the tone arm lift and watching the needle gently drop. The tone arm mechanism is easy to set up and I cross checked it with a needle tracking force scale and it's accurate. The alignment of the cartridge was spot on out of the box. Everything was packaged safely and securely. So if you're in the some boat as I was - looking for something that will last without breaking into the $500+ range and still gives you a good set of features - I'd highly recommend this turntable.

Waited a few months before writing my feedback on the Audio-Technica AT-LPW40WN. I come from the turntable generation and decided to purchase one to listen to albums I've saved as well as purchase new albums to listen to. My needs were simple, - affordable, quality sound, analog delivery and good looks. I looked at a LOT of turntables and while many looked great i chose this model because of its design, simplicity and manufacture reputation for delivering good audio. Packaging is done just right with instructions clearly showing how to setup. FYI, on Youtube you can find a few step by step visual tutorials on how to setup and operate so check those out if needed. Its really easy. I won't bore you with technical BS because if you are like me, you just want something that sounds good, and thankfully, this turnable is great!!! This model includes an optional preamp which today is more commonly needed because most modern receivers do not have a phono input. Something you need to consider when making turntable purchase. For me, I am running my turntable into a Denon receiver's media channel which supports RCA inputs. The sound is fantastic with no noise from the turntables internal amp which is in the on position. The turntable is manual so you have to do the work, but I prefer that. This is something to keep in mind when buying. If you want the turntable to return the arm at the end of the album then this is NOT the turntable for you. Its totally manual. This turntable does come with a lever to raise and lower the needle which makes it easy to operate. The speed of the turntable is spot in in both 33 1/3 and 45. If you are looking for a solid performing turntable that sounds great and looks sleek then I highly recommend the Audio-Technica AT-LPW40WN.

I've had this turntable for over a year and I am really enjoying it. I just recently upgraded the cartridge to the microline series and it makes it sound a lot better. The build quality is solid and it looks great. Sound is balanced and warm because the built-in preamp is more than adequate so there is no need to rush out and grab and new phono stage until you are ready the upgrade.

I wish I could have gotten another one like this but the seem to be off the market now. Sound is really nice. Its hooked up to a 2009 Onkyo Receiver TX-8255 and a pair of Kenwood 3 way speakers model KSH51. I bought several extra needles seperately. The turntable looks nice in the teak wood tone and silver tone arm. I wish it was a real hardwood thought. Only reason I bought it was I'm tired of black finished products. Why does everything you use in life have to be molded in Black? Why? Easy to use. Simple twist button turns the unit on. Manual tone arm needs to be placed on the record and removed when through being played. The dampner lever sets the needle down easy on the record.......just make sure the needle is over the start of the record. Easy to read 45-33 speed numbers below a silver dial. I opted to buy a yellow, silicone record matt - the supplied black matt was throw away..... Nice clear plastic dust cover. I'm glad they made it clear instead of that smoked plastic on older models. The record player is set up in tight corner under a short shelf supporting a 100 watt bookshelf speaker that is used on a second receiver in the room. I have a dowel pin in the side of the book case I push out to hold the dust cover up (see picture). Easy hook up to the stereo. easy to set the tone arm tension. I barely had to touch the dial it seemed just fine out of the box. Well packed, wrapped and cushioned in the shipping box.

Amazon asked me to rate (1 to 5 stars) the thickness of this turntable. I'm really unimpressed with its thickness. It seems to be about exactly as thick as all of the other turntables I have ever seen. It doesn't offer a razor thinness or is not really f*&%*ng chunky thick. But otherwise, it really does play records. The onboard pre-amp is great, makes this unit work with a head unit I have that does not have a phono pre-amp built-in. I love that the onboard pre-amp can be switched off. I love that the head unit and cartridge seem to be of solidly good quality. Can I hear how awesome the carbon fiber tone arm is? I don't think so? I mean, I never had a carbon fiber tone arm, but it looks like carbon fiber and carbon fiber was really expensive in the past and probably still is? Right? Anyhow, this thing plays records! It does the job it was hired to do! I actually hear an improvement in tone over my old direct drive decks, which, admittedly, were of middling quality and very old and beat to hell from being dragged all over the place in the long long ago when I used to play records at hole in the wall bars and house parties. This record player is super quiet when it plays the records I mostly listen to now, which, tend to be quieter records. No humming or other garbage now. Is this the best record player ever made? I have no idea. I mean, probably not. It has zero lasers, and the wood grain is only a veneer. But is it the best record I have ever owned? And maybe the most I was willing to spend on a record player and now I'm happy that I purchased it and now I can let go of one of my dilapidated old decks that is possibly worth $9 in parts? That's a hell yes, amigo.

This is my first turntable. I did a lot of research and went back on forth on different brands, different models. Fluance RT83 - RT85, Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Evo, T1 Phono SB or the Drop+Audio Technica VTA version of this AT-LPW40WN. The Fluance tables are too beefy looking for me. I get that they are a lot of value for money, but I didn't like how it looks. Yes, a turntable is about the sound, but I also have to look at this thing in my house. The beefy plinth was just not my cup of tea. So moving on to the other TTs. Pro-Ject TTs were on the top of my list, however the price, while I can afford it, do I really want to spend that much on my first go at this hobby? My wife would've probably killed me. We're down to Drop+AT VTA. I was ready to buy one, however they increased the price overnight to $400. While I liked the entire package, I didn't appreciate the price increase. So I looked at this turntable that the Drop+AT VTA was based off of, the AT-LPW40WN (does Audio Technica use the same product naming team as Sony?) Anyways, I found an AT-LPW40WN an online retailer was selling for $299.99 and sadly when I was about to pull the trigger on it, someone had bought the last one. Now I'm searching through Amazon. I know there was a price increase on these and on the day I was ready to buy, I scored a "Like New" warehouse deal that was very close in price of the original MSRP. When the TT was delivered, the box was a little beat, and I was getting ready for the worse. However once I opened it up, everything was as advertised, "Like New." It was never setup by anyone, and was just an open box. I took the parts out, took the included quick start manual. The instructions were enough for me and I put the whole TT together without any issues. I read some people felt the instructions were minimal, however, I feel if you can put together IKEA furniture, you can put together this TT. Maybe the only thing that needed more guidance was the balancing of the tone arm and the anti-skate. Everything else was straightforward. I was able to do all this with just the manual. Keep in mind, this is the first time I've ever set up a TT. Audio Technica has a setup video that is very helpful for those who need visual guidance on setting this up. Onto the sound. Sound is very subjective, you might think differently from me. This TT sounds really good to me out of the box with the internal phono preamp. I am using Edifier R1280DBS speakers. I had also initially plugged this TT into my Vizio soundbar and the sound was fine as well. So called "audiophiles" would explode hearing that. But they're not really the clientele this TT is going after. At this price point, there's a lot of value here in terms of sound, looks, specs and functionality. The AT-LPW40WN is a nice turntable that is not too entry level, and has some room (not a lot) of upgradeability for people to tinker with in the future, such as, different VM95 series cartridge, mats, stabilizers. So what is the con? After owning it for 2-3 days, a few turns of the speed knob, the glue that held it together came apart. so I thought the speed knob was broken. Because it kept spinning in place. I happened to realize the knob is just a cover of the actual knob that turns. When I pulled it up, I was surprised barely any glue was used. I can fix it with some gorilla glue myself, its not big deal, but I would've liked for it to not had come off in the first place after 2-3 days of ownership. Even now, without me fixing it with glue, the knob turns fine, unless I try to make it spin on purpose. Another con is probably the inability to use Q-Up. There's not enough space to add that, it would have been nice to not have to rush back to lift the tone arm once a record is done playing. But you kind of know that going into this purchase that this is a fully manual turntable, can't really complain. My current setup is AT-LPW40WN, iFi Zen Phono, Edifier R1280DBs. As a first time TT owner, I'd have to say the decision process was the hardest part. To make it easier, you REALLY need to set a firm price point you want to spend. Then start looking at TT's at the price point with the features you want. The sound, the looks, future proof. Trusted Youtubers help, but ultimately it comes down to you. I'm glad this TT worked out for me.

Before I found this gem of a turntable that seemingly nobody talks about, I did a lot of research on different brands such as Audio Technica, Planar, U-Turn and Pro-Ject. One reason I was turned away from the last three I mentioned were that some of their belt-driven turntables had speed consistency issues according to some Youtube video reviews and written reviews that I read. For the life of me, I couldn't imagine spending over $400 on something that COMES WITH known issues. On the other hand, I didn't want to be basic and go with the AT LP-120 as I kind of had the feeling most of the rave reviews were from people who just don't really know any better. The electronic/USB feature must take away from something else's performance, or so I figured. I was just about to throw the towel in when I stumbled across the LPW40WN, which I've never even seen anyone mention before, even after asking about turntables in online forums. The reviews already had me convinced this was the turntable I wanted to go with, and when I looked at the price, I was blown away as other brands have similar turntables for at least $100 more. Audio Technica has a Youtube video for setting up this turntable, which made life much easier. Thank goodness, because the start-up guide is mainly pictures with no explanation if you're stuck with a question. After having spun about 20 records on my LPW40WN, I've come to the conclusion that not only am I extremely satisfied, but I'm glad I overdid my research and skipped out on those other turntables. I haven't experienced any speed fluctuations, the stylus is apparently pretty nice according to those more knowledgeable than I, and it just LOOKS BEAUTIFUL. I've posted pictures online and visitors have commented on the stunning wood grain appearance and carbon-fiber tone arm. This turntable is obviously great for beginners as it has a built-in pre-amp, so that's one less thing to have to buy and do research on. However, since I'm no audiophile, I can see myself having this for many years to come, even when I'm no longer new to spinning vinyl.

My wife and I wanted a turntable to play our vinyls we’ve had since the 70’s and we had every audio toy but that. I looked for 3 months and evaluated all specs, colors and performance from ten different makers. My decision came down to cost vs actual human ear being able to hear any markable difference between a $2500.00 dollar turntable and a $350.00 one. I went with Audio-Technics because of their history of making turntables and their reliability behind a great entry level turntable. The AT-LPW30TK fit the bill meeting cost, maker and the sound. I just set it up (easy) to my Denon x4500h AVR and Kilpsch surround speakers and will report my findings soon but I’ve been in music 59 years playing and composing and if you think you can hear a $5000.00 difference in a high end turntable compared to this entry level ($325.00) turntable then you paid way too much because the human ear (especially after listening to decibels above 70db in the 70’s has damaged your hearing) won’t be able to hear a markable improvement. You just paid for bragging rights. This might only need a upgrade in stylist but it sounds fantastic! Run it through a good AVR.