The centrepiece of any vinyl listening experience, a turntable has the single biggest impact on the playback sound of a record.
Buy cheap, buy twice
If you only take one piece of information from this website, please make it this… Avoid cheap and novelty record players like the plague! Suitcase record players, budget all-in-one systems, micro turntables, and novelty designs. They might sound OK, but over time will almost certainly damage your records.
Features that I would recommend prioritising would be:
Replicable headshell, cartridge, & needles: for potential future upgrades if you decide to spend more money.
The ability to adjust and re-balance the tone arm.
"Phono" and "Line Level" outputs. Phono is a very low level signal that requires an additional 'pre amp' or an external amplifier to make it usable. Line Level is what most modern systems - and powered speakers - will be required.
Dust cover: Turntables with no dust covers look cool, no question, but dust is the number one enemy of your records. Keeping the dust cover down will prevent dust build-up on your records, inside your turntable, and on your needle.
I have an AT-LP3 and AT-LP120 - both are fantastic "first" turntables, even straight out of the box. They also have the ability to replace or upgrade components, and switch between phono/line level. Shop around, read tons of reviews, and look for a turntable that has the features you think you'll need the most.
As of 2025, most turntables in the £200-300 will be impressive as a first time turntable, with noticeable gains and features up to the £400 mark - after that the increase in cost vs the increase in quality rapidly diminishes, and I would recommend putting more money into other parts of your system like speakers, amps, or streamers.