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 entire website, please make it this… Avoid cheap and novelty record players like the plague!‍ ‍

Features to prioritise:

  • Replicable headshell, cartridge, & needles: for potential future upgrades if you decide to invest in your turntable and power-up your the sound.

  • 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.

A turntable with a vinyl record playing, featuring a label with an image of a woman and song titles. The record has an orange hue with visible grooves.

Record players to avoid

  • Low-budget - Cheap and Budget record players from small brands aren’t worth the risk. If you’re on a very limited budget get the entry turntable from a known / trusted manufacturer.

  • Novelty - products like suitcase record players & micro turntables. They won’t be setup correctly, usually aren’t adjustable, and will damage your records over time.

  • All-in-ones - all good turntables try to isolate vibrations. Having one or more speaker built-in to the turntable will cause all parts to shake and will add noise & distortion.

A turntable with a teal vinyl record on it, featuring a red tonearm and a silver center hub, placed on a black stand.

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. 

Remember that the more features a turntable has, the more of your money goes into aspects that aren’t purely about getting the best sound (bluetooth, fancy lights, etc)

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 £400-500 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.