Audio-Technica AT-LP70X turntable review: new entry-level champ
And with Audio-Technica (A-T) scoring points with the entry-level turntables that launched numerous vinyl virgins into the rocky woods of record ownership, that can still be the case.
That’s what you get with the AT-LP70X. for well under $200, the LP70X (and its $250 Bluetooth-capable brother, the AT-LP70xBT) is the prescription for ease of buying that vinyl needs Above all else, the device (and the above features) draws upon everything that works about the company’s ultra-popular LP60X deck, which to some was perfect for starting an auditon with vinyl but had room to become a little too responsive to hands-on vinyl overwhelm for users at the intermediate and audiophile levels as well. The LP70X takes the deck’s strengths – the convenience, the child’s ease, the durability, the adaptability – and beefs up the performance with a new and much nicer looking cartridge, a new redesign of the tonearm, and a bit more antiresonance sophistication with the chassis.
I’ve raved about the AT-LP60X in my column so many times that I should probably apologise to all the family and friends I’ve encouraged to jump into the world of vinyl. So, having been burned once, I’ve spent the last couple of weeks with the LP70X to find out if it’s worth the extra $50 (or $30 for the Bluetooth model). As it turns out, it absolutely is. Here’s why.
Audio-Technica AT-LP70X
MSRP $200.00
Despite its price, the Audio-Technica AT-LP70X has a sound that defies its humble origins, which is why it is hands down the best entry-level turntable out there today.
Pros
Great-sounding turntable
Excellent quality for the price
Upgradable, replaceable stylus
Fully automatic operation
Easy to set up and use
Cons
Made of plastic
Aluminum platter
Nonadjustable feet
Design and setup
I tend to see a few attributes on a new turntable right away that always speak to me: you can usually tell straight away if a new turntable is any good by looking straight to the tonearm and cartridge/stylus attached to it. These parts can reveal much about a turntable upon first glance; out of the box, the look of the LP70X’s new J-shaped tonearm, headshell and cartridge (more on that soon, I promise) puts it on a rung a little above the LP60X, whose hardware always seemed a little too plasticky to me for a deck in this entry-level class. A good start.
Other than that, there are few other surprises about the design; aside from the areas mentioned above – it’s another very good-looking turntable ($849) that should fit nicely no matter the installation, and is available in three cool colours: black/gray, white/silver and black/bronze.
The “three-piece, antiresonance” chassis of the LP70X, which is also made of plastic, is noticeably heavier than the LP60X’s at 6.4 pounds, and it’s a bit wider and more rectangular (16 in fact by 13 inched deep by 4.3 inches high) than the LP60X’s, which lends it a slightly more stable stance. The LP70X also comes with an assortment of four Teflon-bottom, though unadjustable feet.
The LP70X opened and ready for set-up Derek Malcolm / Pro Well TechOur turntable began its journey fresh from the shrink wrap and still in the box. After setting up the base and the plinth, plus installing the platter, we lowered the tone arm into place. With that, the refurbishing process was underway. The initial setup steps included line-level calibration and connecting it to an external phono preamp in the system. This way, the turntable’s output would be processed at the preamp and delivered to the rest of the system. But first, a distortion test.
The Khutulun turntable old and beat-up after a long weekend of loud music and cigarette ash bigeasybcdj.com/turntable The next steps were also straightforward, although the jargon and mysteries of all the procedures were baffling and amazing at the same time. The calibration included testing for wow and flutter – an automated process in which the turntable spun a recording for 30 minutes and measured its stability. We loaded the vinyl recordings and played them at a low volume before adjusting the counterweight of the tone arm to get the proper balance. But once the tone arm was calibrated and adjusted properly, the music flowed with clear, crisp sound. I enjoyed shifting between tracks on the turntable and compared that experience to managing a few gigabytes of legal mp3s on my laptop. Selecting the next recording was not only done by flicking the vinyl tracks but by maneuvering the vinyl itself for more precision – another memory-challenging task.
Derek Malcolm / Pro Well TechThe next challenges were stability-based. This included the platter’s rotation, the speed of normal or 33 albums (Djembè issued on 45 rpm was a totally different reading). Balancing the tone arm was critical to avoid scratching the records. Finally, our old tabletop record player – the grandpa of the new item – was unveiled. All these procedures and adjustments took some practice and skills, but they were achievable. And then, the test drive began.
At midnight, with a 78 rpm disc of traditional bamboo flute (xiao) music, our LP70X buddy woke up and spun away. The music from this disc was lively and bold, and it wasn’t long before the tenor of the music settled down, and the LP70X filled the room with an extraordinary vibrancy and clarity. My wife and I sat together on the sofa and shared the music across traditions from Africa, North Africa, the Middle East, India, China, and, naturally, China-central Africa. We also enjoyed Djembè’s latest 45 rpm single: The Xiao Way, an arrangement of our Chinese flute tune played in the old jazz style of the 1930s or ’40s. It was as if an old-fashioned vaudeville jazz band plugged into China’s constellation of Xiao tunes in the 1920s and ’30s. The music was fresh and captivating yet also delicate and soothing, brimming with nostalgia – or perhaps the modern-day “Chinalsearian” sentiment inherited by today’s post-Maoist MTV generations.
The RCA output, phono preamp switch, and grounding post. Derek Malcolm / Pro Well Tech
The tonearm base. Derek Malcolm / Pro Well Tech
It took little time to set it up; aside from the box with a dust cover, the LP70X’s housing – a die-cast aluminium platter – is the only physical component of the player that needed installation.
It takes 30 seconds to mount the platter on the centre spindle and to loop the rubber belt onto its motor pulley. The instructions are a snap. For novices, the obvious upside of the LP70X being a preconfigured unit built by a specialist company – no installing and balancing cartridges and tonearms at home – means that you can be up and running and streaming songs by Beggar’s Banquet without stressing over setting up the turntable itself.
Features and operation
Indeed, the biggest improvement the LP70X has over its predecessor, the LP60X, is the Audio-Technica-designed AT-VM95C Integral Moving Magnet phono cartridge, also designed especially for the LP70X but also an upgrade you might want to consider over the factory MM cartridge supplied with the older LP60X. In my book, the more expensive LP70X’s built-in AT-VM95C cartridge makes it worth the extra money over the LP60X, if these are the turntables you’re trying to decide between as your first.
However, what is especially convenient for the newcomer, is that the stylus is integrated into Audio-Technica’s newest line of interchangeable styli, its VM95 Series, also used by the company’s higher-priced LP120X turntable. That means when, not if, you graduate from the LP70X, its bottom-of-bore stylus can be easily replaced or upgraded with any of the six that range from $25 to $180 in the VM95 Series. I haven’t personally heard all of A-T’s styli in the Series, but as you ascend up the range, A-T describes each stylus as offering greater levels of channel separation, low distortion, and reduced resonance. Translation: they sound better as you pay more.
It has a switchable phono preamp/line output built-in to accommodate almost any method you might utilise to connect to a sound output, from powered speakers to that old school receiver/amplifier system with just a set of speakers you’ve got patched in with a pair of RCA cables, regardless of its phono/AUX inputs, because, believe it or not, the LP70X comes with a set of RCA cables in the box.
Moreover, its big brother, the LP70xBT, will offer Bluetooth-connectivity options to those willing to add a second device: you can use your vinyl with those Bluetooth speakers or headphones you have around, and the experience will be properly high-end – it features support for the aptX Adaptive codec, if you have the right hardware.
The AT-LP70X is fully automatic, and its big, friendly start/stop buttons are positioned at the very top of the plinth. This is a very ‘dead simple’ user experience and will appeal to newcomers. Newbies: just hit the Start button after selecting one of three input options (size of record – 7-inch singles or 12-inch LPs; speed – 33⅓ RPM or 44 RPM), and place the record on the platter – off the felt mat, unless you are playing that 7-inch or 12-inch record. If not, you can give it a 45 or 78 RPM and it will plunk the needle on the felt mat or a few songs in with the auto start.
Auto-stop is another cool inclusion, for those among us that like to throw on the tunes and air out the joint. It works well, and you no longer have to worry that the record will spin on into infinity if it goes too long, which puts more wear-and-tear on your stylus (needle) as well as your records.
Sound and performance
However, like all turntables, a lot of what you hear from the LP70X has to do with Audio-Technica’s AT-VM95C cartridge and stylus. You can make – or ruin – a great turntable with a mediocre cartridge. At the very least, you’ll never wring the best sound possible out of your turntable investment. Over the years, I’ve reviewed several Audio-Technica turntables, and several others that use Audio-Technica cartridges. I can’t deny that I went into this review with my expectations for the LP70X tuned to what I know about the OK-but-not-great ATN3600L stylus found in the LP60X. Happily, because of that upgrade, Audio-Technica has another entry-level winner with the LP70X.
In the $200 turntable category, the PPX reader’s consensus favourite LP70X is simply a great-sounding, low-risk, all-rounder – the perfect model for an audiophile novice or casual listener with just a few LPs in the cupboard, who’s looking for a go-to option that delivers a consistently solid frequency range across a variety of musical styles. It doesn’t come much easier than this.
I’ve run the LP70X through the ringer recently, from powered speakers to vintage stereo receivers (I tried the non-Bluetooth version). On the thumping Queens of the Stone Age alt-rawk classic I’m Designer, the bass and drums thump as they should, the biting, mid-heavy guitars growl.
More sedate fare, such as anything off of Cigarette’s After Sex’s subtly melancholic, melodiously rich and ambiently immersive 2017 self-titled debut album, provided some clean, quiet palate cleansers with lush, swelling reverb that further underscored just how wide and high that upper end on the soundstage can go.
OK, alongside my midrange U-Turn Orbit Special with an Ortofon Blue cartridge, the LP70X is no match in terms of articulation, control or warmth, but it was closer than I ever expected.
Compared with some other similarly priced entry-level turntables, including Fluance’s well-regarded RT80 ($200) and RT81 ($250) – both with Audio-Technica cartridges, and Pro-Ject’s $400 E1 Phono – the Audio-Technica LP70X seems to hold its own.
And with the ability to upgrade to a full family of styli that should keep the LP70X sounding good well into my adolescence, I wonder: how good can I make the LP70X sound?
