AUDIO-TECHNICA AT-LP5

Audio-Technica’s headphones and microphones are arguably the company’s most well-known and widely used products today, but the company was founded in 1962 to manufacture phono cartridges, and was established by none other than Hideo Matsushita, better known as founder of Panasonic and thereby Technics (whose turntable fame is currently under redevelopment). Audio-Technica is still privately owned and operated by Hideo’s son, Kazuo Matsushita, who took over following the death of his father in 2013. Audio-Technica has continued its cartridge production all through its existence, also diversifying — it launched the first ever microcassette recorders in 1969, its first headphones in 1974.

The first Audio-Technica turntable was in 1980, an unusual battery-powered machine called ‘Mister Disc’. This newly-released AT-LP5 turntable maintains a penchant for