It is said that good things come to those who wait, and it’s a good thing that Audio Technica’s AT-LP-W50PB turntable is finally available in Australia, because I have been anticipating its arrival since its launch in the USA last year at CES 2020 — a show that, due to Covid-19, was a ‘virtual’ event, so that it was not possible for me to see or hear it in the flesh.
My anticipation was partly because of Audio Technica’s unrivalled reputation in the field of all things vinyl, particularly phono cartridges, but more recently, turntables. This famous Japanese company has been in the business for more than half-a-century, after all. But it was also because with the AT-LPW50PB, Audio Technica has finally released a turntable in my wife’s preferred finish (piano black), that’s also a turntable that’s a no-frills, belt-driven model that has been designed for out-and-out performance with vinyl. So I don’t have to pay for a USB output (which I don’t want) nor do I have to pay for Bluetooth connectivity (which I also don’t want).
OK, so it does come with an in-built phono stage, which I personally do not need, being the owner of several external phono stages, both active and passive, as well as owning two amplifiers with phono stages already built in, but I guess that I am not Audio Technica’s typical customer, and that the company has figured out that most of the people catching the wave that is the vinyl resurgence would rather have the convenience of an in-built phono stage, so that they can connect it to, well, pretty much any type of component that has a line-level input, be it an amplifier or a powered loudspeaker.
EQUIPMENT
The first thing I have to say about the new Audio Technica AT-LPW50PB is that it is simply gorgeous! If we were to go on looks alone, there isn’t a single turntable for sale for under $1,000 that looks
