Audio-Technica AT-LPW50PB

udio-Technica is hitting 50 years in the vinyl business, having begun life as a maker of cartridges. In recent years the brand has become a go-to for high-value turntables from the lowest imaginable prices for a real deck, up to the AT-LP7 at $1399. That puts this AT-LPW50PB somewhere in the middle at $749, for what is a no-frills deck, belt-driven and designed for out-and-out performance with vinyl. There’s no USB output, no Bluetooth — though it does come with an in-built phono stage, great for the many potential customers who may want to plug their turntable into something other than a hi-fi amp that is either old enough or new enough to have a phono stage.