The 5 Best Turntables For The Money

Looking For The Best Turntable For The Money?

Here’s a look at our favorites, including our top pick – the Audio Technica AT-LP120-USB Direct-Drive Professional Turntable.

Audio-Technica AT-LP120-USB Direct-Drive Professional Turntable (USB & Analog), Silver

Price Disclaimer

Turntables have been a staple of modern music for some time now. And while yes, record scratching goes in and out of style, knowing your way around a turntable is more than just scratching. For the audiophiles who will never record scratch or DJ but just want to listen to their Frank Zappa collection, well we’ve hand selected turntables that can handle that too.

If you’re a DJ, learning the ins and outs of a turntable will help you with song transitions, mashups, and once you’ve mastered all there is to know you’ll have a much more expanded musical mind when constructing new songs. If you’re just a music fan, then sit back and enjoy your favorite records like you’ve never heard them before, seriously.

It’s especially important now if you’re an aspiring DJ, to set yourself apart from every laptop DJ, and move beyond the digital realm into the analog. There’s just something about physical records that everyone agrees trumps the digital form. So, with that in mind, let’s now take a look at the 5 Best Turntables For The Money.

What to Look For in a Turntable For The Money:

• Price – This is the most important because you don’t want to overspend. Get yourself an affordable turntable with all of the features, and if you fall in love, then upgrade your setup to a more expensive professional rig.
• Quality – We make sure that all of the turntables on our list are highly sophisticated units. We even compound reviews from different sites and make sure people all agree about the high quality of these turntables.
• Usability – Some turntables can be cumbersome or non-intuitive to use. We prefer that our turntables are easy to use, portable when possible, and also offer a smooth glide with absolutely no skips.

Audio Technica AT-LP120-USB Direct-Drive Professional Turntable (Black) w/ Knox Carbon Fiber Brush Cleaner & Additional AT95E Cartridge

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While the Audio Technica AT-LP120 is a bit more expensive than some of our other options, we believe the high quality of this product is worth that price tag. The direct drive turntable technology is superior to many belt driven turntables, though we should mention that belt driven turntables do do a fine job, direct drive is preferred by some professionals in the DJ industry.

If however you’re just looking for high quality audio reproduction, maybe one of our cheaper turntable options is right for you.

Musitrend LP 3-Speed Turntable with Built-in Stereo Speakers, Vintage Style Record Player Support Vinyl-To-MP3 Recording, RCA Output, Natural Wood

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If you’re looking for an affordable turntable, that still packs a lot of features, then the Musitrend 3 Speed Turntable is your best best. This particular turntable is built to last for a long time, and this is evident because of the amount of positive reviews the Musitrend 3 Speed Turntable has earned around the web.

One of the best parts about the Musitrend 3 Speed Turntable is the classic natural wood look that some of us love so much. In addition to great looks, the Musitrend 3 Speed can also tranfer vinyl to mp3 so that you can move your record collection onto your computer.

This turntable features auto ON/OFF capabilities so the unit powers off when the record is over. There’s also stereo RCA out so you can hook it up to your home some system, as well as an aux input so you can then play music from your cellphone through your new record player, and out of your home sound system without moving anything around.

Photive SoulTracks Portable 3-Speed Turntable with built in Speakers. Vinyl Stereo Record Player Fully Automatic Belt-Drive- Blue

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Now, if you’re shopping based on value alone, then the Photive SoulTracks Portable 3-Speed Turntable is probably right for you because it doesn’t get more inexpensive than this turntable. This is a full functioning 3-Speed Turntable with a proven track record of having adequate quality.

It’s apparent from user reivews that people are starting to warm up to this little turntable. Also, a huge plus with this turntable is the portability factor, so even if this is not your main turntable you can still take this out camping when you’re looking to really disconnect.

The Photive SoulTracks Portable has RCA and headphone jack outputs allowing you to easily hook this up to your home sound system for amazing quality. Additionally, when you’re not at home the portable speakers allow you to show your new favorite song to a friend or band-mate in style.

Audio Technica AT-LP60BK-USB Fully Automatic Belt-Drive Stereo Turntable (USB & Analog), Black

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This is one of the most popular turntables on the market. The design and build quality packaged together with an affordable price point make this belt driven turntable hard to beat. Earlier in our buyer’s guide we talked about the more expensive AT-LP120 from Audio Technica so we wanted to make sure that we also addressed the more affordable Audio Technica AT-Lp60 Turntable.

If you’re not a professional, then you might not even notice the differences between these two Audio Technica units, and in that case we suggest picking up the cheaper option if you’re just going to be listening to your record collection. What’s additionally great about the Audio Technica AT-LP60 is that you can convert vinyl records to a digital format on your mac or windows computer.

Crosley CR8005D-TW Cruiser Deluxe Portable 3-Speed Turntable with Bluetooth, Tweed

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Crosley makes some of the best portable turntables on the affordable turntable market today. What’s great about the Crosley Cruiser Deluxe Portable is that is has bluetooth, which is an almost unheard of feature in the world of turntables. So if you’re someone with a fantastic bluetooth speaker setup at home, then going with the Crosley CR8005D-TW Cruiser Deluxe Portable is sort of an obvious choice.

The Crosley Cruiser Deluxe Portable is a record player for those who strictly want to enjoy their collection with no extra frills attached, and what could be better than that. If you’re looking for an affordable, ultra stylish, and portable turntable than you really can’t beat a Crosley.

The Crosley Cruiser Deluxe Portable features RCA and headphones output, bluetooth, and even pitch control for when you’re dealing with an older warped record and want to achieve the best sound quality. Crosley is such a household name in the portable record player market and will continue to hold that position.

Takeaways

Whether you just want to appreciate your record collection in a portable manner, or on a new higher quality turntable, or you have DJ gigs booked and are looking to step your game up, our turntable’s buyers guide has it all.

If you didn’t find the turntable you were looking for, then please let us know because we strive to make our list as effective as possible for those looking to buy the best turntable for the money.

Nicky Babineaux

I started Music Store Central with one simple goal, to help answer all the questions that I know other musicians have. I wanted to make buying new instruments and gear for your passion completely effortless.