Audio-Technica AT-LPW50PB Manual Belt Drive Turntable - Piano Black

Product Information

As mentioned in the introduction to this review, the Audio-Technica AT-LPW50PB has a phono pre-amplifier built in, the output of which is at the rear of the turntable. This is a manual belt-drive design with a speed-change control at the bottom left of the top of the plinth. Regardless of whether it’s playing at 33.3 or 45rpm, the Audio-Technica’s sensor-monitored drive motor is designed to deliver precise rotational stability and consistency. The belt turns a pro-standard anti-resonance aluminium platter. Newport Test Labs measured the voltage at the line output of the AT-LPW50PB as 157mV for a 1kHz test signal at a recorded velocity of 3.54cm per second, which is about that specified by Audio-Technica but appears lower simply because Audio-Technica uses a higher recorded velocity than Newport Test Labs (Audio-Technica’s specification is 200mV at 1 kHz at 5cm per second) when testing. It’s a good result. The included PU is an AT-VM95E, a budget killer that delivers incredibly good value for money. The replaceable stylus may be upgraded to any in the AT-VM95 series, where the three models AT-VMN95EN, VMN95ML and CMN95SL are all very interesting upgrades at a very moderate price. Read Arve's test of AT-VM95E / ML and SL here .

At first, I heard a faint noise between the belt and the pulley or between the belt and the plate. After an hour of running in, nothing could be heard, not even after longer stopping times.The drive system simply requires a short break-in period, which is not unusual. Audio Technica AT-LPW50PB Review – Phono Preamp and Tonearm Admittedly there’s not a lot Audio-Technica can do about the overall look of a record player, and sure enough the AT-LPW50PB is the predictable ‘rectangle with a circle on it’ under a clear Perspex dust cover. Prices valid in stores (all including VAT) until close of business on 28th November 2023. (Some of these web prices are cheaper than in-store, so please mention that you've seen these offers online.)Related: Best turntables Audio-Technica AT-LPW50PB build & features – Connections give it flexibility for hooking up other sources Measured at 45 rpm, the AT-LPW50B’s platter speed was even more stable, so that the measured frequency varied only between 2998Hz and 3000Hz. Again, this is an excellent result. Newport Test Labs has plotted these variations in the speed histogram (Graph 1).

The platter is a lightweight cast aluminum construction with a fixed radius for the flat belt and rib-like bracing towards the center to prevent platter resonance. The flat belt is already stretched and can be grabbed with a red ribbon from the top through the side hole. You put the platter on the platter bearing and pull the belt carefully over the pulley – done. The high dynamics of the album, which, in addition to acoustic orchestra and vocals typical of Woodkids, also offer a wealth of electronic sounds, do not cause any stress for the inexpensive player. This confident impression is repeated in other records from current and ancient production. With the LPW50PB you can also venture into “difficult” material and don’t have to be afraid of dynamically mixed vinyl discs.Hear all the detail that’s been missing from your records, with the beautifully engineered Audio Technica AT-LPW50PB. One of my favourite recordings was recorded by Dutch pianist Jeroen Van Veen in two different versions, both of which are on a double-LP set pressed by Brilliant Classics titled ‘Erik Satie Slow Music: Gymnopedies, Gnossiennes, And Other Works.’ Van Veen achieves a sublime perfection that eludes most pianists. I suspect his success might be because he’s not only also a composer but is also considered by many experts to be one of the leading exponents of minimalism in the world today. These traits, along with him being a great pianist, are obviously what’s required to make the music work! On this album van Veen stretches the concept of slowness to the extreme. One critic wrote of it that: “he creates an hallucinatory effect, a kind of minimal music avant la lettre.”

The first common denominator is that these models all have belt drive, a propulsion concept that is heavily challenged by a new wave of direct-drive turntables, including other budget models from Audio Technica. However, on these models, AT has satisfied those who still prefer belt drive, and there are som o these around. The belt for the Audio-Technica AT-LPW50BT-RW turntable attaches to the drive motor’s pulley underneath the cast-aluminum platter. Indicates whether MUID is transferred to ANID, a cookie used for advertising. Clarity doesn't use ANID and so this is always set to 0. years as a part of the ‘95’ series. As with all the new AT-VM95 Series, it features the same dual-magnet design which, according to audio-technica “duplicates the ‘V’-shaped arrangement of the magnets in the cutter-head [of the recording lathe] and precisely positions the magnets to match the positions of the left and right channels in the groove walls” There’s a commitment to good materials, smart additional features and flexibility for adding other audio components of your choice that makes for a turntable that will grow along with your love of vinyl. Those looking to make the next step on their vinyl adventure should definitely stop off here.A year ago we announced the arrival of new budget players from Audio Tecnica. Two of these were AT-LPW40WN and AT-LPW30TK. Common to these is that they have strong similarities to the model being launched today - the AT-LPW50PB. Belt-driven budget players Playing Mary J. Blige’s No More Drama also saw this turntable turning in a cohesive and musical performance, with a surefooted and robust presentation that remained unflustered even as the song became more demanding, delivering plenty of fine detail and rendering the music with a lovely composure, though this was perhaps partly because it was just a little toned-down in the extreme highs. The light blue dashed vertical line at the centre shows the mean actual speed, which you can see is very slightly lower than 33.33 rpm at 33.324 rpm, so 0.006 rpm slow. Not significant. The purple and red dashed vertical lines show the wow measured according to DIN IEC 386 using both the dynamic method (purple dashes) and the 2 sigma method (red dashes). In terms of percentages, the measured wow using the DIN IEC 386 2 sigma method was 0.08% at 33.33 rpm and 0.07% at 45 rpm.