Audio-Technica AT-PL120 Professional Direct-Drive Turntable

This a great turntable that tracks beautify. Its only flaw for me is that it does not lift up at the end of the record; probably designed that way for JD's, since it also plays backwards. I replaced a 30 year old Dual 704 direct drive turntable; this is better and without the quirks. I have owned the AT-PL 120 about month and was going to replace the cartridge with a Shure M97XE, but for records from the mid 60's and before I haven't needed to. It plays those scratched old records like the Dual never would. The motor has great torque.

I already own several other decks but I wanted one that spun three speeds so I didn't have to swap out a turntable just for 78's and I wanted the simplicity of just changing cartridge headshells w/ stylus' for 78's.

I also have a Technics SL 1200 so in comparison to that, this deck isn't a bad contender. Obviously they look a lot alike, but so do other turntables that try to mimick the SL 1200.

But, my quest was for a decent turntable for the various speeds and they aren't easily found. I tried a Thorens TD-190 deck because it offered 3 speeds as well as having auto-play but it was a piece of crap. It was a 500 dollar machine and it cost me [...] bucks just to send it back. It had poor isolation, it howled and was very cheaply made.

When I saw the AT PL-120 I gave it some hard thought in regards to trying another TT in hopes of finding one that works well. I also had to wait to purchase one because they were going through the design change for a USB output.

After receiving it I must say that I'm not disappointed. It isn't as well made as the Technics SL1200 and here are a couple things I can say that differ.

The arm looks a little bit more cheaply made but only in regards to the rear plastic assembly of the tube. Other than that, it looks the same and functions and tracks very well.

The tone-arm base to the plynth isn't as well constructed as the SL1200 as seen by the anti-skate knob, the VTA adjuster and arm lift assembly.

The platter itself isn't the most perfectly machined platter I've seen, but it's only apparent when spinning at 78 RPM.

The plynth isn't as heavy as the SL1200 but it's much better than other decks I've looked at and tried before. It's actually rather heavy, solid and well isolated from foot falls and feedback. I play my system loud and I use a sub-woofer so feedback is a major issue for me.

I didn't need a deck that spins in reverse but it's there if I decide to use it, I guess. I'm not using the cartridge supplied with this unit due it tracks heavier than I prefer and it won't deliver the type of sound I desire. I will install it into an old Garrard TT though so it won't go to waste. I currently am using a Stanton 681EEE cart but I have an AT120 ordered. I also have several other carts in my possesion, along with an AT440mL, that sound very nice on this machine. I also have a Stanton cart for 78's.

I give this turntable 5 stars across the board because I've dealt with lots of decks and I've seen that many on the market fall short of doing the things a turntable need to do like track well, hold their correct speed and isolate themselves from external sound waves.

The cost of the AT PL-120 is a real value in terms of the quality you'll obtain considering the junk you'll likely find with other products.

You might say I have an audiophile way of thinking but I'm not able to afford extravagant gear. I value my sound though and I know what I expect from it. I have good equipment and I don't use junk.

The PL-120 is a good purchase if you're looking for a good playing deck. It has an excellent motor drive that's strong and dead-on.

I advise to stay away from the fancy looking decks that look hi-tech, light weight in construction and made with hollow plastic housings.

Thought I'd toss in my two cents on the hum issue. I bought this player in mid 2008. Sounds great and very durable. Played great without issue, until just a few months ago that is...

Now, when I turn it up to what I would consider the 'low end' of the loud range, I get a low bass feedback kinda sound from primarily the left speaker. Lift the needle off the record at the same volume and no noise. Turn it down a bit and the sound goes away. Funny how it worked fine the first year or so. I recently upgraded the receiver and relocated all of my components to a new location and same thing. And yes, I do have the turntables pre-amp turned off.

It still has the original factory cartridge/needle on it. Maybe the needle is just old and worn and that's why it just started doing this perhaps? I don't know as this is my first turntable. Thought about trying a new cartridge but not sure it's worth the investment. I only paid 125.00 for this unit and a decent quality cartridge looks to run about 75.00 and up.

In reading the reviews, seems alot of the humming units were the older reviews so maybe they corrected grounding issue on the newer units perhaps? I'm not a 'solder kinda guy' so I wont be breaking into the unit for a technical fix. Read that the ground loops affect the sound quality in a negative way so not sure I want to go that route either. Kinda of a downer but what electronic equiptment am I not having to replace every few years these days anyway.....

I must be one of the very lucky of the 200 or so people to purchase, and comment about this turntable here on Amazon and not have any issues with it. I have the AT-PL120 connected to the TV inputs of a Sony STR-DH700 and it outputs warm and wonderful analog like no other turntable I've owned, and I've owned a few in my 41 years of existence. I also own a Stanton T.90 USB turntable, and the AT-PL120 sounds much better and they both have the same cartridge installed, a Ortofon Concorde Gold @ 1.5g. Maybe the Audio-Technica quality control people have hit and miss days at the factory.

Now I do not claim to be some audiophile aficionado, rather I am a common vinyl record collector and lover (on a modest budget) since the age of 3 years old when my mom was nice enough to shower me with a record player and records. I've been hooked since then and never gave up collecting even during the rise and fall of cassettes, CD's, Mini Discs. SACD's, and DVD-Audio. Records just have that special something I can't stop loving.

Anyway if you are looking for a budget turntable that gets the job done of playing your LP's with fantastic results, do not hesitate to make this your next purchase. I am not sorry I did and, neither will you.

After reading many reviews on this turntable, I decided to purchase one while Beach Camera was the prime Amazon partner vendor. The first unit arrived with a broken tone arm latch, and I returned it and received credit. In the meantime, Beach Camera had raised the price by $25, and no other vendor was as inexpensive as my original price of $206 with free shipping. A call to Beach sales got me my replacement at the original price.

It might be of interest to note that Audio Technica USA has a very good parts department (I bought an extra PL120 headshell from them). When I called them to ask about the broken part with which my unit had arrived, they told me that it often breaks through use, that it's easily user replaceable, that they send out several from time to time and they would be glad to send me one free of charge to replace the broken one I got. But it was too late for me to rescind the RMA I asked for and got from Beach Camera.

Right out of the box, this turntable was a dream to set up and use. I experienced no problems with the minor bit of assembly necessary and took great care to balance the tone arm with the headshell and cartridge installed before setting the tracking force at 4 grams - about midway between the lightest and heaviest force AT recommends for the cartridge that comes with the unit. I never had a problem with the "zeroing" dial being too loose that some reviewers have experienced. I set the anti-skate control as AT recommends.

Final leveling the turntable came next (I did a preliminary leveling to assure I got the tonearm balance right), and I was very careful to repeat the process several times to assure I had it absolutely horizontal both front-to-back and side-to-side. I used a small "torpedo" level that fit on the platter, not some circular turntable level which doesn't seem to be as easy to read.

I was very careful to follow the sequence for connecting the audio outputs and AC power that AT recommends. My stereo receiver (Denon) has a phono input, so I didn't have to switch in the built-in pre-amp. I switched on the receiver and the turntable, turned the volume up to beyond listening level and got no hum (at least to my older ears) that others have heard.

Playing some old vinyl was a pleasure - especially with the cueing feature and damped tonearm descent. My LPs sounded as good as I remember - and I do agree with those people who prefer vinyl for its smoother music renditions, less tinny highs and deeper, more natural base notes.

My only complaint was that the user manual wasn't very clear about how to use the leveling pads. I assumed that the leg lengths were, indeed, adjustable. But that should have been made very clear in the instructions.

I also bought the cartridge for playing 78s but haven't installed it yet in the extra headshell I bought. I'm hoping there is some relatively easy way to make both the 33/45 RPM cartridge assembly and the 78 RPM cartridge assembly weigh the same so I don't have to recalibrate the tonearm counterbalance every time I switch from one to the other.