The AT-LPW50PB is the top model among the belt-driven budget players, but has to find itself well behind the more elaborate mid-range player AT-LP7 in the hierarchy. This one also has belt drive, but at double price.

So Audio-Technica’s latest turntable, the AT-LPW50PB, is designed to enhance the company’s long-standing engineering reputation while offering a little convenience and interior decor sympathy at the same time. The Audio-Technica AT-VM95E delivered all the songs on ‘Harvest’ smoothly, fluidly and very musically, and you can’t really ask for much more than that. The AT-LPW50PB is equipped with a built-in selectable phono preamp and a detachable dual RCA output cable to enable direct connection to components with or without a dedicated phono input. FEATURES 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. 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.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 red trace on Graph 4 shows channel separation vs. frequency and you can see that channel separation reaches a best result of 27dB at 1kHz (7dB better than specification), and maintains this level of performance out to around 6kHz before diminishing to around 20dB at 10kHz and down to 10dB at 20kHz. The carbon fiber tonearm is cleanly finished and sonically helpful. However, the bearings could be better. 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.)

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 The tonearm is a straight-line carbon-fibre statically-bal­anced type with spring- applied anti-skating. The AT-LPW50PB has two speeds on tap — 33 1/3 and 45 rpm — selected via the rotary switch at the front left of the plinth. Although the switch has a central ‘Off Related: Best turntables Audio-Technica AT-LPW50PB build & features – Connections give it flexibility for hooking up other sourcesThe AT-LPW50BT-RW turntable made the album sound even better when it had a wired connection to a component system. I tested it with both the built-in phono preamp and through my own NAD phono stage. The dedicated NAD unit sounded better with slightly more detail, but not by as much of a margin as I expected. Should you buy the Audio-Technica AT-LPW50BT-RW turntable? Currently at the top of that list is the AT-LPW50PB, available in Australia after some anticipation, given that it launched in the USA at virtual CES 2020. 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). 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.

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. 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.

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Audio Technica AT-LPW50PB has built-in RIAA, but may always be bypassed if using external RIAA or RIAA integrated in amplifier. 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.

We put on the current Woodkid album S16: The Audio-Technica AT-LPW50PB presents the lush string arrangements in a wide and powerful way in an impressively large space. That should correspond to the intention of the producer, who not without reason put the orchestra in London’s Abbey Road Studios recorded. Their huge Studio 1 is famous for its rich, wide sound. And Audio-Technica reproduces this very well.The Audio-Technica AT-LPW50PB comes with a clear Perspex dustcover and spring-loaded hinges. It’s nice that these are provided standard, rather than as an optional extra. The spring-loading of the hinges means that if you give the lid a slight push when you first lift it, it will rise automatically to the fully open position without further input from you. These two gold-plated RCA outputs have a diameter that is very slightly smaller than standard, so using standard RCA plugs results in a rather ‘loose’ fit and a tenuous electrical connection. You can fix this by squeezing in the outer (negative) ring of the plugs on the cable before you use them.