Forty-Three Years Later, I Bought A New Turntable! Audio-Technica AT-LP120XUSB.

September 16, 2019

#332

Gentle reader,

The title suggests that I have been using the same turntable since 1976. That is not correct. I have had a number of them in the intervening forty-three years.

However, 1976 was the first time I bought a NEW turntable. It was a B.I.C 940 with optional walnut base and smoke tint dustcover.  I don't remember what cartridge I used.

NOTE: If you click on any photo, a second window will open OVER this one. The pictures will be larger and you can either click through them or use < and > arrow keys to look at them.

I don't remember what I paid for it either, but with inflation, if I paid $100, it would be $460 today. So this Audio-Technica AT-LP120XUSB at $249 is a STEAL.

Above is a photo I just found on the Internet of a Technics SL-1200 professional turntable. 

They have come out with newer versions of it, and they sell for BIG money. 

A little known fact: Once a patent runs out, anyone can copy a product and not be sued for doing so.

See all those ROLEX Daytona watches with the three sub-dials on the top row? Well, they are all fakes, so is the gold "president" top-left and the "submariner" on the bottom-right. Visit Hong Kong and one can find thousands of ROLEX copies.
Trying to get them through Customs is something else entirely.

Now, look at the bottom row. They LOOK just like ROLEX Daytona watches but are made by other companies. All made legally and ROLEX could care less. It is only when fakes are made with their name on it, that they get upset.

Many legitimate turntable manufacturers make fine USB output turntables. I have used a DENON direct drive turntable for many years. I considered the one DENON make but chose this one instead. I like the looks and it got great reviews.

 

Audio-Technica pays homage to that legendary Technics turntable with the AT-120USB. Note the "USB" in the name. They were originally made for people who want to make digital copies of their precious LPs onto computer hard drives or perhaps cell phones?

Mine, is an AT-120XUSB. The "X" means that it can still be used with a computer, but also is designed to be used with a stereo. It has the USB output and in addition a pair of RCA output terminals. AND it has a switchable built-in phono preamplifier. 

What that means is if your receiver or integrated amplifier does NOT have PHONO inputs, you can use this turntable by plugging it into any line-level (non-phono) stereo input and still play records.

There are all kinds of YouTube videos of people "unboxing" things they have bought. Well, I don't do videos, but since this is my first new turntable in forty-three years, I thought, "Why not unbox?"

The delivery driver warned me, "Careful, it's heavy." And he was correct.

I love the way they packed it to make it around the world and still arrive safely.

I lifted the heavy portion out of the box carefully.

Beneath that is the platter and two smaller boxes on each side of it.

Stowed in little cubby holes are various pieces that need to be installed. The cartridge, an Audio-Technica AT-VM95E Dual Magnet™ phono cartridge with 0.3 x 0.7 mil elliptical stylus. 

That cartridge is well reviewed and I bought one years ago to use on my Denon turntable.

I chose all-black to match the rest of my components. Because this is Direct Drive, there is no belt to install or break later.

Platter, headshell-cartridge and counterweight are now installed.

As is the mat above and dustcover, below.

I have not seen an unmarked dustcover in forever! I've owned 20 other turntable over the years, possibly more. Those 20 are ones that I have photos of and I did not have a camera until April, 1995. Oh, and they were all bought used.

The instructions show that one rotates the counterweight until the tonearm floats levelly. 
Then turn the counterweight to 2.0 and set the anti-skating to the same number.
However, the arm has such low friction bearings (a good thing!) that it kept going up and down.
So I got out my trusty SHURE SFG-2 stylus pressure gauge and set the stylus force to 1.5 grams and the anti-skating the same. 2 grams is the upper limit of this cartridge.

SHURE has a handy little mirror to see if the setting is correct. These two photos have a blue tint because the LED light (below, to the left of the turntable) although it looks white to our eyes, there is a blueish tint to a camera's sensor.

The new 'table is larger and heavier than the old, circa 1987, Denon turntable and the shortness of my RCA cable indicated it had to be off center on the top shelf.

Above is a photo from May of this year, the thick blue cables angling up are for the turntable. The Denon's RCA terminals which I installed, are on the left side, back. The A-T's are centrally located. 

I had to fight my OCD to accept this, but I have accepted that fact. I'm glad I only have minor OCD tendencies. Mostly, I am driven towards neatness and order in the house. Not a bad thing. 

On Nancy's day off, we went to Salvation Army, which is the furthest thrift store from us.
I spotted the chair above, it is from IKEA, we had two of them when we first converted the largest bedroom upstairs into a den, which you can see below:

They did not offer leather cushions then and I wanted a red one. Nancy wanted beige. We did opt for the matching ottomans. This is from May, 2010.

This is what the room looked like last month. The only difference is my much-loved, but threadbare Barcalounger wingback chair (I shot this standing behind it) is missing and the Denon turntable is still in place.

I had wanted a wingback chair for a long time. Finding one that fits my 6'3" height was difficult. In fact, I found this chair at the same store and couldn't wait to get it home!

See the black areas? Those are threadbare. Where one's hands rest on the front of the armrests are worse. Also, where the "wings" meet the armrests, holes are worn into them.

I actually had to turn the volume down for the rear speakers quite a bit as the "wings" blocked them and this wonderful chair does not. Not bad for thirty bucks. They are $149 new and the matching ottoman is another $129. So, I won't be getting one of those.

Yesterday was the first time I have sat down in the chair to listen to music. It fits me perfectly.

So, there you have it, my first and probably last, unboxing. I really appreciate your taking the time to read my humble blog. Your kind words and comments are what keeps me writing.

Scott
September 16, 2019
#332