Upgraded My Audio-Technica AT-LP120XUSB Turntable. Plus, Cartridges I Have Tried.

October 25, 2019

#338

Gentle reader,

When I posted the previous article linked below about buying my first NEW turntable in forty-three years, it was reacted to by some controversial comments. Many feel it is a crappy turntable. I disagree.

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

My previous turntable was a well used Denon DP-23F. I liked it, but even my wife suggested buying a new turntable. Sans dust cover, below.

I had tried numerous cartridges on the Denon, as seen below:

I don't remember the model number of the A-T cartridge, the new 'table came with it's replacement, the AT-VMN95E after almost forty years on the market. This was generally praised by the audio press as a great sounding budget cartridge.

Empire 600 LAC cartridge above.

Ortofon OM-20 was great sounding.

No longer made, this Shure M97xE was also well regarded for great sound for it's price. I loved the built-in brush. 

Sadly, as you can see below, the cantilever broke! In more than forty years in this hobby, I have never seen a cantilever break!

Since the replacement stylus cost nearly as much as the whole unit, I sold it. 

The last cartridge I used was an Ortofon 2M RED as seen below:

The Denon also has an easily removed headshell, but it has a straight tonearm and the angle can get a little off due to somewhat loose tolerances where the shell slides into the arm.

Great macro shot, eh? Anyway, I sold the Denon separately, with a generic empty headshell. 

The combination above was sold separately and the same  buyer bought both. The combined sales almost paid for the new turntable.

The nice thing about "S" shaped tonearms is that the manufacturers all agreed upon a universal mount which means having multiple cartridges is easy and simple removal and replacement.
Of course, one has to set the stylus pressure with each cartridge, once in place.

Below are photos of the new matching A-T headshell and the $89.00 new Ortofon 2M RED cartridge newly mounted.

The Ortofon cantilever is more robust looking and the entire cartridge is larger and considerably heavier. 

I DO like the way the Japanese factory worker neatly routed the wiring on the original headshell combo.

I had to eyeball adjust the distance from the end of the headshell to the tip of the stylus so it would match the A-T cartridge. The shape of the headshell allowed for easy parallel adjustment.

Even though the LED light I have above the turntable appears white to me, it was quite blue to the camera. So, I changed these images to black and white.

Perfectly set.

The aforementioned LED light's base can be seen atop the small CD box set collection at the top of the photo above.

The system prior to buying the new turntable, LED light is seen to the right of the Denon 'table.
Because the RCA terminals on the A-T turntable are centered, I had to offset it to the right since my cables are only 1/2 meter long. 
I told the OCD part of my brain to accept that the new one is not centered.

The more I use this fine turntable, the happier I am that I bought it. While it is modeled after a famous professional 'table from another maker, those portions such as manual speed adjustment, I do not use.
It has a high torque motor which gets up to speed in a fraction of a rotation. It stops equally quickly. It has quartz speed lock and watching the red light shining on the speed dots, when I press START, it is, BAM! at speed. Love it. 

Thank you SO much for taking the time to read my humble blog. It is your kind words and comments that keep me writing.

Scott
October 25, 2019
#338