Amazon's Prime Day – one of the best sales events of the year – is a, er, prime time to upgrade your TV or headphones, or build an audio system from scratch.
But that typically requires at least a three-figure spend, and if you've spent all your spare cash all on your summer holiday, you may be looking to indulge in smaller ticket purchases this Prime week instead. Such as affordable turntable accessories.
Indeed, if you listen to records at home, there are three turntable accessories worth considering to ensure you're making the most of your collection.
They typically don't cost the earth, Prime Day or not, but the Amazon sales event is shaving off the pounds here and there to make them even more grabbable!
While we haven't tested the specific three recommendations below, we have only chosen Prime Day deals on products with exceptional user reviews. And we use similar products on a daily basis in our hi-fi test rooms and at home ourselves, so we can certainly vouch for how useful they are.
1. Record cleaner brush – £11.35
Yes, you should clean your records with a microfibre cloth to rid them of pesky grime or dirt, but unfortunately they will attract dust every time they are removed from their sleeve thanks to pesky static.
Anti-static brushes like the one below have been around for decades, but remain simple, quick and handy tools for limiting noise in vinyl playback caused by dust. Just pop it down on the record before you spin it for dust-free playback!
2. Record weight – £16.99
For optimum performance, your needle should move as little as possible, so adding weight should reduce vibrations and help to keep your needle still.
Extra weight will also help when it comes to playing slightly warped records that aren't perfectly flat, ensuring optimum tracking for better sound.
3. Stylus gauge – £11.71
One of the most important accessories, critical to turntable performance, is a stylus gauge, which measures the cartridge stylus's tracking weight; i.e how much force the needle is putting on your record.
If the tracking weight is set too high, the sound becomes dull and ponderous, and could ultimately ruin your records by etching too deeply. Too low, however, and the cartridge won’t track the groove properly, resulting in a thin sound.
MORE:
Check out all the Prime Day vinyl deals live right now
Apple AirPods Pro 2 are now just £179 at Amazon
If you want a cheap turntable during Prime Day, just buy this five-star Pro-Ject and thank me later
Check out more useful turntable accessories, picked by our hi-fi experts
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