If you’re shopping for a good, cheap, turntable that will do justice to your vinyl this very second, we have only one recommendation.
Ignore all the other cheap, no-name turntable systems that Amazon has on the front page of its Big Deal Days sale, and just buy the five-star Sony PS-LX310BT.
Why? First because, though – for reasons beyond us – Amazon has buried it under a sea of worse options, the player has had its own Big Deal Days discount: you can buy the Sony PS-LX310BT for £179 right now. That's a £20 discount on the turntable's already very reasonable £200 normal price.
The Sony is an easy to use automatic option for people just getting into vinyl. Its plug and play nature and entertaining sound, plus its competitive price are a reason we gave it five-stars. As we say in our review’s verdict:
“The PS-LX310BT is more than just an excellent ‘my first turntable’ option. For those wanting a fully automatic deck with built-in phono stage, it’s one of the best we’ve heard.”
Second, because the cheap turntable we currently recommend in our best record player buying guide has actually gone up in price during the event.
The five-star Pro-Ject Primary E was £199 before Big Deal Days started, but is now £229. Sure it’s still great value, but that’s a big price difference between it and the Sony, hence our slightly nuanced and updated advice for anyone buying this very second.
Third, because most of the cheap turntables Amazon is currently pushing are from brands we’ve never heard of, let alone tested products from. For example, this is the first one the team and I see on Amazon's Big Deal Days hi-fi section. This is the second.
Yes, they may actually be good and we haven’t heard them. But I’ve heard plenty like them during my near two decades as a professional shiny things chaser and unashamed vinyl fan.
In my experience, these systems tend to offer poor audio and, as I detailed in the first every piece I wrote for What Hi-Fi?, have a very heavy tracking force that can damage records if you’re not careful. Which is why we tend to avoid them and recommend you spend more than the price of a vinyl record on your player.
Honestly, deals aside, that’s just a good rule of thumb to go with generally when shopping for hi-fi…
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