The All-in-One Speaker Built to Sit Under Your Turntable

If you've ever set up a turntable, you know how much space a proper system can take over. A receiver, an amp, a pair of speakers, and enough cable to trip over, all just to hear your records. Victrola's new Soundstage is built to get rid of all of it, and it does something most audio advice tells you never to do: it puts a speaker directly underneath your turntable.

What Is the Victrola Soundstage?

The Soundstage is a low profile, self-contained speaker system that doubles as your turntable's stand. Instead of running cables to a receiver and back out to a pair of bookshelf speakers, you place your turntable directly on top of the unit, connect a single RCA cable, and you have a complete stereo speaker with a built in subwoofer. No receiver. No separate amp. No speaker wire running across the room.

We received an early sample from Victrola in the walnut finish ahead of its public debut, though it's also available in black if you want something more understated. Either color keeps the footprint compact: just under 17 inches wide, a little over 15 inches deep, and about 3.5 inches tall. It's built to disappear under most turntables rather than sit there as its own separate component, and at just over 9 pounds, it's substantial enough to hold a turntable steady without any wobble.

In the box, you'll find the Soundstage itself, a power cable, an RCA cable, and a remote control.

Setup and the Phono Preamp Question

Setup is about as close to plug and play as vinyl gear gets. Place the Soundstage where you want it, connect power, then run the included RCA cable between your turntable and the back of the unit. The RCA input is auto-sensing, meaning the speaker actually detects the incoming signal and wakes itself up automatically, switching straight into RCA mode without you touching a button.

One important detail: the Soundstage does not have a built in phono preamp. Realistically, that only matters if your turntable doesn't already have one on board, since adding a separate outboard preamp to a system built around this kind of simplicity and price point isn't worth it in most cases. This is actually why the Soundstage pairs so well with Victrola's own Automatic, Wave, and Stream turntables. All three already have a built in preamp and output a line level signal the Soundstage can use as is, no extra components required. Their footprints line up closely too, with the Wave measuring roughly 16.9 by 14.8 inches and the Stream Sapphire coming in at 16.9 by 13.6 inches, both sitting neatly within the Soundstage's own footprint.

You're not limited to Victrola's own lineup, though. Any turntable with RCA outputs will work, just check your table's footprint against the Soundstage's dimensions first, since not every turntable is going to sit cleanly on a base this size.

The Technology: SDW and BMR

Here's the part that raises an eyebrow. Conventional wisdom says to keep speakers off the same shelf as your turntable entirely, and definitely never stack one directly underneath. That's not just caution for caution's sake. Vibration from a speaker cabinet can transfer straight into the tonearm and show up as feedback or rumble in your signal. So why is Victrola doing exactly that on purpose?

The answer is a technology Victrola calls SDW, or Symmetric Drive Woofer. It's a down-firing subwoofer setup using two opposing drivers that fire against each other, canceling out their own vibration in the process. That matters specifically because a turntable sits directly on top of this speaker. If the bass output caused the cabinet to shake even slightly, that vibration would transfer straight into the tonearm and stylus, resulting in feedback, skipping, or smeared low end bleeding into whatever you're listening to. By canceling that vibration at the source, Victrola can push some real bass extension without disturbing the turntable sitting right above it.

The other technology at work is BMR, or Balanced Mode Radiator. Instead of firing sound in one direction like a typical driver, BMR drivers radiate outward in multiple directions at once. That widens the stereo image so you're not stuck in a narrow sweet spot directly in front of the speaker, an important detail for something that spends its life sitting below eye level rather than at ear height like traditional stereo speakers.

Our Listening Impressions

To see if the engineering actually holds up outside of a spec sheet, we tested the Soundstage in a few smaller rooms ourselves, running it with a Victrola Stream Sapphire turntable on top. We came away impressed with how much sound this compact box produces. Pushing the volume well past normal listening levels, we never picked up on any hum, feedback, or rumble making its way back into the turntable, exactly what the SDW woofers are designed to prevent. The BMR drivers also did a solid job widening the stereo image for a single cabinet, giving the sound noticeably more width and space than you'd expect from one box sitting under a turntable.

That said, it's worth setting realistic expectations. Even with BMR working to widen the image, the Soundstage isn't going to replicate the channel separation or soundstage of an actual pair of stereo speakers spread a few feet apart in a dedicated listening room. That's simply the nature of fitting both channels into one cabinet, regardless of how clever the driver layout is. Where the Soundstage genuinely makes sense is in spaces where a real two speaker setup either doesn't fit or isn't the goal in the first place, like a bedroom, home office, dorm room, or small apartment where you want good sound out of your records without committing to a full hi-fi system.

Connectivity and Features

The Soundstage covers more ground than just turntable duty. Inputs include RCA for your turntable, an optical input for using it as a compact TV soundbar, USB-C for a computer or a USB drive loaded with MP3 or WAV files, and Bluetooth 6.0 for streaming from your phone. It also supports Auracast, letting it receive a broadcast from another Victrola Auracast product or create its own broadcast to send to other Auracast enabled speakers around the house. Around back, there's a dedicated subwoofer output for anyone who wants to add an external sub down the road, along with a bass filter that hands low end duty over to that sub instead of the Soundstage handling both.

A gain adjustment hidden behind a long press of the RCA remote button lets you match the output level of your specific turntable or phono preamp, since those can vary quite a bit between setups, a small but thoughtful touch. There's also a small digital display tucked behind the front grille that stays invisible until it's lit, confirming whatever setting you're adjusting. Leave the Soundstage alone for 20 minutes with no signal and it automatically drops into an energy saving standby, waking back up the moment your turntable or another source starts playing.

Where the Soundstage Has Room for Improvement

A few honest nitpicks worth knowing before you buy. There's no companion app, so every adjustment lives on the remote or the front knob rather than your phone, and firmware updates have to be checked manually at victrola.com instead of being pushed automatically. Auracast is a nice inclusion, but it only really pays off if you're already building a small system of other Victrola Auracast products, so most buyers will lean on standard Bluetooth streaming instead. We'd also have liked to see HDMI eARC included. Optical gets the job done for pairing with a TV, but eARC would mean a single cable instead of a separate optical connection, plus the ability to control volume directly from your TV remote. Since the Soundstage already doubles as a compact soundbar, that feels like a missed opportunity to make the TV use case as simple as the turntable use case.

Who Should Buy the Victrola Soundstage

The Soundstage is a smart answer to a common problem: wanting real sound out of a turntable without committing to a full stack of separate components. It's an especially strong fit for a bedroom system, a small apartment, a dorm room, or any secondary space where one box handling everything matters more than maximum stereo separation. If you already own a Victrola Automatic, Wave, or Stream turntable, it's an even easier decision, since the two are designed to sit together and match visually.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the Victrola Soundstage have a built-in phono preamp? No. The Soundstage relies on your turntable already having a preamp built in, or having its own line-level output. It pairs well with Victrola's own Automatic, Wave, and Stream turntables for this exact reason, since all three already output a line-level signal.

What turntables work with the Victrola Soundstage? Any turntable with RCA outputs will work, provided it already has a built-in preamp or you're using an external one. It's designed to visually and physically pair with Victrola's Automatic, Wave, and Stream lines, but isn't limited to them. Just check your turntable's footprint against the Soundstage's dimensions before buying.

Can the Victrola Soundstage be used as a TV soundbar? Yes. It includes an optical input, making it usable as a compact soundbar for smaller TVs in addition to its turntable duties.

Does the Victrola Soundstage support multi-room audio? It supports Auracast, which allows it to receive a broadcast from another Victrola Auracast product or create its own broadcast for other Auracast enabled speakers to join.

Can I add an external subwoofer to the Victrola Soundstage? Yes. There's a dedicated subwoofer output on the back, along with a bass filter that hands low-end duty over to the external sub.

What colors does the Victrola Soundstage come in? Black and walnut.

Where can I see the Victrola Soundstage in person? Victrola is showing it for the first time at Audio Advice Live 2026, taking place August 7th through 9th in Raleigh.

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