With the holidays coming up, it's time to start looking for the perfect gift for your favorite aspiring audiophile. Luckily, we've done the work for you and put together a list of 2021's best turntables under $500. Here's our top ten.
Audio-Technica LP120XUSB - $299.00
Music Hall MMF 1.3 - $299.00
U-Turn Orbit Plus - $329.00 - $399.00
Denon DP 300F - $399.00
Pro-Ject T1 - $429.00 - $449.00
U-Turn Orbit Special - $499.00 - $569.00
Rega Planar 1 - $525.00 - $645.00
Pro-Ject RPM1 Carbon - $599.00
If you are looking for a good quality turntable to listen to your vinyl records, we recommend a minimum budget of $300-$500.
While you may have seen record players for as little as $50, these turntables are often more for novelty purposes. They’re more like a toy or an item that looks cool on a shelf than a piece of actual audio equipment. Due to their low build-quality and cheap parts, they won’t provide the signature sound you’re looking for and may even damage your precious vinyl records. With new records going for $30+, we think it's worth investing a few hundred dollars in a great turntable to assure your vinyl collection will last for years.
Starting around $300, you can get a nice quality turntable. While the sky's the limit (we sell turntables that cost well into the thousands of dollars), $300-$500 is an excellent budget for a turntable that will produce a great sound, won’t damage your records and will last for decades. To help with your decision, we've put together the 10 Best Turntables Under $500. If you have any questions on which table is the best for your situation, please do not hesitate to chat with us online or call us.
Our blog is full of turntable product reviews, a turntable buyers guide, and table comparisons should you want to take a deeper dive into researching your next turntable purchase.
The Pro-Ject Debut Carbon EVO was not on the market when we did our best of turntables under $500 video, but we had to add it to the list as it is just so great for the money. Pro-Ject took their best selling turntable ever, the Debut Carbon DC, and added many upgrades that vastly improved the sound.
Their new X Series at a much higher price point makes use of ThermoPlastic Elastomers (TPE) for damping. The new EVO gets adjustable TPE and aluminum feet, a TPE damped platter, a totally different motor mount that isolates both mechanical and electrical energy, and a brand new cartridge, the Sumiko Rainier.
The Rainier phono cartridge tracks incredibly well with a very warm, musical sound that simply draws you into the music. You even have 9 different color choices to choose from.
We feel with these updates, the new EVO is probably the best turntable on the market under $500!
LEARN MORE about the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon EVO Turntable now.
Most of the turntables we’re reviewing today are more for music listening than DJing, but the Audio-Technica LP120XUSB is good for both! It’s has a high-torque direct-drive motor and even comes with a slip mat and adjustable pitch.
A built-in preamp means you don’t need a separate preamplifier. The USB output connects directly to your Mac or PC which makes it great for DJing as well as digitizing your record collection.
LEARN MORE about the Audio Technica LP120XUSB turntable.
The Essential III comes in three versions, one basic (), one with a built-in phono preamp () and one with Bluetooth (). They all look similar in appearance to the best selling Debut Carbon, but Pro-Ject used some great engineering to have the starting price at .
The Pro-Ject Essential III is a belt-drive table and comes with an Ortofon OM10 cartridge. It has a high-density MDF platter and a very impressive fully adjustable tonearm. The platter bearing is made of a combination of stainless steel, bronze, and Teflon to minimize friction.
They even include high-quality semi-balanced interconnect cables with gold-plated connectors. The overall value included here makes this one of the best turntables in its price range.
LEARN MORE about the Pro-Ject Essential III Turntable.
The MMF 1.3 is a belt-drive table in a sleek piano black finish. It comes paired with a pre-mounted Audio Technica AT3600L cartridge and even has a built-in phono preamp.
It’s a 3-speed table and has built-in speed control and a knob on the top of the plinth, allowing you to quickly and accurately switch between 78, 45, and 38. The platter is made of aircraft-grade aluminum and an included rubber mat minimizes vibration.
This is our least expensive belt-drive turntable with a built-in phono preamp, which makes it a great option to pair with a powered set of speakers.
LEARN MORE about the Music Hall MMF Turntable.
Music Hall MMF-1.3 Turntable
U-Turn offers a variety of options on the Orbit, but the version of the Plus that we stock at Audio Advice offers some of the best value options with no frills. The table is proudly assembled at U-Turns Woburn, MA factory, right here in the US.
The U-Turn Orbit Plus comes with an acrylic platter for great speed stability. It comes with an Ortofon OM5E pre-mounted and the gimbal tonearm features an internal anti-skate and adjustable counterweight. You have the option of purchasing this table without a built-in preamp, but adding it still keeps the table under $400 and eliminates the need for an external phono stage.
LEARN MORE about the U-Turn Orbit Plus Turntable.
U-Turn Audio Orbit Plus Turntable
Audio Advice was one of the first Denon dealers in the US back in 1979 when their first product was a turntable. The Denon DP 300F is right in the mix with the others, offering a heavy construction and a built-in phono preamp. It comes with a pre-mounted moving magnet (MM) cartridge, so you can enjoy your favorite albums minutes after you get your DP 300F out of the box.
The DP300F is fully automatic which makes it the best turntable for the person who would rather have the turntable do all of the critical work. You just press a button and it will start itself, lower on to the record, then pick up and return at the end of the record. Weighing in at 12 pounds, this is a solid table that also has the ability to upgrade the phono cartridge down the road.
LEARN MORE about the Denon DP 300F turntable.
The T1 is a brand new table from Pro-Ject Audio that is the result of their decades of experience in turntable design. The T1 comes two ways now (a Bluetooth version is also coming soon), the basic version for $429.00 - $449.00 or with a built-in phono preamp for $449.00 .
The SB version with the built-in preamp also has electronic speed control to switch between 33 and 45.
The T1 benefits from a newly designed isolation foot, a plinth, and sub-platter, plus a glass main platter for a good flywheel effect. You’ll get an Ortofon OM5E moving magnet cartridge and the built-in phono stage was designed to perfectly match this cartridge. The new tonearm designed for the T1 is also made to go with the Ortofon OM5E. This arm has some of the best bearings we have seen in this price range.
For $429.00 - $449.00 , the T1 is a great table, although we have to say if you can afford the extra $70, the next step up for the Debut Carbon gets you a better arm and phono cartridge. The best value here is probably the SB version with the built-in phono preamp.
LEARN MORE about the Pro-ject T1 turntable.
Pro-Ject T1 Turntable
The Orbit Special is the step up from the U-Turn Orbit Plus. You’ll get a much better cartridge in the Ortofon Red and an absolutely beautiful wooden plinth in maple or walnut. Everything else about the table is the same as the Orbit Plus, but your $170 does buy you a big cartridge improvement, the $40 cue lever, and a gorgeous solid wood plinth sourced from sustainable forests in Indiana and Pennsylvania.
If you are interested in a table that not only performs well, but is beautiful to look at, and as a bonus is made in the USA, the Orbit Special is a wonderful choice.
LEARN MORE about the U-Turn Orbit Special turntable.
U-Turn Audio Orbit Special Turntable
At Audio Advice, we absolutely love Rega turntables. In fact, the Rega Planar 3 is our best-selling table as of this write-up. The Rega Planar 1 (or P1) is the first in their Planar lineup and it’s truly an incredible value.
First, it’s one of the simplest and easiest turntables to set up. We even have a setup video if you need help. Just balance the weight onto the tonearm, remove the stylus guard and you’re good to go!
The P1 comes with the Rega Carbon MM cartridge pre-mounted on Rega’s RB110 tonearm. Rega typically makes higher-end tables — the P1 is the first model in its range to feature a 24 volt synchronous AC motor with a low-noise aluminum pulley.
If you’re ready for an upgrade down the road but don’t want a whole new table, a performance pack is available that includes a reference drive belt, a 100% wool mat, and the Rega Bias 2 moving magnet cartridge. This is a great upgrade path for a starter turntable.
LEARN MORE about the Rega Planar 1 turntable.
Rega Planar 1 Turntable
The Pro-Ject RPM1 Carbon was specifically designed to be a high-quality table that doesn’t compromise sound quality, at an entry-level price. Before we even get into the features, it’s worth mentioning that this is a very cool-looking table. It only has as much plinth as is necessary, extending just barely beyond the size of the record itself.
A combination of a low resonance chassis with an inverted MDF platter bearing and a ceramic ball minimizes noise and reduces rumble. An outboard 15 Volt AC motor is driven using an ultra-precision AC generator with DC power supply for enhanced speed stability.
The RPM1 comes with an S-shaped tonearm constructed from a combination of carbon, aluminum, and resin and comes with a Sumiko Pearl cartridge pre-mounted. It’s right at the top of the price range we’re discussing today, but if it’s in your budget and you like space-age high tech looks, the RPM1 Carbon is an incredible table.
LEARN MORE about the Pro-Ject RPM1 Carbon turntable.
Pro-Ject RPM 1 Carbon Turntable
At Audio Advice, we love vinyl. There’s just something special about thumbing through the bins, taking a brand new record out of the sleeve, looking at the cover art, dropping the needle, and losing yourself in the warm, rich sound.
Vinyl listening is an experience and our four decades of experience tells us that you can get that experience these days for as little as $300-$500. All of these turntables are a good value, it’s just a matter of finding the one that’s right for you.
Are you interested in a simple setup? How about advanced features? Maybe you’re more about the design of the table? If you’ve read through this entire article and still have questions, please feel free to chat with us -- not only are we happy to help you decide, but we love doing it!
Setting up your Pro-Ject PRO turntable will be fun and go smoothly if you prepare for everything you’ll need in advance. We hope this guide enables you to be spinning some vinyl and enjoying music faster than you expected.
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