Audio Technica LP120 - USB Turntable Unbox & Review

The Audio-Technica LP120-USB Turntable is an item I was so stoked to get that I just had to do a review and unbox of it. For the last few years I have had a large Mitsubishi stereo system from 1986 with a record player that was pretty low quality; thus, I didn’t use it as much as I would have liked. Additionally, the enormous cabinet and speakers took up way too much space in my room. I have better things I could do with this space and decided to ditch the ol’ dinosaur accordingly. Not only do I have tons of vinyl from my parents but I have also accumulated a small collection of my own over the recent years, so I needed to get a new player quickly; the LP120 was the obvious choice.
I received an Amazon box that was large enough to sleep in and weighed enough to make me believe that there was a midget sleeping inside. After unboxing it I finally got to man-handle the Audio-Technica box itself and realized this thing weighed a ridiculous amount on its own. I hoped that this would be an indicator of a quality product… of course, further review would be necessary after the unbox. The whole time I was unpacking the small and larger parts neatly organized within the AT-LP120’s box I was realizing just how careful they were in ensuring nothing got damaged during travel. Every piece of packaging was molded with a specific part to accompany it. A perfect fit.
As the parts fell out into my hand each one weighed as much or more than expected. The tonearm counterweight was crisply milled from a solid hunk of metal and polished to a near mirror finish. Audio-Technica then accented it with a nicely textured rubber ring for easy adjustment and a clean look. Even the 7” adapter is beautifully turned and then textured instead of casted. The LP120 has a heavy-duty cast aluminum platter that is then powder coated and accented with a sleek brushed finish along the dotted, beveled edge. The dots along the side of the platter interact with a red light housed under the on/off switch to provide stroboscopic speed indication, ensuring your turntable is always spinning at the speed it needs.
The LP120-USB has three preset speed options (33 RPM, 45 RPM, & 78 RPM) as well as a pitch adjustment slider that can be calibrated to 10% or 20% increments; allowing for fine-tuned speeds far below or above the defaults. The record player also has a direction button, enabling the user to play their records in reverse or review previous parts of a song without having to do it by hand. One neat feature that would have pretty selective usage is a small popup light designed to illuminate the stylus placement on the record. This would be handy if you are a DJ or if you like to listen to records in the dark by candle light… I guess that should be more common than I initially thought. The set of features that Audio-Technica built into the LP120 is honestly pretty impressive for being an entry-mid range turntable.
On to the business end of the record player, we have the tonearm and its adjustments. I am a somewhat shaky guy on some days, so the feature of a lifting/lowering lever is something that I really like that the LP120 has on the tonearm. I also plan to pick up a new slip mat sometime in the future and appreciate that they have 6mm of height adjustment to ensure that no matter what sort of mat or headshell you get, you will be able to keep the tonearm parallel to the record. That addressed, the headshell and cartridge are quite nice out of the box. I know a lot of enthusiasts would likely ridicule the AT95E, but for a non-audiophile who just likes jamming some vinyl, it is more than sufficient. Should you run into issues of the stylus taking off across the record when you are jamming, the Audio-Technica LP120 also comes with an anti-skate adjustment that helps to reduce the change of skipping grooves on the vinyl.
Setup was relatively simple with the accessories provided. With a built-in preamp, I can listen directly through my surround sound system via RCA. The built-in RCA cables are far too short to reach where I need them to so I had to use the supplied RCA female to 3.5mm. Luckily they give you what you need to get it working out of the box for the most part. Balancing the tonearm is a bit complicated, but I will be posting a video on the full setup here in the next few days (link below). Once up and running, I was totally stoked on the sound quality from the LP120. Out of the box it sounded great without any real adjustments or modifications made.
I am not an expert on this sort of topic, but figured there are other people like me who just like music and want to collect and jam some vinyl records. This is what made me want to upload this video, so that hopefully someone else can benefit and figure out the perfect turntable for them. If you have any questions regarding the Audio-Technica LP120-USB then please put them down below and I will try and get back to you quickly. Thanks so much for checking out the unbox/review!

[thevinyltruffle]

Any of yall notice or have problems with the motor noise? I saw a video on it last week and it detoured my buy.

[mck]

At $250 this is some serious bang for your buck. Made sure to carefully set it up and haven't had any issues so far, really enjoying this.

[jackofalltrades]

Great. Turntable I've had mine for three years. Played. 1, 200 records on it. Awesome Record Player. 😎

[yournumberfan]

thanks for making this video. I bought this turntable about 3 mths ago. So happy with it. I didn't bother with instructions to set up I just watched a few vids, bought a scale to weigh the tone arm. I never knew what the red light was for on the power on / off dial. so i'll be having a look into that. thanks again for making the video

[topher_]

I picked up mine yesterday and I absolutely love it, also thanks for the setup video it was a huge help!

[edyoung]

Great review! I have had mine for a year and a half and still loving mine. I have upgraded the cartridge to a Shure 97XE  love the sound it puts out (I'm a classic rock guy) and got a rubber platter mat  I haven't had any problems what so ever so far (knocking on wood) take care,

[philtaylor]

New to vinyl so went for the lp60x coz it’s automatic 🤗 might upgrade in the future as my record collection grows

[Tunz]

Nice review thanks...I had one of these in storage and pulled it out a couple of days ago. Was still in the box and shrink wrap! Receipt said Feb. 2014!! It's still in the box and I'm trying to view as many of these videos as I can so I don't make any mistakes opening and setting up. One little tidbit that seemed to surprise you, that put a smile on my face. You mentioned that a lot of "lower "end models don't have the speed adjustment function. Well I have to give you some facts here from days gone bye. Back in the 50's and 60's when I was a young lad....all cheap 5 and 10 dollar box record players had the 78/45/33&1/3 function. Some even had speeds as slow as 16!! although I cannot recall ever having a record that was supposed to be played at 16!! Maybe some audiophile history buffs might enlighten us!?? Also they all had tone arms that went back to their original position "automatically" This seems to be a feature that companies pat themselves on the back about and try to get you all giddy!;-) I'm a little bit (maybe I won't even be able to notice) surprised that the 33 speed is not 33&1/3? All of my older vinyl from 50-60 years ago were meant to play at 33&1/3....then again back in the day while listening to popular records on AM/FM radio, many times the songs sounded a bit slower than what my ears had been used to. Maybe the DJ's in the radio studio all had 33 playing systems and that's the speed they used, thus sounding a bit fast to me. Oh well...thanks again for your posting....and after these past few years are you satisfied with the purchase? thanks Bruce

[DominatorTV]

Very good video, other videos on this turntable have been very poor in quality and boring. But this video is edited well, has good detail on the product you're reviewing, and is entertaining to watch. Very good job!

[MattM]

Great review. Thinking of getting one of these for my birthday in April.

[jeanc]

Thanks for this video. I've used it twice when moving to rebox everything.

[Torzelan]

Came for the unboxing just to see if the box has handles on it (no joke), stayed for the very nice and pleasant review! Cheers.

Picking one of these up later... But suppose I won't do it during my walk home from work without handles. May that be the biggest "issue" I'll ever have with it. :)

[phantasm]

great comprehensive review tanner. nice job man.

i have the earlier iteration of this table (which is apparently much more desirable but long discontinued, and fetches large amounts of money on the used market).... the P L 120 (yes the L and the P are reversed). the PL120 is the NON-USB version of the table you have. i've had my PL120 for a few years now with ZERO problems or issues...not even the notorious problem with the anti-skating that seems to plague the L P 120. i paid about $275 when i bought mine brand new, but i just now went to amazon and there are two used PL120 tables --- one seller wants $650 and the other seller wants $700!!! yes...these are the prices of a USED PL120!! there is yet another seller with a brand new PL120 --- he wants $999 for it! crazy!!!

i love my PL120 and it ain't goin nowhere!

[trevormorara]

I like your presentation its so matured...and makes one decide on what to select...

Cheers bro

[scratchback]

As a DJ of 40 years, this unit fails in so many areas. The motor in some of these is rediculously noisy. The start stop button stops working and the anti-skate often fails causing inner groove distortion. Of all the clones of the SL-1200 MK2 I've used, the Stanton ST-150 is the only deck that is better than the 1200 in all areas if you don't mind it being the colour blue in a club. The torque is incredible and the bells and whistles on the ST-150 are designed with DJs in mind. It is also incredibly heavy which kills any acoustic feedback in a club environment. I would suggest you buy a new 1200 rather than the Audio-Technica. Google the ST 150 or look it up on YouTube. I own a new, never been in a club MK2 and it's a wonderful turntable. The Audio-Technica is a piece of junk and I cannot recommend it, period. The 3 phase hooting coming from some units is just unacceptable. I might add that I'm not the only person to experience these problems. You can get new 1200s and while they're not cheap, you know what you are getting!

[willcarr]

Awesome I want to get The Audio Technica lp-120 sometime in the future, but recently I got the Audio Technica Lp-60 USB for Christmas, so I am happy

[DKLGalactus]

l most have the cheap version of this model my light for the record plugs in and my 45 adaptor is plastic, but it is a LP120 usb about 300 bucks I got it for Christmas and just hooked it up today, sounds good.

[AlexChanHomeMeals]

Is good that you like the sound from it. I have seen so many people removed the preamp which made me think that maybe the sound is terrible. I won't take out my preamp, too risky to do.

[hagbard]

The weight is a trick, they put a huge metal plate in the inside of the bottom of the case.

[ncucun]

love your vid...because of it i have today bought the LP120- x-usb...cost £205...only to find it doesn't have a solid stainless steel centre ring for 45's its a cheap plastic or even the reverse function and the light that pops up on yours is a static only light...nice looking product but i feel like the X in the design number means you get a lot less for your money