Cheap doesn’t necessarily mean nasty when it comes to the best turntables: you can pick up a very good model for considerably less than $200 / £150 / AU$250. But unfortunately, you can also pick up a not very good model for similar sums or for even more.
So, how do you ensure that you get the most musical bang for your bucks? Let’s find out. Here are seven things you need to know when buying a cheap turntable like one of these three beginner turntable systems in 2025.
1. What do you want?
Do you want to play the occasional vinyl record, or are you hoping to build on your system over time to make something amazing like one of the best surround sound systems? If it’s the former, by all means buy something simple like an all-in one or whatever’s on special. But if it’s the latter, more strategic shopping today will pay dividends in the future.
2. What corners are okay to cut?
With cheap turntables, you’ll often have to choose between features and performance: as a rule of thumb, the more bells and whistles a super-cheap turntable has the more likely it is that corners have been cut elsewhere. And if those corners are on the bits that actually affect the sound, such as the motor or the stylus cartridge, then those may be a cut too far.
The thing about turntables is that they are mechanical devices, and that means the quality of their engineering will have a huge effect on what you hear. The better the engineering the more it costs, and the more additional things a manufacturer adds to a turntable the less money there is to spend on the bits that really matter.
3. What do the reviews say?
Not just our reviews, as wonderful as they are. Read as many reviews as you can of any turntable you’re considering buying. Some turntables have flaws that you might not notice at first, or that will only become apparent if you upgrade your speakers or amp later on; reviewers are very good at identifying those things and their findings can make you aware of any flaws that might affect your future enjoyment. They can also suggest good alternatives that you might not have considered, or tweaks that make okay turntables better.
4. When is cheap likely to be nasty?
I’m not saying that the all-in-one turntable – with integrated speakers and Bluetooth! – on a big retailer site that I can see with a list price of $48 and a today price of $28 will scratch your records, kill your pets and make your favorite band split up… But I wouldn’t bet against it either. As the retailer’s summary puts it: “customers like the value of the turntable, saying it’s a great buy for the price… they say the speakers stopped working and the motor that spins the record stopped working after a month.”
5. What are you connecting to?
If you’re connecting to an amplifier, you need what’s called a phono stage: it takes the fairly low signal from the turntable and whacks it up so the amplifier can do its thing. If your amplifier doesn’t have one (you can tell by the presence or absence of inputs marked Phono: if they’re there you’ve got one) you’ll need either a turntable with its own phono stage, or a separate phono stage between turntable and amp.
If you want to listen via Bluetooth headphones or smart speakers, you can pick up one of the best Bluetooth turntables. But you don’t necessarily need that if there’s a non-Bluetooth turntable that fits your needs and your budget better, as you can add an external Bluetooth transmitter later on if you wish.
6. What does Reddit say?
Turntable owners tend to be passionate types, and that means you can be certain that if there’s a flaw or a fault with a turntable then its owners will be posting about it on places such as Reddit. Simply googling the name of your proposed purchase with the suffix “reddit” will quickly uncover any potential problems you should know about.
7. What should you probably replace?
Some turntables would be ten times better if they came with a better stylus, and that’s another thing both Reddit and reviews can tell you: upgrading the stock cartridge with something better isn’t necessarily expensive, and can add an extra star to a turntable’s rating.
8. Is the deal real?
Be very wary of amazing-looking discounts on turntables you haven’t heard of; as with other consumer electronics, some recommended retail prices are just there for comedy value and don’t reflect the value of the product or what anybody actually pays for it. That’s particularly true during big sales events, and with turntables that have been out for years: the RRP when they were first released isn’t what you should pay two or three years later.
Use the likes of PriceRunner or on Amazon, CamelCamelCamel.com to see what real-world prices are for particular models. If a product occasionally goes up to, for example, $200 but is usually sold at $100, you’re not getting a great deal on a $200 turntable that’s “reduced to $100”; you’re looking at a turntable that was only ever worth $100.