Sony PS-LX250H fully automatic turntable

Pros: Adequate sound, semi-automatic tone arm

Cons: Some rumble

Summary: I decided last spring that it was time to copy my 350 or so albums onto my computer so I could have them on my iPod. I started by hooking up my old Dual turntable with Shure V15 type V cartridge to an unused receiver and hooking that into my sound card. Playing and labeling the records is a time consuming operation, but it was going along OK. I was really enjoying playing some records that I hadn’t heard in 20-25 years. And then the turntable died (I guess 25 years was enough to expect out of it!). It was more than just a broken belt (I had replaced that at the start, when I found that the original belt had dried out and broken). I was now really into converting the records to MP3s, so I decided I would buy a new turntable. Since this would likely be that last time I would use one, I didn’t want to go overboard. The Sony PS-LX250H seemed to fit the bill.

I have now recorded about 200 records with this unit. It seems to have good rotational stability, although I haven’t put a strobe on it to confirm this. The pop, jazz, folk, comedy albums, etc. all sound fine. I am now near the end of the project, about a third of the way through my 22 Time Life Classical record 4-disk box sets. I’ve noticed with these records, records that have many more quiet passages, that there is a low level of rumble. I don’t have my former audiophile unit available to which I could compare it, but I am pretty sure it is there if I turn the volume way up on a quiet cut. It seems to be gone after post-processing in the Roxio sound editor, which I use for capture and filtering of pops, scratches, etc. The general frequency range of the unit is fine. I did change the stylus about half way through to be safe.