The appeal of an all-in-one turntable is obvious: it makes listening to vinyl dead simple. All the vital components of a classic vinyl system — turntable, phono preamp, amplifier and speakers — are packed into one box, so you won’t have to worry about them working together. Plus, it doesn’t take up much space.
The other good thing about an all-in-one turntable is that it still captures the vinyl experience. Just like any other turntable, you have to place the record and drop the needle — it forces you to pay attention to the record you’re listening to.
However, all-in-one turntables are generally cheap — the Victrola Suitcase Record Player and the Crosley Musician are two such examples. And they’re widely frowned upon by audiophiles and vinyl enthusiasts because, by design, they don’t sound very good.
All-in-one turntables aren’t known for audio quality
By definition, all-in-one turntables have all their important components in close proximity to one another, which means they risk getting in each other’s way. This close-quarters operation almost certainly adds noise and distortion to your audio equation.
The main problem is the built-in speakers — they need to vibrate to play sound. Of course, these vibrations naturally cause the whole turntable to shake, which impacts the accuracy of the stylus reading the record’s grooves. You don’t have to be an expert to know this is not great for sound quality.
Of course, there are good and bad versions of everything, and the same is true with all-in-one turntables. If it has high-quality and well-isolated components, then it could still sound good — but these high-quality all-in-one turntables, such as the Andover One, are anything but cheap.
