This Affordable Turntable Has a Rare Feature That Makes Vinyl Easier

The Victrola Turntable is a $200 turntable with a “first-of-its-kind” feature.

Published August 15, 2024

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Updated August 15, 2024

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Recently, Victrola has made big strides away from being known just for its super affordable all-in-one record players. Its line of Stream turntables — some of which are the first “Works with Sonos” turntables and can cost as much as $1,300 — proves that.

Its most recent turntable, the Victrola Automatic, is a bit of the company’s past and present. At $200, it’s one of the more affordable turntables out there. Yet it combines some higher-end components with convenient modern features for those just getting into vinyl.

Most interestingly, it has one neat “first-of-its-kind” feature that solves a common frustration with turntables.

Victrola Automatic

The Victrola Automatic is an affordable, fully automatic turntable with a switchable phono preamp and built-in Bluetooth. Most interestingly, it has a unique repeat function that keeps the record playing on a loop so the music doesn’t stop.

Specs

Turntable	Belt-drive, automatic
Cartridge	Audio Technica ATN3600L (MM)
Built-in Phono Preamp?	Yes (switchable)

Fully automatic

As its name suggests, the Victrola Automatic is a fully automatic belt-drive turntable. That means all you have to do is place the record and press a button. The turntable then does the rest of the work for you — the tonearm will automatically lift and lower the stylus on the spinning record, and when the record is done, the tonearm will return to its resting position.

Automatic turntables make listening to vinyl super easy. The downside, however, is that they take some of the “analog fun” out of the experience.

Purists prefer manual turntables because they allow them to physically place the stylus on the record. Plus, they force them to pay more attention to the music — nobody wants to hear that annoying crackly sound when the record ends (nor is it good for the stylus or record).

A “first-of-its-kind” feature

One of the things you realize when listening to vinyl — records go fast. Most automatic turntables will play music for 15-ish minutes (at 45 RPMs) or 22 minutes (at 33 RPMs) and then stop when the record ends. This forces you to go back to flip the record or press play again so that it replays that same side.

The neat thing with the Victrola Automatic turntable is that has a repeat function so, when pressed, the turntable will automatically go back to the start of the record again after it gets to the end. This way it’s on a constant loop and the music never stops.

When Victrola announced the Automatic at CES earlier this year, it was the only turntable with such a feature — it marketed the Automatic as having a “first-of-its-kind Repeat function.” While still rare, Rekkord’s more expensive automatic turntable, the F110 ($449), now has a similar feature (as spotted by What Hi-Fi?)

Other modern conveniences

The Victrola Automatic features Audio-Technica’s AT-3600L moving magnet cartridge and electronic speed control for 33 1/3 and 45 RPM records that are 7- or 12-inches.

Additionally, the Automatic has two other modern conveniences for those just getting into vinyl.

First, it has a built-in phono preamp and RCA inputs, meaning you can hook the turntable directly up to a pair of powered or active speakers — aside from speaker cables, no other components are required. The phono preamp is also switchable, so you can turn it off and upgrade your turntable with an external phono preamp if you want to in the future.

Secondly, the Automatic has built-in Bluetooth. This allows you to pair the turntable with a wireless speaker if you don’t want to deal with speaker cables or your wireless headphones for a more private listening session.

Price and availability

Victrola originally announced the Automatic earlier this year at CES, but it’s finally available for purchase. You can buy it now from Victrola or major retailers like Amazon.

The Victrola Automatic costs $200 and comes in one all-black finish.