Customer Review(s)
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Some additional thoughts on the AT PL120
Comment: I've owned this table for about a year now and as an audio/vinyl enthusiast, I can't recommend it enough. For what it costs and all the turntable you get for the money, this is a no-brainer in my opinion. Many good review points have been made on the AT PL120 already to which I couldn't agree more. That said, I'd like to address the "Hum" issue and negative opinions I've read that a lot of users have encountered with this unit.
In my experience with this table, the only time I've noticed "Hum" is when the PL120's internal pre-amp is set to ON, while being run through my receiver's (Yamaha RX-797) phono stage. When the tables internal pre-amp set to OFF, I don't notice any hum at all coming from my speaker system. So this issue may be a setup/user error. From what I understand, the PL120's internal pre-amp is designed to be used on computers or audio equipment that do not have a dedicated MM phono stage.
From the AT PL120 User's Manual:
If the system you are using has a PHONO input, set the pre-amp selector switch to the PHONO OUT (PRE-AMP OFF) position and connect the turntable's output cables to the PHONO inputs on your system, observing Red for Right channel and White for Left channel.
If your system does not have a PHONO (magnetic phono) input, set the pre-amp selector switch to LINE OUT (PRE-AMP ON) and connect the turntable's output cables to the Auxiliary (AUX) or other audio level inputs on your system, observing Red for Right channel and White for Left channel. When using the turntable with a computer sound card, set the switch to LINE OUT and connect the turntable to the audio line input on the computer sound card. Note: An audio adapter (not included) may be required to interface the two RCA jacks of the turntable output cable to the computer sound card input.
Hopefully this addresses and corrects the "Hum" problem that some people have experienced with this unit. Again, for what this turntable costs and for what the user gets, it's a terrific buy. It comes with a decent cartridge and stylus (ATP2XN) so you can get started in a matter of minutes right out of the box. I recently upgraded the cartridge on my PL120 with a Denon DL-160 High Output, Moving Coil Cartridge. The DL-160's high output allows this cartridge to be used through the Moving Magnet (MM) phono stage of a receiver/amplifier. It's been a great upgrade to this table and has brought even more enjoyment to my vinyl listening. I'm not going to go to deep into a cartridge review here. But for anyone that's been wanting to upgrade their cartridge on whatever turntable you have, the Denon DL-160 is a real bargain and it's taken the performance level of my AT PL120 to a whole new height. I hope these thoughts and my experiences have helped.
If anyone were to ask me, Would you recommend the AT PL120?
Answer: Absolutely!
Customer Rating: Summary: Makes a great Christmas Present
Comment: I got this for my brother. His wife said he wanted to start recording his old records on CDs. After extensive online research, this seemed to be the best solution for the money. Unlike the USB version, this can be used with a stereo system when not recording CDs.
So far he has used this on his stereo component system and proclaimed it quite good. He downloaded a different software package for recording, but I haven't heard anything about recording to CDs.
PROs: It's all there in the box, some assembly required. My brother is impressed with the numerous features. Nothing was hard to install or adjust. And he is very happy with the sound quality.
CONs: As said, some assembly required. My brother had prior turntable experience, so this was easy for him. This may not be true for others.
Also, the cables are a pain. They are captive, and short. We had to buy extension audio cables and plug adapters to mate it to the PC's sound card.
