Akai Professional BT500 streaming turntable

AKAI Professional presented its new BT500 belt-drive turntable at NAMM 2016, which according to company officials is a response "to the rapidly growing demand for high-performance turntables in the resurgent vinyl market". The BT500 is a nice-looking looking hi-fi turntable, with an elegant walnut finish and aluminum controls, featuring built-in Bluetooth connectivity allowing you to send the signal to any Bluetooth speaker system.

It has a built-in switchable phono preamp, so it can be used with an external preamp or connected directly to powered speakers. The turntable also has a USB port for quick connection to any computer, to facilitate analog to digital conversion with a selectable sampling rate of 44.1kHz or 48kHz. The heavy MDF base is supported by adaptable feet and has a mounted leveling bubble under the platter to ensure a perfectly level installation. The 2-speed, mechanically-isolated DC motor with a belt-drive system ensures silent operation and minimizes vibration. It comes with a die-cast anti-resonance aluminum platter with heavy non-slip rubber mat, and a low-mass straight tonearm with precision damped cueing, removable headshell and a pre-mounted Audio-Technica moving-magnet phono cartridge.