Turn the clock back 20 or 30 years, and there was actually one main way you could listen to a turntable. Unless you had a model with speakers built into the unit, you would be connecting your deck to a standard hi-fi system, using a separate amplifier and stereo speakers to create that classic vinyl setup.
That’s not the case anymore. In this age of wireless streaming, Bluetooth and integrated systems, there are many ways you can enjoy listening to your turntable – depending on what it is and what it does, of course – beyond plugging it into a traditional hi-fi set-up.
The article continues below
Bluetooth speakers
Children these days. They want the style and social cache of a sleek turntable, but also the modern usability of Bluetooth without all those trailing cables invading their bedroom or student dig. Talk about wanting the world on a plate.
Fortunately, you can have your cake and eat it too when it comes to modern vinyl. Get yourself a Bluetooth-ready turntable – our list of the best Bluetooth turntables will do the trick – and you can stream your music wirelessly to a compatible speaker as your records spin happily. It’s something we tried with the Sony PS-LX3BT Bluetooth turntable and the JBL Charge 6 Bluetooth speaker, and in all honesty, the result was surprisingly good.
As we wrote in our review: “The resulting sound hangs together admirably. Nas’ Illmatic sounds lively and lyrical, with bright tunes like NY State of Mind we still drill with courage and purpose.”
It’s not the way we’d recommend listening to your vinyl every day, but if you want to entertain your mates or just blast your tunes quickly and easily without setting up your entire system, Bluetooth can be a great way to go.
Wireless headphones
Many Bluetooth turntables market their wireless capabilities as being suitable for connecting to wireless headphones to give your listening sessions more privacy.
Again, we don’t really feel that streaming your music via Bluetooth will give you the ultimate in sonic fidelity, but it actually makes a lot of sense if you have a Bluetooth-ready record player and want a quick and easy way to switch from speakers to something private.
Let’s say it’s getting late, and while you’re humbly blasting your records from a nearby set of speakers (wired or otherwise), the whole family is about to go to sleep. You don’t want the songs to end, and you don’t want to disturb your relatives and spend the next few weeks sleeping in a shed.
The solution? Grab your best wireless headphones – like the excellent Sony WH-1000XM6 – and keep your listening experience confined to your ears. It also means you’re not literally tied to your turntable by a cord; you can wander freely and head to the kitchen (within range, of course) and listen undisturbed to your records.
Some decks even offer hi-res codec support – aptX HD on the premium Cambridge Audio Alva TT V2 (£1700 / $1999 / AU$3699) and even aptX Adaptive on Sony turntables. This allows you to stream your songs in 24-bit high-resolution audio (up to 48kHz for HD; 96kHz for Adaptive) to compatible speakers, such as the Sennheiser HDB 630 (£400 / $500 / AU$1000). Note though, that these are still lossy Bluetooth methods, so they won’t give you full sonic fidelity.
Powerful and efficient speakers
Now this it would make an excellent modern hi-fi system. Get a pair of the KEF Coda W (£799 / $1000 / AU$1450) Active speakers, connect to the turntable, either via Bluetooth or via the supplied phono input, and you’ve got yourself a clean, great-sounding vinyl setup that won’t take up too much space on your desktop, rack or wherever you keep your turntable.
With active speakers, you have several options about how you listen. Bluetooth is handy if you have a compatible turntable, such as the Pro-Ject T1 Evo BT (£479 / $599 / AU$870), and don’t want the clutter of cables.
If you can’t stretch to Coda W, don’t worry. Budget and compact speakers with Bluetooth, such as the award-winning Ruark MR1 Mk3 (£399 / $579 / AU$899) and the five-star Onkyo GX-30ARC (£339 / $349 / AU$649) are good candidates for connecting your notebook to your Bluetooth enabled system.
The same goes for any active speakers that don’t include a phono stage – such as KEF’s LSX II LT wireless speaker system (£899 / $999 / AU$1695). That’s a neat system that gives you high-quality, hi-res wireless streaming through a pair of stylish speakers. There’s no phono input here, so using Bluetooth makes for a simple, compact vinyl-and-streaming system.
Don’t want to use Bluetooth? Most power/active speakers that include a phono stage have an audio input, so you can always use a wired connection for better sound quality and/or if the deck you’re using doesn’t support Bluetooth.
With some turntables, like Sony’s latest duo of affordable Bluetooth decks, their built-in phono stage is so good that it doesn’t matter if your active speakers (like the KEF LSX) have a phono stage or not. Alternatively, to use Sony’s high-end phono stage and bypass that of the Ruark/Onkyo speakers, simply connect the turntable to the 3.5mm audio input (not the phono input) – you’ll just need an RCA phono to 3.5mm connection cable.
If Bluetooth isn’t a priority, but you want affordability and a built-in phono stage to connect your active speakers, then the Rega Planar 1 Plus (currently around £400) turntable is a tip-top sonic pick.
A Bluetooth-ready radio
Yes, you can listen to vinyl on old-fashioned wireless, without a cable.
It’s an unusual way to enjoy your records, but many digital radios now boast Bluetooth reception as standard and sound great with music, too, such as the Award-winning Roberts Revival Petite 2 (around £100) and the Ruark Audio R1S (£299 / $380 / AU$649). Just connect your Bluetooth turntable to the radio’s Bluetooth, and away you go.
Vinyl records playing on the radio using modern Bluetooth technology? It’s just something that would have struck Marconi’s mind.
In fact, it’s not the same as beaming your tunes to a compatible wireless speaker, as shown above, although radios don’t usually include high-quality codecs. It leads to some incredibly weird combinations – we tried the portable Audio-Technica Sound Burger with the Revival Petite 2 radio, which was a lot of fun.
You might end up getting a pretty good sonic return if you’re happy to pay a bit more for a decent-sounding radio, like the Revo SuperConnect Stereo (£489 / $599 / AU$899) or the Ruark R2 Mk4 (£479 / $590 / AU$920) for rare and unusual vinyl.
MORE:
Vinyl Week 2026: get all the latest features and updates
We pick 8 of the best releases for Store Day 2026 – The Cure, Nas, Miles Davis, Pavement and more.
“It’s not just a transaction, it’s a conversation” – how vinyl record stores are thriving in the digital age
A-Z of vinyl: a glossary of turntable terminology