The best turntable for Sonos is one with a built-in phono preamp, because Sonos line-in ports expect a line-level signal rather than the much weaker signal a bare turntable produces. Sonos doesn't make a turntable of its own, but several speakers — the Five, Era 100, Era 300, Move 2, Amp and Port — have a line-in that will happily play vinyl once the signal is amplified to line level. For most UK buyers that means either the Audio-Technica AT-LP120XUSB (£249) or the Sony PS-LX310BT (around £230–£250), both of which have a built-in preamp and connect with a single cable. If you already own a separate phono preamp, a preamp-free deck like the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon EVO is the better-sounding upgrade path. This guide covers which Sonos speakers support a turntable, why the preamp matters, four picks across different budgets, and exactly how to wire it up.
Which Sonos speakers can you actually connect a turntable to?
Six current Sonos products have a line-in: the Five, Era 100, Era 300, Move 2, Amp and Port (the older Connect and Connect:Amp also support it). The Amp and Port take a direct RCA connection into a port marked "IN". The Five has a 3.5mm line-in jack, so it needs an RCA-to-3.5mm cable running from the turntable or preamp's RCA outputs. The Era 100, Era 300 and Move 2 need the separate Sonos Line-In Adapter, which plugs into the speaker's USB-C port and accepts the same RCA-to-3.5mm cable on its other end. Sonos's smaller and cheaper speakers — the One, One SL, Roam, and the soundbars — have no line-in at all, so a turntable can't be connected to them directly; you'd need to route audio through a speaker or Amp that does have one, then group the rest of your Sonos speakers to play the same source. If you're building a system from scratch specifically for vinyl, the Sonos Era 100 or Sonos Move 2 are the cheapest current speakers that support it, provided you budget for the ~£19 adapter.
Do you need a phono preamp for Sonos?
Yes, unless your turntable already has one built in. A cartridge's raw output ("phono level") is only a few millivolts and needs correcting with RIAA equalisation before it's loud or clear enough for any line-in, Sonos included — Sonos's own support documentation is explicit that a turntable without a built-in preamp needs to go through a separate phono preamp first, then into the speaker. Plugging a preamp-free turntable straight into a Sonos Five, Amp or Port will produce audio, but it will be quiet, thin and missing the bass and treble correction the format needs. The simplest fix for most buyers is to choose a turntable with the preamp already built in — it's usually switchable, so the same deck can still be connected to an amplifier with its own phono input later if you upgrade.
How we chose these turntables
We compared built-in preamp availability (the deciding factor for a Sonos line-in), price, drive type and any extra features like USB ripping or pitch control, then picked one turntable per budget and use case rather than ranking by price alone. We excluded decks with no UK stock or without a phono stage option, since that's the single spec that determines whether a turntable works with Sonos at all.
Best turntables for Sonos in the UK
| Turntable | Price (UK) | Built-in preamp? | Drive type | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sony PS-LX310BT | ~£230–£250 | Yes, 3 gain modes | Belt-drive, auto | Simplest plug-and-play setup |
| Audio-Technica AT-LP120XUSB | ~£249 | Yes, switchable | Direct-drive, manual | DJ-style control + USB ripping |
| Rega Planar 1 Plus | ~£325–£385 | Yes, built-in MM stage | Belt-drive, manual | Best sound for a plug-and-play deck |
| Pro-Ject Debut Carbon EVO | ~£449 | No — needs external preamp | Belt-drive, manual | Best if you'll add a separate preamp later |
1. Sony PS-LX310BT — simplest setup
The Sony PS-LX310BT is a fully automatic belt-drive turntable with a built-in phono preamp offering three gain modes, so it can be tuned to suit whichever Sonos input you're using. It also has Bluetooth, which is irrelevant for a wired Sonos connection but useful if you ever want to pair it with a Bluetooth speaker elsewhere in the house. Sony's own specification sheet lists a captive 1.3m RCA cable, which reaches a nearby Sonos Amp or Port directly — for a Five, Era 100, Era 300 or Move 2 you'd add a cheap RCA-to-3.5mm adapter cable (or the Sonos Line-In Adapter for the Era/Move models). It's the easiest of the four to set up out of the box — drop the needle and it starts and stops the platter automatically — making it a sensible first turntable for someone who's never owned one.
2. Audio-Technica AT-LP120XUSB — DJ-style control
The AT-LP120XUSB pairs a direct-drive motor and pitch-adjust slider — features borrowed from DJ turntables — with a selectable built-in preamp, so the same RCA output can feed a Sonos line-in or, with the preamp switched off, an amplifier's dedicated phono input. It ships with an AT-VM95E cartridge pre-fitted and also has a USB output for ripping vinyl to a computer, a feature none of the other three picks here include. The trade-off is that it's fully manual — you have to cue the tonearm and stop the platter yourself — and its heavier, more mechanical design won't suit everyone's shelf aesthetic.
3. Rega Planar 1 Plus — best sound, still plug-and-play
The Rega Planar 1 Plus takes the well-regarded Planar 1 chassis and adds a built-in moving-magnet phono stage based on Rega's separate Fono Mini preamp, plus a factory-fitted Rega Carbon cartridge. It costs more than the Sony or Audio-Technica, but the extra spend goes into the turntable itself — a better motor, bearing and tonearm — rather than just the preamp, so it's the pick for anyone who cares about sound quality but still wants a straightforward, single-source connection to a Sonos Amp, Port or Five. It's belt-drive and fully manual, with no USB or Bluetooth.
4. Pro-Ject Debut Carbon EVO — for adding a separate preamp
The Pro-Ject Debut Carbon EVO has no built-in preamp, which sounds like a disadvantage for a Sonos setup but is actually the point: separating the preamp from the turntable generally gives cleaner sound than a preamp squeezed onto the turntable's own circuit board, and it means the preamp can be replaced or upgraded independently later. It ships with a moving-magnet cartridge (Ortofon 2M Red on UK units) and a carbon-fibre tonearm, both a step up from the cheaper decks here. To use it with Sonos you'll need a separate phono preamp — often £50–£150 — wired between the turntable and whichever Sonos Five, Amp or Port you're connecting to. It's the right choice if you're already committed to spending on the sound rather than the convenience, and don't mind one extra box.
How do you wire a turntable into a Sonos system?
The cabling depends on which Sonos speaker you're using. For a Sonos Amp, Port or the older Connect/Connect:Amp, run a standard RCA cable from the turntable's (or preamp's) output straight into the port marked "IN" on the back of the unit. For a Sonos Five, use an RCA-to-3.5mm cable into its 3.5mm line-in jack. For an Era 100, Era 300 or Move 2, you'll need the Sonos Line-In Adapter: connect the same type of RCA-to-3.5mm cable from the turntable or preamp to the adapter, then plug the adapter into the speaker's USB-C port. Once wired, the turntable appears as a "Line-In" source in the Sonos app, and — if you want the sound to fill more than one room — can be grouped with any other Sonos speaker on the same system, turntable included, even if that speaker doesn't have a line-in of its own. There's no pairing or setup beyond plugging in the cable; Sonos detects the input automatically.
Who should skip a dedicated Sonos turntable setup?
If you only listen to vinyl occasionally, plugging an existing turntable (with a preamp) into any Sonos Amp, Port or Five costs nothing extra — there's no need to buy a new deck. And if your Sonos system is entirely the One, One SL, Roam or a soundbar with no line-in, adding a turntable means budgeting for a line-in-capable speaker first, which may not be worth it if wired vinyl playback isn't a priority.
