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Vinyl record players

Funkyfairy!

By Funkyfairy!
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LondonTom Rookie

LondonTom

Posted
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This thread has instead of working, got me looking at AV recievers and easy ways to get a turntable hooked up to my PC speakers while keeping my xbox/pc connected to them aswell :P (Space/cost savings...though some of the prices of AV recievers not so much a cost saving!).

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musky Contributor

musky

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But how do you split the cables? :) Through an AV reciever?

Good to know someone has a similar to setup though!

If your AV receiver has enough inputs, just run your pc/xbox/turntable in to the appropriate inputs and select the input you want. You might have to buy adapters (like mini jack > phono) depending on the connections available.

That will work unless you were thinking of playing the xbox and listening to music at the same time.

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  • 2 weeks later...
windy_miller Newbie

windy_miller

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Records are EQ'd before they are pressed to remove a lot of the bass, otherwise the grooves would have to be quite wide and the needle would wobble about all over the place. The pre-amp applies an equalization curve on the incoming signal to add the bass back in. A "phono" input on standard amp will also apply the EQ curve.

More info here if you are interested

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIAA_equalization

I got my record player a few days before my pre-amp arrived and I tried playing it straight through the amp out of curiosity. It sounded fucking dreadful!

Edited by windy_miller
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Guest

Guest

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Depends. My setup (turntable - pre amp - amp - speakers) wouldn't work properly without one.

what happens if you just by-pass the pre-amp? Is it simply a weak signal? I've never heard of that chopping the bottom end off (during the mastering?) for the pre-amp to put it back

Edited by tonyblair
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Guest

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Yeah. Really low max volume and shit sounding.

Oh. I've had a few amps, although the last one I bought was in about 1970 (a Quad 303 and still going strong), and I've never needed a pre-amp. I can only assume amps used to be made with one already part of them...?

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windy_miller Newbie

windy_miller

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Oh. I've had a few amps, although the last one I bought was in about 1970 (a Quad 303 and still going strong), and I've never needed a pre-amp. I can only assume amps used to be made with one already part of them...?

As I said earlier, if you plug the turntable into a "Phono" input on an amp, then you don't need a pre-amp.

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As I said earlier, if you plug the turntable into a "Phono" input on an amp, then you don't need a pre-amp.

and you can't do that because amps don't have phono inputs? is that right? that's what I'm enquiring about

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Some have a phono input built in, some don't. Mine doesn't. It just has an "aux" in. Your Quad 303 does obviously so you don't need a preamp.

ta.... it's a long time since I bought 'proper' stereo equipment. Bought plenty of mini-systems for the kitchen, which last a few years then sort of die. One of the weakest parts of the systems seems to be the cd player, with the laser either getting out of line, or the mechanism packing up.. ...or something. All I ever needed to do in the past was buy a new stylus every now and again.

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musky Contributor

musky

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I can assure you that if you were using a Quad 303 you were using a pre-amp. The 303 was a power amp (a pretty good one at that) and like all power amps needed a pre amp to boost the very low level signal from the source to a level the power amp could deal with. The pre amp will contain any tone controls and switching for the various inputs. The matching preamp for the 303 was the Quad 33 which, like all preamps of the time, had a phono (turntable) input with the necessary RIAA eq built in.

Half the confusion about turntables and amps comes from the terminology and the way it is used. In the context of hi-fi all amps consist of a preamp and power amp. Very often these are combined into a single unit (an integrated amp) or like your Quad set up housed separately. If the preamp has a turntable input it will also have the necessary RIAA eq. However when it looked like the turntable was going to disappear altogether many amps didn't bother with the turntable input, and so needed a separate RIAA eq preamp. And there's the confusion right there - most people don't bother with mentioning the RIAA bit.

Then add in the fact the the turntable input is called the phono input, and most amps use phono plugs to connect the source no matter whether it's a turntable, CD or cassette deck.

Anyone looking in their amp's manual and seeing references to phono sockets and a preamp has every right to be confused!

Edited by musky
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