I just bought a new receiver but it doesn't have phono inputs. I have to buy a phono pre-amp but I would like to know if the sound will be good and if you could recommend a good preamp? Your help will be appreciated. Thanks

How it will sound will depend on:

* your speakers
* your room
* your turntable
* the source material on the records
* the records themselves (condition-wise)
* your receiver
* your phono pre-amp


The first 6 of these items will affect what people will recommend for the last one. Right now, we know none of these. Phono preamps range from $15 to $several thousand...

I do not have a turntable myself (was too young to have a collection!), but my father does; quite a nice Denon at that.

The problem is, however, the turntable's RCA out cables are about 18" long!!! They disappear into the turntable box and do not seem to be replaceable (easily) with a longer cord (that is, they do not seem to unplug from the turntable). On top of this, of course, is the grounding wire which comes out with the RCA (and is also very short). I'd love to know how he can get a RCA / ground extension without signal loss; at the moment he stores the turntable in a cupboard, then drags out a chair to set the turntable on close enough to the amp to plug in (!!!). He uses it mostly to digitise old singles / recordings that he's sure he'll never see on commercial CDS.

Any ideas?

Do use the turntable 'cuz you like the sound better or cuz' you've got stuff that you'll never find on CD (or because you like antiques ;-) )?

Dan

I don't have one, but it might be cool.

I got rid of mine thanks to eBay. Common problem. back in the days people just stacked up a few components and were done. Everything came with short wires. Had to buy more if you wanted longer.

Still have mine. However, unhooked it when I went surround. Have a Rega Planar 3 table. It is a nice british made table.

I'm not getting rid of it JUST yet. We are considering moving, and I'm hoping to have room to set up a seperate dedicated audio system. Then could use the table.

If we don't move, not sure what I will do.

You still have a group who prefer the sound of a turntable over a CD. Note-I won't go so far as to say the turnable has BETTER sound. Just some prefer a turntable. Though this will be very general, most feel a turntable has a warmer sound.

I used to have a turn table, and I'm looking to get another one, this time to digitize a lot of LP's and 45's that aren't and won't be available on CD, ever.

I still have my turntable, an odd but world class good Pink Triangle, but haven't used it since my son was born 12 years ago. First it got put away to "protect" it, and since then its been a question of when and where to bring it back. Not to mention the cost of getting it going again, ie cartridges wear out from age as much as use.

Records still can do some unique things, the whole ritual of stuff, finally dropping the needle, the sound with its mixture of detail and noise, not to mention some really good music that will never see commercial release on other media.

The rub for me is that I know just how good LP playback can be, and find it REAL hard to settle for less. That means a cartridge is going to cost me a few hundred bucks, and that I am going to spend the time to clean each record before playing, and that my turntable is going to have a proper platform to sit on (mostly the later is a question of space, lots).

Not sure how I go on the question of transfering my LP collection to bits on a hard drive. It would have to be the best playback conversion equipment I could reasonably be expected to come across, but I am concerned that even very good digitized versions won't have the same "magic" as the vinyl. Right now I don't have easy access to the equipment I would want to use, and when I do I guess I will make some transferes and just see how I like them over time.

What I suggest for "normal" people is to work out some deal with somebody that has a NICE LP playback system, and share the cost and effort of doing the digital copies.

My suggestion to you is to forget about recording to a hard drive and record directly to a CD Recorder. If possible, do it as 2 tracks, Side A and Side B. Record the needle drop and the gaps between songs. You'll enjoy the recording much more, it won't be 100% the same as the LP, but it will be close. If you record to the computer and attempt to clean it up, it's going to sound horrible if you're used to the LP.

I just bought a preamp but I don't know where to connect the ground wire on the receiver? Do I connect it to any screw? Any help will be appreciated.

I still have a turntable, and when I get into a nostalgic mood, I listen to some of my old record albums, that are not currently available on CD at the present time, and I must say, those recordings still sound good to me, because i'd always kept all of my albums in prestine condition, just like they were recently purchased from the store brand new.
And due to this, I will never part with my turntable. and as with my record collection, they are priceless.

I have an older vintage Marantz turntable hooked up in my system. Not the greatest player in the world, but it does the trick when I fell like spinning some vinyl.

Danos,

To extend the wires of your dad's table, just buy any RCA dual femle adapter and then add a new RCA cable to the length you need. As far as the ground wire goes, I would just buy a wire of the same guage and use a crimp connector to extend the wire. You should not have any audio degradation if you get some halfway decent connectors from somewhere like Radio Shack.

J

i still have a Denon 707 big block tt, base made of rosewood with a 300 dollar cart. it cost me 800 back in 1986, and still works great. i have 2,000 lps, still, and will not rid myself of them due to i still have over 600 that will NEVER be on cd, ever....trust me.