Reply With QuoteI would say if the input is not marked phono then not as RIAA equalisation is required to play back LPs correctly.
I dare say separate pre-amps are available however.
Is there a way of connecting an old style record turntable to one of these modern TV soundbars. Some have an analog audio input, but no info seems to be available to indicate if this is similar to the phono input on older amps. Thanks.
I would say if the input is not marked phono then not as RIAA equalisation is required to play back LPs correctly.
I dare say separate pre-amps are available however.
Looks like you'll need a phono pre-amp.
Prices are from about a tenner up to "how much!!!"
Yes but as has been said a phono preamp is needed. Project do a nice one for £70. You can get cheaper ones but they won't sound too good.
Rod
Thanks for the info guys. My HiFi knowledge (circa 1960) is way out of date. A young family member has taken an interest in our collection of old LP records but wants to use the flashy new kit rather than the ancient but perfectly working vintage stuff. I'll look up the Project units as Rod suggested.
If the old kit has a line out (might be called tape out) then you can play it through the new kit with just a cable.
You can also (this will interest the younger generation) port the line out directly into a PC with a sound card. (mic -in) then you can digitise all the vinyl! :D There a plenty of free software application on the web to assist.
Graham Slee also make good quality and value for money phono preamp stages
My son took an interest in vinyl once i sat him down and got him to listen to my set up .. He was blown away by the quality. If your son has an interest in vinyl then encourage it .. it is still the best sounding listening medium if one has the patience. I made a seperates system for my son out of 30 year old gear costing less than 400 quid in total and it blows away anything you could buy now for at leat a grand. If you want any ideas then do fire me a PM .. I'll be glad to help.Originally Posted by CLOCKMAN
BTW my setup is powered by a 60's design Radford valve amp and you need to spend 1000,s to get a better sound from todays gear!
Hi, again, Thanks for the additional info & kind offer. This is for a great nephew therefore 2 generations detached. I fired up an old Quad system and amazed the lad. I really don't think he had ever seen or heard Lp records. Further digging unearthed an old B&O Beogram with it's speakers which still sounded as good as when bought in 1967. He's carted that off with a few LP's, a 1948 boy's size Rolex, a 1970 sony portable TV, and a Tanberg 5 band radio.Apparently I'm now a seriously cool old uncle. However I have kept the Meccano set & Hornby stuff under wraps meantime.
PS, New mains cables fitted just in case. Sparky mate PAT tested everything. So all safe.
I bet your nephew was chuffed to bits!!
Excellent! Problem today is most kids don't get exposed to quality sound, just compressed MP3 files.
Rod
You would definitely need a phono amp with the appropriate EQ. RIAA for a magnetic cartridge or some extra amplification for a moving coil. For plugging into a sound bar you shouldn't spend much either as it's hardly a hi Fi set up. Vinyl replay continues to fascinate and there are more high end turntables available now than ever before with suitably priced tonearms, cartridges and cables to go with them. Personally I prefer Cd but that is a whole other debate and one that still takes up too much of people's time.
I must admit I still prefer vinyl. With my current set up a well recorded and well mastered CD sounds pretty amazing, but unfortunately most of my CD's aren't well recorded or well mastered and they sound just dire. With Vinyl on the other hand, a good recording is stunning, and a poor recording is still perfectly listenable. And it's not my CD Transport or DAC that's at fault either.
I've lost count of the times I have witnessed the vinyl v CD debate. I think it is all a matter of the level of equipment we are talking about. Twenty years ago things were a lot clearer. In those days a Cd player to rival a £2k turntable was £5-8k Now, a turntable to rival a £5k Cd player is about twice the price. £10k turntables are quite common these days when you take into consideration the motor unit, arm, cartridge, cabling, phono stage and something to stand it all on. Makes a decent watch seem cheap in comparison really.
OK to put this into perspective, my transport and DAC (PS Audio Perfectwave) cost about £6k retail. My turntable is an SME Model 10 with a SME Series IV arm, with a Koestsu Rosewood Signature cartridge. That would probably be about £7k retail. The vinyl setup is just miles better than the CD in general terms. On particular recordings it's eeksy peesksy. But compare a badly mastered CD with a badly mastered LP, and the vinyl wins hands down. Or so my ears tell me!
I guess we all have our preferences and our prejudices. I like the sound of vinyl too but, at higher levels of performance I prefer CD. But I am talking about very expensive equipment here. Personally I don't like the SME sound, but have many friends who love it and they might not care for the music I make. As they say, you pays your money and you takes your choice. There are no rights and wrongs, just preferences.
I have to agree with that. My business partner & I host musical evenings with various manufacturers and we always finish with a vinyl dem against CD and brings a round of applause. It's always a 'no competition' comparison. To me our ears are the finest measuring instruments and because digital is just sampling parts of a frequency and has to perform re-quantization our senses seem to be able to pick that up whereas analogue doesn't suffer from it. It just sounds more natural. There is quite a strong resurgence of turntable sales for us.OK to put this into perspective, my transport and DAC (PS Audio Perfectwave) cost about £6k retail. My turntable is an SME Model 10 with a SME Series IV arm, with a Koestsu Rosewood Signature cartridge. That would probably be about £7k retail. The vinyl setup is just miles better than the CD in general terms. On particular recordings it's eeksy peesksy. But compare a badly mastered CD with a badly mastered LP, and the vinyl wins hands down. Or so my ears tell me!
Rod
Rod
There are so many variables involved in any comparison that they are only interesting for their own sake. No real conclusions can be drawn and as humans we are built to slant things to confirm our own notions of what is "best". I also believe that we need to have clear cut preferences where things like hi Fi are concerned. Personally I like both analogue and digital but use CD as my primary source at home.
Personally, I don't think the SME has a 'sound'....... at least compared to the Linn LP12 I had before it. IMHO it just plays what's on the record, and takes nothing away, and more importantly it doesn't add anything in, which the Linn definitely did. Plus, you plonk it down on your support, level it up, and it just runs. A real revelation after the LP12 which needed to go down to my friendly local (and eye wateringly expensive) Linn dealership for a tune up every 18 months or so. Still, as you say, each to his own.
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