Grounding Turntable

[What Have You]

Grounding Question

I was planning on running a Technics 1200 turntable directly into a Soundcraft M12 mixer using the RCA stereo returns. But how do I ground the turntable? That is, what do I do with the earth lead from the turntable (i think thats what its called)? I'm pretty clueless about the best way to do this. Thanks, fellas.

 

[M.Brane]

Unless that turntable has a built-in phono preamp (I don't think it does) your going to need one, or you'll have a serious lack of bass. Vinyl records are mastered with diminished bass response to aid stylus tracking, and the phono pre is designed to compensate.

As for the ground wire, it should be connected to the chassis ground of whatever the turntable is hooked to.

 

[What Have You]

Thanks... I'll definitely look into a phono preamp.

What exactly is the "chassis ground?" Is that the little thing which the u-shaped end of the ground wire connects to? If so, there is none on the mixer, hence the question. Do phono preamps typically have these things, or is there some alternative?

 

[M.Brane]

A phono pre should have a binding post to connect the ground wire. If not you can attach it some other way, like to a case screw (if the case is grounded).

Grounding things properly can be a real pain sometimes because unfortunately not all equipment is designed properly. This explains it pretty well.