Dedicated phono preamp or no?

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mdainsd

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Forgive my ignorance, I want to run my tuntable into a couple of channels of my mixer (Mackie 32/8/2). Should I be using a dedicated phono pre ahead of the board? Correct me as required, but the cartrige output is unbalanced, and the low level board input (mic) is balanced, problem? And levels?
 
Yes, you will need to use a phono preamp with the RIAA eq curve or it will sound like crap.
 
mdainsd said:
Forgive my ignorance, I want to run my tuntable into a couple of channels of my mixer (Mackie 32/8/2). Should I be using a dedicated phono pre ahead of the board? Correct me as required, but the cartrige output is unbalanced, and the low level board input (mic) is balanced, problem? And levels?
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As wish says, you need the RIAA curve .... the balanced/unbalanced thing and the level of the signal are of lesser importance but you simply have to have the RIAA curve for playback of vinyl.
Plus you don't really want to be running a turntable thru the mic preamps ..... you want to send a line signal which you will have from a phono pre.
 
Thanks for the replies! Dont know how I forgot about the required eq, but thats a good reason to ask. I looked through my junk pile for an old pre that might have phono inputs. I didnt find one and im glad. I would rather not start mixing in consumer grade equipment with what I have. So ill start looking around and see if I can find something that is available in rack mount.
 
Many new turn tables have outputs that take care of the RIAA curve and/or offer a swtich to enable or disable that.
 
Yes, as sr71 says, perhaps your turntable has the RIAA built in if it's a late-model, lower end unit as they'recommonly putting in the stages and sometimes digital converters with USB outs too; otherwise you'll need a box with the RIAA and line level outputs. I'm trying to think of a phono stage in a rackmount chassis that isn't a DJ mixer but drawing a blank. BTW pardon the spam but I do have a Bellari VP-129 that I'd part with, pm if you wanna.

Out of curiosity, why are you running your turntable into the Mackie?
 
Heh. I run my turn table into my board as a good method to get it out to the monitors... Sometime I like to listen to music :P
 
briank said:
Yes, as sr71 says, perhaps your turntable has the RIAA built in if it's a late-model, lower end unit as they'recommonly putting in the stages and sometimes digital converters with USB outs too;
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yes ..... but usually they're cheap plastic crummy tables. if he has a decent 'table just using a phono-pre would be better.

And how much do you want for the Bellari? I have one but I wouldn't mind having another.
 
Lt. Bob said:
yes ..... but usually they're cheap plastic crummy tables. if he has a decent 'table just using a phono-pre would be better.
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Oh, definitely agreed there!

I'll pm you about the other thing-
 
I don't think I've ever seen a stand alone rack mount phono pre-amp.

About all you'll find is the Radio Shack style black box units for moving magnet cartridges which go for 20 to 30 bucks.

Ortofon made some high end moving coil phono pre amps which were designed to plug into a MM phono input. I have a model from them called the T-20 which is a MC head amp and is a purely passive design all done though a toroidal transformer inside the unit. It works well with my Ortofon MC X-3 moving coil cartridge on my Thornens TD126 mk III turntable.

Cheers! :)
 
Check to see if your stereo receiver has a phono input. If so, hook the phono to the receiver and then run a tape out from the receiver to your mixer or wherever you want the output to go to.

My receivers are so old that they still have the phono inputs. :laughings:

I do have a turntable hooked up, but it's been years since I've used it. I need a new stylus big time.
 
I just looked and found an old Realistic (Radio Shack) phono preamp that I own. It's got to be 20 years old or more.

I don't need it. I'll let it go for $25 including shipping, to the lower 48 US states, if you are interested, mdainsd. Or if he's not interested, it's up for grabs if anybody else wants it.

Time time to de-clutter my music room.

20120613_172831.jpg


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Wish14 said:
It's got to be 20 years old or more.
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What I really meant to say is it's vintage. ;)

And you know how the vintage hand soldered analog stuff sounds so much warmer compared to the cheap digital crapola coming out of China these days.

This thing was manufactured in Korea with love.

:cool:
 
Wish14 said:
What I really meant to say is it's vintage. ;)

And you know how the vintage hand soldered analog stuff sounds so much warmer compared to the cheap digital crapola coming out of China these days.

This thing was manufactured in Korea with love.

:cool:
Click to expand...

:facepalm: :laughings:

Cheers! :)
 
Wish14 said:
What I really meant to say is it's vintage. ;)

And you know how the vintage hand soldered analog stuff sounds so much warmer compared to the cheap digital crapola coming out of China these days.

This thing was manufactured in Korea with love.

:cool:
Click to expand...

Good save! :laughings::D
 
I want to run the turntable into the board for a couple of reasons. Archieving Lps, easiest way to route to whatever media im using. Listening to Lps, id rather listen to music in the control room than any other place :-) Tranfer to tape, then playback over the phones into the live room for working on covers with the band. My vintage TT has no builtin pre, its an Audio Linear from the late 60s or early 70s. Thanks for the offers on pres, but I think Ill hunt a while longer for a rack mount. What did all the radio stations use, or do broadcast mixers have phono pres built in?
 
Depends on your price sensitivity I suppose... Here's a very flexible rackmount one that supports the RIAA curve as well as some others from before the standard was set:

Electronics, Preamps, Equalizers, Audio Switches, Amplifiers, Digital Recorders

Nearly $400 though.

Radial Engineering makes the J33 for $200, which can be rack mounted. They manufacture a lot of DIs and similar style units that can be loaded into a chassis that can be racked up. If you don't want to go that route you can use the J33 stand alone. It's phantom powered so you don't need to worry about extra power cables and, for me, wiring this up in line would negate my need for rack-mounting. Beyond a ground switch, the unit has no knobs or anything else to fiddle with so I wouldn't feel a need to have it at the ready, so to speak.

I'll be curious to know what you end up using to solve this little problem...

Robert
 
mdainsd said:
What did all the radio stations use, or do broadcast mixers have phono pres built in?
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I can't speak for all radio stations or all broadcast mixers but I's assume they have the phono pres built in. And I base that assumption on seeing many models from TASCAM which had two stereo sets of phono pres built in, such as the M500 series boards.

Cheers! :)
 
mdainsd said:
What did all the radio stations use, or do broadcast mixers have phono pres built in?
Click to expand...

The broadcast consoles I used (Audioarts/Wheatstone, Arrakis) had them built into dedicated stereo phono channels.
 
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