Record player with or without a preamplifier?

What you need:

• Knowledge of amplifier systems
• Knowledge of pickups

Record players and amplification systems have to go together

A little theory will help decide whether or not a preamp is needed:

• On a record player, the needle in the tonearm moves over the groove (yes, there is only one on each side) on the record, causing it to vibrate. If you listen carefully, you can hear the played melody very quietly without any amplification.
• The movement of the needle is transmitted to a magnet, creating a weak electrical signal, a low voltage. This signal is much weaker than the signal from a CD player.
• If you pass this signal on to an amplifier via a standard input at this strength, it will not be able to convert this weak voltage. The loudspeakers remain mute or recording on the cassette is not possible. If your amplifier has an input marked "Phono", use this, because this way the weak current of the audio signal is preamplified accordingly. Most amplifiers have preamps for turntables built into them.
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• Since there are different pickup systems that work with different signal strengths, problems can still arise. The system with the weakest signal strength is MC, the middle MM and the strongest are piezoceramic pickups. The latter never work via the phono input, sometimes via the tape or AUX input. However, you will only encounter these problems if you are using an old record player from the vinyl record era.


Connect the turntable to the amplifier - this is how you proceed

Do you want to give your sound a little more fullness? Especially with antique models ...

New purchase with or without a preamplifier

• If you only occasionally listen to a few records or want to digitize them, a small USB record player with a preamplifier is definitely the best choice. These devices can be connected to any amplifier and you can easily convert vinyl music into MP3 sounds via your PC. You shouldn't make special demands on the enjoyment of music - it rustles, clinks, rattles and gives Sound again, which people in the 60s to 80s perceived as normal, high-quality music enjoyment. Many even take the point of view that the Beatles, the young Stones or Elvis have to sound like this and not different.
• If the sound is to come close to today's sound quality, higher quality turntables and better amplifiers have to be purchased. No question about it - there are very good turntables with integrated preamps. But then you are determined, it is difficult to convert to a different preamplifier at a later date.
• Real lovers swear by a high quality turntable without a preamp, an excellent preamp and a Amplification system in sound studio quality, because this is the only way that all devices are always state-of-the-art can be.

Who only music want to hear, is certainly best served with a simple record player with preamplifier, especially if in this the analog music can easily be converted into digital formats to music via MP3 or CD too enjoy.