Any recommendations for a pre-amp/preamp

[Ydaduree]

My trusty old Technics amp/pre-amp (my wife's amp actually) is dying ..... the light s are out, but it still passes power throgh to the FM tuner and the tuner signal can be sent on to soundcard/Audacity - so I can still record FM radio. BUT I can't switch the device to phono - so no more vinyl recordings for now, and I've still got a way to go

It looks like I might have to buy a phono preamp to sit between my turntable and my Edirol UA-1EX USB soundcard.

Does anybody have any good recommendations for a preamp?

I think that some devices are made for folks who need to connect TTs to new amps that don't have phono inputs - reasonably small and cheap- Obviously I don't want a USB preamp as I am using the external USB soundcard - so I need RAC to input to thr soundcard . The TT presents RCA outputs. The preamp obviously need to do the RIAA equalisation.

Any suggestions greatfully received. many thanks,
Gasper

[mahjongg]

Where to get a RIAA preamp largely depends on where you live, I would simply google for "RIAA preamp" to find a local supplier. Google knows where you are connecting from, and will adjust its findings accordingly.

[scruss]

I've tried several over the years. The one I ended up keeping has USB, so not what you want. I find the USB feature useful, as it means I can monitor the turntable without messing with wiring. Got it from an online place in the US somewhere called "Phono Preamps" or something similarly imaginative.

Making an acceptable phono preamp isn't hard, unless you want to suit the Wat HiFi?¹ crowd. Eliminating ground loop hum is much harder, though.

--
¹: yes, I know that's a parody site. It has occasionally salty language, too.

[Burngate]

https://www.circuitlib.com/index.php/pr ... pathway-29

[energyi]

Suptronics HATs and Moode Audio has been good for me

https://other2funstuff.blogspot.com/201 ... t.html?m=1

[wh7qq]

For excellent performance without dropping a fortune, the TC760LC would be hard to beat. I have used the earlier model (through hole pc board TC750LC) for years and consistently found it to sound superior to built-in RIAA preamps in Onkyo and Yamaha receivers. As with any report, this is a subjective opinion based on my ears and perceptions.

Recently, I tailored the input capacitance load to my MM cartridge specs and noticed a considerable improvement. It is important to consider the capacitance of the connected cabling in the overall load capacitance of the cartridge. In my case with a Shure M97ed, the cable capacitance between the cartridge and preamp was sufficient and removing the 220pf load capacitors on the input lines noticeably improved the high end response but with no trace of harshness. Few lower cost preamps including the TC760LC offer this option and you need to drop a lot of $$$ if you are solder adverse.

Most good quality cartridge manufacturers do provide a specification for the optimum load capacitance (and resistance) and it is necessary to match that up to your cables and the preamp input to get the best performance. When you buy a preamp off the shelf, you may get stuck with the arbitrary middle ground that the manufacturer chooses to match the widest range of cartridges. This may not match up with your cartridge and never includes the connecting cables which are all over the map. The TC does match the 47K resistive load of most MM cartridges but depending on the cartridge, the capacitance choice may be a poor match.

[drgeoff]

Old quality gear such as Technics tends to be fixable and a good search of the net could even turn up a freely downloadable copy of the service manual.

"Lights out" would suggest the first thing to check is the power supply area. Those tuner-amps tend to have several rails. And decent Hi-Fi gear used conventional mains transformers and relatively simple circuitry, not switched mode supplies.

But if you are not competent/confident to go inside mains powered apparatus, don't. Maybe you have an acquaintance who is.

[mark3112]

My 40 year old Pioneer SA-9800 died a few months ago, I was about to buy a new amp but out of curiosity I had a look on the net to see if there were any second hand ones. There was for $2500. Which made me think repairing it was a better alternative than scrapping it.

If you fancy trying to fix it, hifiengine.com is a source for manuals/schematics and audiokarma.org is a great resource for all things hifi.

[flatmax]

An old thread, however we're releasing a high quality phono preamp with a pro. soundcard included. If you want to use a Pi with a turntable, this may be just what you are after. This is the Kickstarter link : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fl ... ef=piForum

Hope that helps
Matt