Looking for a turntable

[garww]

Originally Posted by whomper

you may be hearing the bull**** rattling around in your head
but i am talking the truth

the last lapping to polish pro tape heads was done with paper
cause that was rough enough to finish the job but not too hard to undo the previous polishing or hurt the heads

No one is talkin' about tape heads, either.

[spaceonthebass]

Originally Posted by garww

You need a pre-amp to convert to RIAA curve. They drop bass to keep groove size down. Many new tables have a pre-amp built in. A stereo receiver has phono RCA jacks with the RIAA pre-amp built in. You use regular line level to amp the signal from a stand alone pre-amp box.

A stand alone cheap "phono" pre-amp box used to cost about $10-20.

I appreciate your answer but I'm still not sure if I can connect it to the EMU 0404 external soundcard and tascam bi-amped monitors using the phono preamp. The EMU has Hi-z/Line and spdif inputs. What I want is to be able to listen to records without having to turn on my computer so that rules out the USB turntables. Thanks again and forgive me my ignorance

[garww]

Normally, powered speakers have a AUX input. Maybe, a 3.5 stereo jack on the front? The pre-amped signal goes there. I would not expect the soundcard to pass signal, but it might.

[spaceonthebass]

The monitors have a single TRS phone input. I tried to plug a guitar to the EMU with the computer shut down and it works... I'm assuming that means I can connect the phono preamp to it, right?

[garww]

That's a good assumption !! But more important is that you tested the theory.

(EDIT) The difference is what ? The phono pre-amp outputs stereo at line level.

[spaceonthebass]

Well I tried connecting my creative mp3 player to Line in of the EMU and it plays but the quality is not as good as playing the mp3 from the computer. It sounds compressed or something...not horrible but not as good. This happens also when connecting directly to the monitors though to a lesser degree. Might be the Creative player or just the line level making the difference...don't know. The volume is much lower also....maybe I'll be better off with an USB turntable after all. The only problem is that the computer is noisy as hell :/ Thanks for your help!

[garww]

I don't have a MP3 player, but I do this with a walkman type. You should get good sound from the player direct to the powered speakers. Check the gain levels - you usually want a low volume on the play device and a medium level on the speakers. Increase play device gain as needed ??

The E-Mu is passing signal, but it is not clean because it depends on power for it's circuitry - so the E-Mu is not a good idea.

Frankly, you could find a old stereo receiver and use that as a switching interface to the sound card. I've been doing it that way for decades.

[spaceonthebass]

How does that work? What do you mean by switching interface? When you say a stereo receiver do you mean using it as an amplifier, with its line in?

I tried what you said with the mp3 player and I noticed a slight improvement in the sound, thanks

[garww]

For the most part, a computer and sound card are just like a tape deck. I plug it into one of the set tape jacks for in and out.

Seeing as your speakers are self-powered, you don't use the amp to drive them. But the receiver is usually great for headphones.

So, you use whatever out jacks you have on the receiver. There are usually two tape ots at line level. Better receivers ( integrated amp, because you probably wont get much radio) have in and out between the pre-amp and amp sections for more options.

Should you only have one out you can dedicate it to the computer or the speakers - or get some splitter cables.

[garww]

Opps !! Switching device !! Forgot. Anything plugged into the receiver can be recorded by the computer. anything plugged into the computer can be like processed by the receiver.