Any recommendations on a turntable phone pre-amp, for an AV receiver that has no phono input? - Beyond Tiki

H Hakalugi Special Tiki Central Agent Redondo Beach, CA Joined: Aug 10, 2004 Posts: 3465	H Hakalugi Posted posted on Mon, Aug 3, 2009 10:34 PM Most of the phono preamps under $100 are not so good. Unless you can listen to it first or find some objective reviews of a model you had in mind, you might want to avoid it. Of course depending on what you're going to do with it makes a difference. If you need it for DJing over a PA in a noisy club, then the cheapest one out there might be fine. However, if that's what you need it for, then like you said, just hold off and get the dj mixer. If your plans involve critical listening or archiving you definitely want to be more selective. A number of years ago I started digitizing some of my vinyl collection, stuff not available on cd. After reading all the reviews and knowing I couldn't afford the best high end audiophile preamp, I settled on a Parasound PPH-100 phono preamp which I purchased new for just under $100. I'm happy with it. It handles moving coil cartridges as well as moving magnet cartridges. Sometimes they turn up used for even less. Used phono preamps from NAD or Creek are sometimes a good deal too. keep an eye on audiogon.com. In the meantime, just by a cheapo $10 one off ebay like this: http://tinyurl.com/mul9o3

Most of the phono preamps under $100 are not so good. Unless you can listen to it first or find some objective reviews of a model you had in mind, you might want to avoid it. Of course depending on what you're going to do with it makes a difference. If you need it for DJing over a PA in a noisy club, then the cheapest one out there might be fine. However, if that's what you need it for, then like you said, just hold off and get the dj mixer.

If your plans involve critical listening or archiving you definitely want to be more selective.

A number of years ago I started digitizing some of my vinyl collection, stuff not available on cd. After reading all the reviews and knowing I couldn't afford the best high end audiophile preamp, I settled on a Parasound PPH-100 phono preamp which I purchased new for just under $100. I'm happy with it. It handles moving coil cartridges as well as moving magnet cartridges.
Sometimes they turn up used for even less. Used phono preamps from NAD or Creek are sometimes a good deal too. keep an eye on audiogon.com. In the meantime, just by a cheapo $10 one off ebay like this: http://tinyurl.com/mul9o3

Post #474288 by Hakalugi on Mon, Aug 3, 2009 10:34 PM