What Does A Preamp Do For Vinyl

If your turntable has a usb output it has a built in preamp.

What does a preamp do for vinyl.

Though the sound coming through the pro ject phono box is virtually indistinguishable from u turn s pluto the phono box does have an extra trick up its sleeve for more high end vinyl. You can achieve this setup with turntables that do not have a built in preamp or your turntable has a defeatable phono stage allowing you to bypass the built in preamp. The cheapest preamp costs less than 50 the most expensive will cost over 500. Many turntables receivers and even powered speakers already have a phono preamp built in.

If you do need an external preamp you will need a set of cables usually rca cables to connect to your audio system. With the separate preamp you will also need to add a grounding wire from the turntable to the preamp and the preamp to the powered speakers to avoid any buzzing or humming noise. A basic preamp boosts the signal to an output of 300 mv. The preamp can be a standalone unit or integrated into the turntable or amplifier receiver.

Check out my 10 best phono preamps from 10 to 500 article if you need a preamp. As you can see the preamp has a serious job to do and has a major impact on vinyl playback and how your record player performs. Preamps have a wide range when it comes to build and sound quality. But that does not necessarily mean that the phono preamp must be a separate box.

In other words a signal must be amplified by a factor of 75 in order to be of any use to the amp. If you try to play vinyl records on a stereo that does not include a phono preamp the music will be extremely low in volume and totally lack bass.