Why You May Need A Phono Preamplifier

Whilst in the original age of vinyl,from the 1960's to the 1980's nearly all integrated stereo amplifiers incorporated a special phono stage into which the turntable had to be plugged.The reason for this is that a turntable has a much lower audio output (sometimes as little as one tenth that of a cd player).Without plugging it into the phono stage it could hardly be heard.

With the demise of the record in the 1980's and the shift to the compact disc medium,amplifier manufacturers stopped including a phono preamplifier stage in their products.As we continue with the resurgence of vinyl new music listeners to the world of turntables who usually own an amplifier or music systems without a phono stage are faced with the fact that their turntables won't work plugged directly into an auxiliary or similar input.

There is an answer in the form of a separate phono preamplifier which plugs inline between the turntable and the amplifier or system and brings the output of the turntable up to line level (same volume level as a cd player).Quality phono preamplifiers start at $119 and go up to including a valve stage for a very sweet sound from $485.

A second solution if you are entering the world of vinyl is to buy a turntable with an inbuilt phono preamplifier.And you don't have to put up with cheap and cheerful or poor quality.ProJect,one of the largest high quality turntable manufacturers,has musically rich sounding turntables such as their Essential II Phono USB model for a very affordable $495.The USB in the model name is because it also has a USB output to enable you to record your records onto your computer.

A great way of getting into the world of high quality affordable vinyl listening is to pair one of these ProJect turntables with a pair of great sounding Active Speakers which start from $399 a pair.