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Undertoad · 05-04-2003, 02:27 PM

(Cue theme: middle-aged maaaan!)

If you can get good sound into your sound card's input jack, there are many great programs out there that will happily take that analog input and convert it to whatever format you like. The problem in most cases is that the turntable itself will only produce a weird reduced un-amplified output which is basically what the sound is like coming from the pickup. (Y'know, the record needle.) This output has to be amplified in a special way.

Some turntables sold today already have that built in; the circuit in question could be referred to as "phono pre-amp". Older receivers all have a phono input jack, and if you plugged your turntable's output into that jack it would be "phono pre-amplified" before heading off to be amplified regularly.

Today only the most expensive receivers have a phono pre-amplified input; you have to pay something like $600 for your receiver in order to get it. Rat Shack carries a device that will do it for about $70. The actual worth of the circuit is less than $5, though.

05-04-2003, 02:27 PM	#2
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	(Cue theme: middle-aged maaaan!) If you can get good sound into your sound card's input jack, there are many great programs out there that will happily take that analog input and convert it to whatever format you like. The problem in most cases is that the turntable itself will only produce a weird reduced un-amplified output which is basically what the sound is like coming from the pickup. (Y'know, the record needle.) This output has to be amplified in a special way. Some turntables sold today already have that built in; the circuit in question could be referred to as "phono pre-amp". Older receivers all have a phono input jack, and if you plugged your turntable's output into that jack it would be "phono pre-amplified" before heading off to be amplified regularly. Today only the most expensive receivers have a phono pre-amplified input; you have to pay something like $600 for your receiver in order to get it. Rat Shack carries a device that will do it for about $70. The actual worth of the circuit is less than $5, though.