Could I get recommendations for a phono preamp? I will be digitizing my LP collection. I posted a related question before and got some good suggestions on process. Either a preamp with equalization or a linear preamp and do the equalization with software. The budget is about $200.
I would not use the "linear preamp with software equalization" method myself. It'll be tricky to capture the full dynamic range of a good LP, without running the risk of clipping the loud parts at one end of the frequency range, or having the quiet parts at the other end of the frequency range sink down too low towards the noise. It's probably possible to do it this way and get decent results, but I suspect that setting the system gain may be tricky, and applying the RIAA equalization digitally might require using 24- or 32-bit math. It's best, I think, to apply the RIAA equalization electronically, before digitizing.
I don't have a specific recommendation for a preamp (I bought my last one decades ago and it's still going strong) but I see that
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has numerous models available in your price range... some with a USB "sound card" built right in. Prices range from cheap to astronomical, and I wouldn't bet that high price is necessarily any indication of improved performance, at least not up in the nosebleed price ranges :-)
If you're willing to think outside the box a bit... if you look around at local thift and used-electronics stores, CraigsList, electronics- and-ham-oriented flea markets and swap meets, etc., I'd be shocked if you can't find a very capable stereo receiver, or preamp (with phono stage) for well under $200 which will do the job for you just fine. This approach might not work if you have (e.g.) a low-output moving coil cartridge in your turntable, but if you have anything along the lines of a mid-range moving-coil or moving-iron cartridge you'd probably find that an older receiver's phono section is quite adequate for the job.
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Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
On a sunny day (Mon, 03 Sep 2012 15:51:20 +0300) it happened Tauno Voipio wrote in :
Was it not only crystal (piezo) cartridges at first, but indeed I had a magnetic one in the fifties too. Mono, with a needle. Speed control was by centrifugal weights...
But then crystal took over (and stereo). Those has enough signal for the normal toob input. Then teh mroe sofistcated moving magnet stereos came, that needed a preamp. But hey, you are right, toobs are the best for Hipe Fidility applicatons the warm reds cannot be matched by any cold silicon.
For $20, you can make your own preamp. Add $30 more for a housing and connectors. The National Semiconductor Audio Handbook has a schematic of a RIAA preamp.
Both designs run on +/-15v power supplies. Not a big deal if you have the right power supply handy, but not exactly what I would use in todays low voltage single power supply world. Not coincidentally, some of my older music black boxes run on 9VAC and use
If I add the cost of the required power supply:
it's going to be quite a bit more than $20.
Note that you can buy a preamp for roughly the same price as the $20 estimated cost of construction:
TI seems to be trying to bury the National Semi name. To the victor go the spoils, I guess. For $6.5 billion in cash, I guess they might want to do that.
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Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
"A" versions were originally numbered like "7023" (special quality, ruggedized). Later, they changed the system so that an SQ ECC83 became E83CC.
Horrible mish-mash numbering in Europe. Some manufacturers used US numbering (STC-Brimar), some used Pro-Electron numbering (Mullard, Philips, Valvo, Telefunken), some went their own way.
A 6AM6 might be marked 6AM6, or EF91, or 8D3, or all three at once.
Then there was the British military "CV" system...
Beats me how the Allies won the war ;-)
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"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence
over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled."
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