first post- question about turntable

[yaroslav.bily]

I got a an old pioneer record player connected to an integrated kenwood amp. when listening through the speakers, it sounded normal, but when I started ripping lps to my computer, the left channel is always louder than the right and is spectraly different, so its not a matter of only amplitude. Is this normal or do need a new cartridge? because im not even sure how stereo works on vinyl. any help would be appreciated. oh and I tried listening through headphones directly from the amp, and the left is stronger than the right. my balance settings on the amp are 0.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I got a an old pioneer record player connected to an integrated kenwood amp. when listening through the speakers, it sounded normal, but when I started ripping lps to my computer, the left channel is always louder than the right and is spectraly different, so its not a matter of only amplitude. Is this normal or do need a new cartridge? because im not even sure how stereo works on vinyl. any help would be appreciated. oh and I tried listening through headphones directly from the amp, and the left is stronger than the right. my balance settings on the amp are 0.

When the record signal goes to your integrated, I bet it has a turntable input. With that comes the RIAA circuit that EQs it properly.
I bet when you make a copy to the computer, it bypasses that section and you get what you end up with, uncorrected sound that sounds rough

 

[MDS]

What are you using to record the LP (sofware and sound card)? If you want to do a decent job you need a good audio editor that allows you to set each channel level. I would expect each channel to be spectrally different as music is not symmetric.

 

[riceaterslc]

are you going from the turntable to the IA then to the computer or straight from the turntable to the computer?

 

[yaroslav.bily]

I have a creative audigy 2 zs platinum pro, the one with the external box, and I used Adobe Audition 2, I am connecting the turntable to the IA, and using the "tape" output from the IA which is RCA red and white, and that is going into my RCA-in on the soundcard, alternativeley I have tried to insert it into a standard 1/8 inch input to my soundcard and same result, but actualy as I already said, the difference in chanels is allready audible through the headphone output directly from the IA.

To be honest though im not very satisfied with the quality of output, maybee someone can recomend a better way of ripping lps to a computer...maybee there is some other inexpensive hardware that can help me? like a dedicated turntable preamp?

 

[Rob Babcock]

You certainly could use a phono preamp. These can be obtained pretty reasonably used, and under $150 new depending on how fancy you want it. Another option would be to buy a USB based device made to rip LPs. I guess it all depends on how many LPs you have. Ripping them will be time consuming if you have a lot. Back when standalone CD-R machines came out I decided to copy some LPs (and even rare/irreplaceable tapes) to CD-R, but of course in real time it's a pain in the ***. Using a PC will allow more editing & f/x, but it won't be all that much faster.