Cheap Phono Preamps

[TLS Guy]

Give your situation the Behringer sounds like a safe bet, should be sonically OK and won't draw ire from family members. For the money, you can't go too far wrong...and if you get more heavily into vinyl you can always step up to a nicer unit later. A serviceable phono preamp for the price of a few McDonald's runs ain't a bad deal.

TP

I could not agree more B3Nut!

I assume you (the crunche) are likely of school or early college age. If that is so, now is the time to study all of this and really understand audio circuits and all that is involved. It is great fun, and actually will further your education. I started tinkering at age 7. My teen years were a time of very active reading and experimentation. I built more gear than ever back then. Now I'm over fifty years on from those days I'm afraid.

 

[thecrunge]

A good assumption. I am a senior in college (mechanical engineering) which leads to my inclination to fool around with things like this. My dad has always had an interest in sound systems (where this turntable came from). I have spent the past few days reading through the last 20 issues or so of Affordable Audio, which is really a very interesting read.

Guitar center supposedly has those Behringer amps for $20 in store, so in the next few days I will have to check around. I also have a bad feeling I am going to be spending some time at a few of the local record stores leafing through used albums.

Hopefully when I graduate next year and have some real money to myself to use, I will be able to start playing around with some cooler gear than what I have right now. I appreciate all the advice from you all though.

 

[TLS Guy]

A good assumption. I am a senior in college (mechanical engineering) which leads to my inclination to fool around with things like this. My dad has always had an interest in sound systems (where this turntable came from). I have spent the past few days reading through the last 20 issues or so of Affordable Audio, which is really a very interesting read.

Guitar center supposedly has those Behringer amps for $20 in store, so in the next few days I will have to check around. I also have a bad feeling I am going to be spending some time at a few of the local record stores leafing through used albums.

Hopefully when I graduate next year and have some real money to myself to use, I will be able to start playing around with some cooler gear than what I have right now. I appreciate all the advice from you all though.

as you have an engineers mind, then you have absolutely no excuse for not becoming a true expert. I would suggest you start looking at material that has more of a basic science bent.

 

[Geno]

If you want to see where Total Insanity can lead in this hobby, google "Manley Steelhead".

 

[TLS Guy]

If you want to see where Total Insanity can lead in this hobby, google "Manley Steelhead".

This is worse!

http://www.needledoctor.com/Aesthetix-Io-Signature-Phono-Preamp-w-volume-controls

 

[Geno]

This is worse!

http://www.needledoctor.com/Aesthetix-Io-Signature-Phono-Preamp-w-volume-controls

I stand corrected. Seems Total Insanity always has one more notch to go!

 

[thecrunge]

I feel like a few thousand dollars worth of equipment will bring me 98% of the way. Spending many times that initial few thousand dollars in search of the last 2% doesn't seem totally worthwhile to me. But that is just my opinion. I am honestly pretty happy with where I am for the modest amount of money I have spent.

 

[B3Nut]

I second TLS's recommend to read articles written from a sound scientific perspective. The Audio Critic (www.theaudiocritic.com) is a good e-zine with some PDF reprints of select back issues with important articles. I still sometimes check out Stereophile or The Absolute Sound at Barnes & Noble just for a chuckle, but the reckless subjectivism those periodicals represent has gotten completely out of hand. $500 power cords? Please! Placing magic bricks blessed by Hindu gods or some such atop your amplifier, elevating cables off the floor, or putting silly pieces of wood hither and yon...pure insanity!

As you've discovered, you can have immense fun in this hobby without spending a king's ransom...and by sticking to science, you can put your money into things that *truly* offer tangible benefit. Monster Cables and Mpingo Dots ain't where it's at!

Todd in Cheesecurdistan

 

[Geno]

I second TLS's recommend to read articles written from a sound scientific perspective. The Audio Critic (www.theaudiocritic.com) is a good e-zine with some PDF reprints of select back issues with important articles. I still sometimes check out Stereophile or The Absolute Sound at Barnes & Noble just for a chuckle, but the reckless subjectivism those periodicals represent has gotten completely out of hand. $500 power cords? Please! Placing magic bricks blessed by Hindu gods or some such atop your amplifier, elevating cables off the floor, or putting silly pieces of wood hither and yon...pure insanity!

As you've discovered, you can have immense fun in this hobby without spending a king's ransom...and by sticking to science, you can put your money into things that *truly* offer tangible benefit. Monster Cables and Mpingo Dots ain't where it's at!

Todd in Cheesecurdistan

Hey...you ain't dissin' my 300 jars of Brilliant Pebbles, are you? I swear, they really really work!

 

[thecrunge]

I will have to start downloading and reading The Audio Critic too. I am really more interested in learning about these things anyway, although it is interesting to see some of the really high end equipment (that I will likely never afford anyways). This is what I feel that Affordable Audio does well (as opposed to the few issues of Stereophile and The Absolute Sound that I have).