External Phono Preamp?

[Squishman]

I have no problems with the preamp inside my RZ50. But if a guy had money to burn and a receiver with a phono input, is there any reason to get an external phono preamp?

 

[TLS Guy]

I have no problems with the preamp inside my RZ50. But if a guy had money to burn and a receiver with a phono input, is there any reason to get an external phono preamp?

Only if the designer of the AVR was a bigger clown than the average. RIAA equalization is a very simple circuit and hard to muck up. I bet it has happened, but I have not seen it. Getting an external RIAA preamp is money down the drain and better spent elsewhere.

 

[Squishman]

Only if the designer of the AVR was a bigger clown than the average. RIAA equalization is a very simple circuit and hard to muck up. I bet it has happened, but I have not seen it. Getting an external RIAA preamp is money down the drain and better spent elsewhere.

That's the answer I was hoping for.

 

[m. zillch]

They can differ in features:
- rumble filter
- mono/stereo switch (rare. Never seen one in person.]
- MM vs MC
- variable output levels
- power switch vs no power switch (the only way to power down is to unplug it)
- different cartridge loading settings (can alter the tone a bit)

But other than sometimes fairly innocuous differences that don't matter looking at the big picture, they all sound about the same despite the hi-end reviewers' imaginations claiming otherwise.

A common journey phono hobbyists explore is when they discover that with the stylus cued up and not touching the record that different phono pre-amps exhibit subtle differences in noise, hiss. But then when you lower the stylus into the groove the noise level skyrockets—from the cartridge hearing the noise of the disc, the turntable, and the room—and the smart people realize that the faint differences heard before actual play don't matter because they are obscured, masked, in actual use.