Hi everybody-
I'm new to this and have been on tons of forums all day, but I haven't found an answer to my question. Thanks in advance to anybody who can solve this enigma!
I've pieced together a system from a Yamaha TT-400U turntable and a Denon DRA-1025RA receiver, both in great condition that I bought at a thrift store ($60 total!). I also bought some cheap second-hand "Cambridge Soundworks" speakers (I know, I'm waiting to invest in some real ones). Now, my receiver has a PHONO input jack, but when the turntable was plugged in, the sound coming from the speakers was just BARELY audible. In tinkering around, I decided to plug the RCA cables from the back of the turntable into the "MAIN IN" jacks instead, and the volume is MUCH improved. However, now the volume knob on the receiver does not change the volume at all, and it's still not playing all that loudly. In fact, it plays louder from my crappy iPod speakers plugged into the headphone jack in the front than the real speakers plugged into the back. The MAIN IN jacks are next to jacks labelled PRE-OUT.
I already replaced the RCA cables and speaker cables, so I know that old cables aren't the problem. After reading many, many similar questions it seems that since my receiver HAS a PHONO input, a pre-amp shouldn't make a difference. Am I wrong about this? I can't find anything in the manuals for either the receiver or the turntable about a built-in pre-amp, however. So I'm really not sure. Or perhaps there's something else I'm not considering? Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
You really have not given us enough information to be of help.
However there are three possibilities.
1). Your cartridge as failed from age and needs replacement.
2). Your turntable has been fitted with a low output moving coil cartridge that is not suitable for your Denon.
Magnetic cartridges have a low output and a rising treble response. The phone stage is a high gain amplifier, that also provides correction for the rising response according to the RIAA curve.
Cartridges come in three types, moving magnet (the most frequently encountered), Variable reluctance (principally Decca). These types produce an output of 3 to 4 mv and need loading into 47K Ohms.
The third type is the moving coil. Some are high output types and can use the same input as a moving magnet, most however are low output types, that have an output of around 1 mv and need to see a load of 100 ohms. If connected to a 47 K Ohm RIAA MM input there is very little output, and this could be your problem.
3). Your RIAA phono input is not working and needs service or bypassing by using a phono preamp and connecting the phono preamp to a line input, such as AUX.
RIAA equalization has to be applied either at the receiver phono input or by an off board phono preamp.
So we need to know what cartridge you have.
There is a possibility of a wiring problem on your turntable. You will need to do a continuity test from cartridge connectors to RCA plugs to see if this is the problem
I don't think you will sort this out after excluding a wiring problem, other than by connecting a known good turntable to your receiver, or connecting your turntable to a receiver with a known working phono input.
