Hooking Turntable up to Marantz SR6012

[Mike V]

When I began to set up a whole new music listening room last fall with all new gear, I was told that these days, you will need a preamp for your turntable before hooking it up to a modern AVR. So I purchased a U-Turn Orbitz turntable and ordered a preamp with it and an Ortofon 2M Red MM cartridge, and plugged it into the Marantz SR6012 phono input jacks in the back. When I tried to play an LP, I turned on the preamp, and the sound was terrible. Turns out I needed to turn off the preamp to listen, and it turns out there is a built-in preamp inside when using the phono jacks for a moving magnet cartridge. It actually sounds pretty good with my Klipsch Forte III speakers, better than I expected from LPs, after not having a turntable for nearly 30 years.

Problem is I also have a Pro-Ject Phono Box S that I want to try out. I assumed I would be able to bypass the interior phono preamp by plugging the turntable into the Phono Box S and then plug the Phono Box S into the CD inout jacks on the Marantz, enabling me to hear the turntable through the preamp (yes, I turned off the builtin preamp). But I hear no sound at all.

How do I listen to my turntable using the Pro-Ject Phono Box S? I also tried some of the other inputs. Yes, I made sure the receiver was selected for the proper input, yet still I hear absolute silence. Any ideas?

 

[lovinthehd]

Sounds like that should work. So it works both ways if plugged into the Marantz, but doesn't work in the ProJect Box ? You sure the ProJect Box works and is on etc?

 

[TLS Guy]

When I began to set up a whole new music listening room last fall with all new gear, I was told that these days, you will need a preamp for your turntable before hooking it up to a modern AVR. So I purchased a U-Turn Orbitz turntable and ordered a preamp with it and an Ortofon 2M Red MM cartridge, and plugged it into the Marantz SR6012 phono input jacks in the back. When I tried to play an LP, I turned on the preamp, and the sound was terrible. Turns out I needed to turn off the preamp to listen, and it turns out there is a built-in preamp inside when using the phono jacks for a moving magnet cartridge. It actually sounds pretty good with my Klipsch Forte III speakers, better than I expected from LPs, after not having a turntable for nearly 30 years.

Problem is I also have a Pro-Ject Phono Box S that I want to try out. I assumed I would be able to bypass the interior phono preamp by plugging the turntable into the Phono Box S and then plug the Phono Box S into the CD inout jacks on the Marantz, enabling me to hear the turntable through the preamp (yes, I turned off the builtin preamp). But I hear no sound at all.

How do I listen to my turntable using the Pro-Ject Phono Box S? I also tried some of the other inputs. Yes, I made sure the receiver was selected for the proper input, yet still I hear absolute silence. Any ideas?

Sounds like the project box is defunct.

 

[Swerd]

Problem is I also have a Pro-Ject Phono Box S that I want to try out. I assumed I would be able to bypass the interior phono preamp by plugging the turntable into the Phono Box S and then plug the Phono Box S into the CD inout jacks on the Marantz, enabling me to hear the turntable through the preamp (yes, I turned off the builtin preamp). But I hear no sound at all.

How do I listen to my turntable using the Pro-Ject Phono Box S? I also tried some of the other inputs. Yes, I made sure the receiver was selected for the proper input, yet still I hear absolute silence. Any ideas?

The Pro-Ject Phono Box requires electric power. It came with a wall-wart that produces 18 volts DC. Did you forget to plug it in?

 

[Mike V]

Sounds like that should work. So it works both ways if plugged into the Marantz, but doesn't work in the ProJect Box ? You sure the ProJect Box works and is on etc?

No, I did not make it clear. It only works when the Turntable preamp is turned off AND the phono jacks are used. If I turn on the preamp this way, two preamps make a very distorted sound.

When I try to use either the built-in preamp or the Pro-Ject preamp on the CD inputs, no sound at all, with or without either preamp. Not even an expected weak sound - just silence.

 

[Mike V]

The Pro-Ject Phono Box requires electric power. It came with a wall-wart that produces 18 volts DC. Did you forget to plug it in?

Yes, I plugged it in and made sure the power button in the front is on (blue light power indicator).

 

[Mike V]

Sounds like the project box is defunct.

But I also get nothing with the turntable preamp powered up.

 

[lovinthehd]

No, I did not make it clear. It only works when the Turntable preamp is turned off AND the phono jacks are used. If I turn on the preamp this way, two preamps make a very distorted sound.

When I try to use either the built-in preamp or the Pro-Ject preamp on the CD inputs, no sound at all, with or without either preamp. Not even an expected weak sound - just silence.

But it brings audio thru the Marantz whether or not the turntable preamp is on or off, just sounds proper when you use the tt's preamp in off and on phono inputs. If the same thing doesn't work on the cd input check to see if you're automatically changing to digital or analog input on the cd input. It may be set to just digital or something....change it manually to analog and see what happens.

 

[TLS Guy]

But it brings audio thru the Marantz whether or not the turntable preamp is on or off, just sounds proper when you use the tt's preamp in off and on phono inputs. If the same thing doesn't work on the cd input check to see if you're automatically changing to digital or analog input on the cd input. It may be set to just digital or something....change it manually to analog and see what happens.

Yes, that must be his problem. He has not gone through his input set up menu and assigned his inputs correctly.

 

[Mike V]

But it brings audio thru the Marantz whether or not the turntable preamp is on or off, just sounds proper when you use the tt's preamp in off and on phono inputs. If the same thing doesn't work on the cd input check to see if you're automatically changing to digital or analog input on the cd input. It may be set to just digital or something....change it manually to analog and see what happens.

Thank you! That is probably the correct answer - it certainly makes sense. I went to all those input settings when I first set everything up and forgot about that. I will take a look at that and report back here with the results.

 

[Mike V]

Yes, that must be his problem. He has not gone through his input set up menu and assigned his inputs correctly.

Yes, that was it. I had completely forgotten about that, and I also remember a friend suggested that I turn off all the inputs I am not using, so I turned off the CD input default value of 5. Once I set it to 5, I got great sound with my U-Turn builtin preamp, and I think the Pro-Ject Phono Box S sounds even better. Thanks for the advice, even if it should have been pretty obvious - it wasn't for me, until now.

 

[lovinthehd]

Yes, that was it. I had completely forgotten about that, and I also remember a friend suggested that I turn off all the inputs I am not using, so I turned off the CD input default value of 5. Once I set it to 5, I got great sound with my U-Turn builtin preamp, and I think the Pro-Ject Phono Box S sounds even better. Thanks for the advice, even if it should have been pretty obvious - it wasn't for me, until now.

The auto input setting can be nice

Glad you figured it out. Are you sure the external preamp is not just a level difference ?

 

[Mike V]

The auto input setting can be nice

Glad you figured it out. Are you sure the external preamp is not just a level difference ?

Well, my Forte IIIs are very expressive and live sounding, and with some tight SVS SB2000s tuned in just right, it sounds like a live band in my room, and I notice a difference. Really loving my setup now - I did not think I could get LPs to sound this good!