The first and the most important question is – Do you need a turntable pre amp? This question cannot be answered unless you have the answers to the following queries:
- Do you know what is a turntable?
- Do you know what is a preamp?
- Do you know why a turntable preamp is used?
Ever heard of LP records? How about Long-playing records? How about vinyl gramophone records? That! Yes. The ubiquitous gramophone record (the great great great grandfather of the popular Compact Disc) is also known as a LP record. LP records were played on gramophones. As technology developed, turntables were manufactured which enabled individuals to play these records without any difficulty. Turntables made LP records very popular and enabled every family to buy one without spending a lot of money. Cassettes and CD's rendered turntables obsolete.
However, even hardcore digital music fans will acknowledge that we are yet to recreate the fantastic sound quality of LP records. If you have a turntable and some old records, just convert them into digital music to see the difference. The converted music will be of very high quality as compared to MP3. Of course, the recorded file will be big in size but will be of superlative quality.
Why do turntables need a preamp? For the same reason why a guitar or a drum requires preamp. This device boosts the sound signals up to line level to ensure your sound card recognizes the same when the turntable is plugged into the line in slot.
How to determine whether you need a turntable pre amp or not? Does the turntable have a line out option or a phono out option? If it is former, then you do not need a preamp. You can connect the turntable to the line in slot on your sound card. However, if the tag speaks of a phono out option, then you shall need a turntable preamp.
How to choose one? What factors must your consider?
Some important factors include:
- Why are you recording the music? Are you converting the LP into digital music just to add the same to your collection? Or, do you intend to make professional use of the same? There are other options like using a digital preamp instead of a hardware device in case of the former. However, it is best to go in for a good quality preamp for your turntable when you intend to make professional use of the recording.
- Do you have a USB drive in your computer? Two questions – Who doesn't? and How is this relevant to choice of preamp? If you have a USB drive, then you can connect output of the preamp through USB to your computer. ART offers such a preamp. This certainly widens the scope of your search.
- What is your budget? Cannot forget the money part of it, can we? If you have a few LP records and no turntable and preamp, then you may have to spend quite a lot to set the system up. Remember that cutting costs on the preamp is always a bad idea. Even best quality LP's can end up sounding like an ordinary MP3 if you use a poor quality preamp.
- The web. That is right. The World Wide Web is a great tool. You can check out books on preamps that will not just give you a peek of the schematics but also help you cover the technical parts in a jiffy. You can check out guides on the web and get tips from forums on the best way to get rid of that omnipresent 'hum' in the recording.
