Turntable hook-up

bvak · « **on:** 10 Mar 2006, 05:31 pm »

I need a little help in connecting a second turntable to my system. Currently I have one TT hooked up and don't know how to hook-up the 2nd one with out buying more gear.
I use an Audio Reasearch LS 25 mkII line stage preamp that only has one phono input that I connect to an Audio Research PSE SE phono preamp which in turn connects to the 1st TT.
How can I connect the 2nd TT without buying a second phono preamp. I do have another preamp that has a phono section and was wondering if I can put it into the loop if so I'm not sure how to wire it. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thx,
-Barry

woodsyi · « **Reply #1 on:** 10 Mar 2006, 05:48 pm »

You should be able to use a tape loop on your line stage to connect your second pre with phono. I am not sure what that extra loop does for your sound but I am assuming it's less objectionable on a second TT. I run two TTs as well but I use 2 separate phono amps. I did think about doing the above at one point. Good luck.

bvak · « **Reply #2 on:** 10 Mar 2006, 06:01 pm »

Hi woodsyi,
I all ready use the tape loop for a RTR. If I get a second phono preamp can I use it with other open input ie: aux, video? I was wondering if there is a selector switch I could hook between the phono preamp and TT's to choose the TT I want to play?
Thx,
-Barry

woodsyi · « **Reply #3 on:** 10 Mar 2006, 06:18 pm »

You can use any input for your 2nd phono pre. I suppose you can use a selector before the phono preamp but you may compromise your sound quality with a cheap switch. I think you should just manually switch out phono cables to the phono preamp if you don't want to get a second phono section. Afterall, aren't we already used to doing all things that are inconvenient for the sake of "anal-og" sound?

toobluvr · « **Reply #4 on:** 10 Mar 2006, 07:58 pm »

If I am understanding things correctly, you have 3 options:

(1) use your AR PSE phono stage for both tables, and just plug in the phono cable for the table you wanna listen to. Slightly inconvenient since it involves swapping cables.

(2) if preamp2 has a tape monitor, just plug TT2 into it's phono input, and connect its "tape out" into any line level input of your LS25. You are effectively just running the 2nd preamp's phono section into your LS25 line section. The extra i/c means extra cost, but it is convenient. No cable swapping involved.....just use selector switch on LS25 to select your TT.

(3) leave your current setup as is, and plug TT2 into phono input of preamp2, and run preamp2 into your current amps. You are using phono + line sections of preamp2 for TT2. In other words, each TT has its own dedicated preamp....phono + line. Slightly inconvenient since it involves swapping i/c between the 2 preamps outputs when you wanna listen to the other table.

I'm a bit inquisitive and thorough when it comes to comparing things, so were I in your situation, I would listen to every combination of phono + line section for each table. For each table, I would probably choose the setup that offered the best sound, not the most the convenient one. But that's just me. Your priorites may be different so you need to decide for yourself.

If you decide to go with option (3), and your amps are more accessible than the rear of your preamps, you might wanna put an i/c on the outputs of each preamp, and just swap the i/c at the amp inputs. This might be more convenient, but again, the xtra i/c implies xtra cost.

Lots of ways to do it. Hard part is figuring out which way you wanna do it.