[sts9fan]

I have just got into vinyl and I have a question about phono pres.  When using a external phono stage do most people daisychain the phono with their linestage?  I am about to build a new pre and phono stage.  Should I add an input that bypasses everything but the volume control?  Can I even do this or should I add a volume control to the phono?  My ARC pre has no way to bypass the active stage so I am forced to stack them. 

Kris

[Scottdazzle]

Kris,

If you are using a phono pre and any other source, you will need to daisy chain from the phono pre out to the line input. Using a phono pre without a line stage only works when you listen only to records and have a volume control and lots of gain on the phono pre.  Most phono preamps have a fixed output level and it is usually not enough to drive the power amp.

You could always go with a good/excellent preamp with a built in phono stage like a Modwright, Van Alstine, or Music Reference. 

Scott

[TheChairGuy]

You could always go with a good/excellent preamp with a built in phono stage like a Modwright, Van Alstine, or Music Reference. 

Scott

Hey Kris - welcome to or back to vinyl 

I'm of the belief above....that the straightest, most direct path is best for sonics (all other things equal).  It's best for CD/digital too that way....but, particularly important for eeny-weeny cartridge signals.  Asking <5 millivolts to pass along 1 meter IC's and thru metal rca jacks is a way to introduce noise and lose the immediacy and naturalness the music.

One of the reason I've re-embraced vinyl a few years ago was that I could never coax naturalness from CD (no matter how much was spent).  Adding on to the transmission line reduces the naturalness that vinyl has in it's favor to begin with.

Vinyl is already complicated with RIAA equalization and 40-60db additional gain.....the least one can do to improve it is simply the chain where possible.  That means a high-quality full featured preamp with phono.

Is there a phono card option with your ARC preamp?

John

[Panelman]

Another option is to look at the PS Audio phono pre which can drive an amplifier directly and is also $300 off right now. Check Music Direct or the PS Audio webpage.

[lcrim]

If you are using an active preamp (with gain) and a phono stage with it's gain  and the gain provided by the power amp , it must seem like you have an awful lot of gain and you do, which is why quiet phono sections and preamps are highly prized.   However, I don't agree that separate phono sections are theoretically bad adding complexity and needless length to the chain.  A good phono pre actually digs more useful musical information from the tiny signal provided by the cartridge.  Also, its interesting that there are some phono stages that allow a great amount of flexibility in adjusting many parameters that condition that small signal,  rarely is it thought a good practice to have more than one attenuater in the chain.  Yes I know Shindo power amps have attenuators and there are probably others.
If you wanted to build one system for vinyl and a separate system for digital then you could probably remove the active preamp (maybe use a passive preamp) and build enough gain into the phono section so that you could control or attenuate the signal from the phono section.
What I did is along those lines.   I personally have two systems with integrated amps and separate phono sections and switch between analog and digital front ends.  I don't have noise issues with all those interconnects and solder joints and the gain structure, by eliminating the active preamp, is fairly simple.