New A/V Receiver or Phono stage existing?

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WyleECoyoteNZ

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#175274 23-Jun-2015 15:27

Hi all,
I'm liking the idea of looking at getting a turntable to play vinyl.

However, there is a problem. I currently have a A/V receiver (an Onkyo TX-NR609, already had HDMi board fail and replaced, Thanks Avalon!) and that doesn't have the Phono inputs.

I could get around this by using a phono stage, of which there are plenty around the $200-$300 dollar mark.

It has been said to me that a phono stage is ok, but a proper stereo amp would be better. Ideally, there would be a turntable and stereo amp with 2 speakers and a A/V receiver system separate 5.1 or 7.2. Unfortunately, I don't have room for this.

So that raises another question. Do I upgrade the existing A/V receiver to something that can handle a pre-out, and phono in the meantime, to allow for the later expansion of a stereo amp, therefore allowing both a Stereo amp to drive front left and right channels then the A/V receiver to drive the surrounds and sub.

Or is that overkill?

If I did upgrade the A/V receivers, these are the 2 I'd potentially look at:

Yamaha Aventage RX-A840
http://europe.yamaha.com/en/products/audio-visual/av-receivers-amps/rx-a840_g/?mode=model
From The Listening Post Wellington
http://www.listeningpost.co.nz/Brands/Yamaha-Home-Theatre/yamaha-A840-A740-Yamaha-RXA840-__I.79065__N.27183__C.27268

Onkyo TX-NR838
http://www.intl.onkyo.com/products/av_components/av_receivers/tx-nr838/index.html
Avalon Audio
http://www.avalon.co.nz/two-channel-receivers/28-onkyo-tx-nr709.html

Or are there other alternatives that'll do the same?

richms

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#1330000 23-Jun-2015 15:33

Just buy the preamp. There is a huge variety in the sound of preamps that you may find you don't like the one in the reciever and that's a much more significant thing to change on a whim.

Price doesnt equal quality with them either. Audition audition audition. I tried a few and found none were signifigantly better than the ones built into my cheap DJ mixer to bother with, and as I have so few LPs I just decided to stick with the mixer.

Richard rich.ms

Dunnersfella

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#1330136 23-Jun-2015 18:31

The Yamaha for reliability - RXV777 or Aventage equivalent upwards have built in phono stages.
If you go for a separate phono stage, it's hard to go beyond the Project boxes.

lchiu7

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#1330137 23-Jun-2015 18:31

+1 to buying a preamp.

I bought one of these a year ago

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pyle-Turntable-PreAmp-Converts-Phono-Input-to-line-level-/361245924765?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item541bef5d9d

and it works just fine. My goal was to be able to play LP's I had lying around which I had not replaced with CD. For those I want to listen to regularly I capture with my PC and remedy audio noise (ticks and pops) with Adobe Audition and output in high bit rate MP3.

As for using an external amplifier, well I suspect the internal amps in the Onkyo are going to be just fine. What sort of turntable were you planning on purchasing and cartridge? Just make sure that whatever preamp you get it can handle both moving magnet and moving coil cartridges if you are going to try both types. From recollection, moving coil cartridges are more highly regarded but output lower voltages so the preamp needs to handle that.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.