Update: Purchased a Pro-Ject Phono Box E and installed it today and wow, what a difference it has made! Vinyl sounding as good as it did before. Why on earth do Audio Technica even bother putting a pre amp in this turntable? I get that it's a plug and play solution but it makes vinyl sound...
Thanks Al ears, this was a consideration of mine but I've read that receivers without a HT bypass or direct in input shouldn't be used in this way (even though that's what the manual suggests).
The article I read said "It is important that you do not try to plug a preamp into a regular input...
Since *upgrading* my AV Receiver, my vinyl sounds flat and uninteresting. I used to have a Sony Strda2400es which had a phono stage built in and when listening to vinyl on my Audio Technica ATLP120xusb it sounded wonderful, rich and warm.
I have apple tv 4k so made the big move to get a Sony...