Advice on turntable set up

[Akn7]

Hi

This will sound totally daft but I need some help. I always wanted a vinyl player and got it as a christmas present this year. I got given a pro-ject debut carbon turntable, audio airstream a100 and kef q100 speakers. Is this a good set up? Do I need to get anything else? How does the airstream and carbon turntable connect to each other?

thanks for taking the time to help

 

[thescarletpronster]

The Debut Carbon is a great turntable by all accounts, and Monitor Audio and KEF products tend to be pretty good as well. I don't know the Airstream so I'll leave someone with more knowledge to advise how to connect, but in brief, turntables need a 'phono pre-amp' in order to bring the signal level up to 'line in' level, and to rebalance the treble and bass according to the 'RIAA curve' (see link for more info).

Many amps have an in-built phono stage. If yours has an input marked 'phono', just plug your turntable's output lead into that input and you should be laughing. If there is no such input then I'm afraid you'll most likely need to buy a separate phono stage in order to get decent sound. Again someone else will be able to advise. However, if I have identified your amp correctly, it looks from the descriptions as though it's designed to play digital files, and from this image as though there is no phono input:

Hope you can get it hooked up today - what a frustration not to be able to play with your new toys!

 

[nopiano]

Yes, as captain scarlet says, you need a preamplifier for the turntable. There are a few models for between sixty and one hundred GBP, from NAD, Cambridge and Rega. You could pretty confidently buy used too, from a good dealer or EBay. The turntable plugs into the preamp, which in turn plugs into your amplifier.

Alternatively, it is possible to get a Project with the preamp built in, but is not as good as your model plus a preamp.