No sound?

[admin_exported]

Right. So installed a replacement stylus for my Audio Technica AT110E cartridge in my old Rotel RP-855. This is running through my Camrbidge Audio Azur 340A SE (integrated amplifier) through the auxiliary input to my speakers. When I play a record, a faint sound comes from the actual record but no sound from my speakers.

Please help 🙁

 

[Andrew Everard]

If it was all working fine before, I'd suggest a duff stylus assembly, incorrect installation or perhaps a cartridge tag dislodged during installation.

But I'm surprised you have it running through the aux input: does that have a phono preamp built-in, or do you have a standalone phono stage between the turntable and the amp?

 

[Anonymous]

The pre amp is built into the amp and there's no phono input, so I just assumed plugging into auxiliary would be the right thing to do?

But I hadn't tried playing anything on the turntable since before the stylus broke about ten years ago...

 

[The_Lhc]

You need a phono stage in order to bring the level of the signal from the turntable (which is tiny) up to a level the amp can work with.

 

[fatboyslimfast]

Agreed - if there is no socket marked "Phono", then you will need a phono Pre-amplifier (a lot of amp manufacturers don't bother adding one these days as less people require them).

They start from around £20 for a get-you-going one from Richer Sounds, right the way up into the thousands.

Decent sounding examples tend to start with the Cambridge 540p at £60. Should be a good match for your 340A as well, although stretch to the 640p at a ton if you can...

 

[5cats35]

The Graham Slee Gram Amp 2 Communicator is very good @ approx £132 new direct from Graham Slee but you can pick up good ones from flea bay.

 

[Andrew Everard]

cooldude391:The pre amp is built into the amp and there's no phono input, so I just assumed plugging into auxiliary would be the right thing to do?

Ah, that explains it, then - as others have said, you need a phono preamp.

 

[Anonymous]

fatboyslimfast:Decent sounding examples tend to start with the Cambridge 540p at £60. Should be a good match for your 340A as well, although stretch to the 640p at a ton if you can...

Is it worth him getting the 640p over the 540p if the cart he's using is a moving magnet? From what I've been told the only difference between the two is that the 640p supports both Moving Magnet and Moving Coil carts but the actual pre amp's are the same, there's just a switch on the back to select betweeen the two levels of pre-amplification needed.

I was also told that you'd be better off getting a dedicated MC pre amp as the 640p's not specifically designed for MC and if you're gonna spend that kind of money for a MC cart then you'd probably want a dedicated MC pre amp to get the most out of it.

I'm probably wrong on this but that's what I'd heard, so if they are the same and you're not bothered with a MC cart in the not too distant future, get the 540p and save 40 quid for some music.

For the record, I bought the 640p, it's served me very well. I'd recomend it but I've never had another pre-amp so I've got no frame of reference on how they sound, I just know it sounds better than my old amp's intergrated phono stage.

Still don't know why I got the 640p though as I've no real inclination to get a MC cart, just thought it might be a good idea to cover the bases at the time, only to have another guy rubbish it when dealing with MC cart's. He did then go on to tell me about this "great" dedicated MC amp that only almost twice the price... sooo he may have just been trying to flog me another pre-amp and cart.

Take from this what you will, I'd recommend not that much.

 

[fatboyslimfast]

No it's not just the MC input - the 640 has a much more detailed sound over the 540p on MM input too.

I used to have the 640p (before I bought my Naims) and it really is a great stage.

 

[Anonymous]

See, told u not to listen to me, cheers for setting me straight fatboyslimfast