Question Turntable novice.

Row56

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Looking to buy a system to finally play my older LP's. I'm confused with a lot of the terminology and hence what I catually need. I do know I want a USB port to digitise the LP's and also be able to connect to Bluetooth. I cant find anything that has both!. Also if it has pre- phono do I need and amp...really confused. Any enlightenment gratefully received.
 

smbmetal

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Hi,

I’m not sure there’s a turntable that has both USB & Bluetooth connectivity.

Just as a suggestion you could try a converter from amazon which should allow you to connect a turntable with a phono amp to the converter?


My Pro-Ject Essential III BT turntable has a built-in phono stage and Bluetooth. Audio Technica & Sony make a Bluetooth turntable as well.
 
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Can I ask why do you need Bluetooth?
The turntable has to be connected to a stereo amplifier some of which have inbuilt phono preamps and some do not. Unless you are attaching to a pair of powered speakers.
So we really need to know what type of system you are trying to build.
If you get an amplifier that does not you will need a phono preamp in the chain somewhere either as a stand alone device or one built into the turntable itself.
 

smbmetal

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I don’t think there‘s decks with both Bluetooth and USB apart from the one posted above. It seems to be one or the other.

I use a Bluetooth deck as it’s not possible to connect mine to my amp due to the distance away from the deck.
 
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jjbomber

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But then you read in the review in the Agains section:
  • Sound could be better organised
Oh dear, I wouldn't want to buy a turntable with disorganised sound.

If you're going to buy what this mag says, you'll end up with all Cr-Apple products. Who in the right mind would want that. Yes, you. And that is the point. What is right for you may or may not be right for the OP. There are plenty of dubious reviews on here, so I would find out for myself rather than trust WhatHiFi.
 

ClarkNovember

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Also if it has pre- phono do I need and amp...really confused. Any enlightenment gratefully received.

The built in phono stage (or pre-amp) allows you to connect to the line input of an amplifier that doesn’t have it’s own phono stage built in. This saves you from having to buy an external phono stage.

You need to think about how you want to use your turntable to play your LPs:

- turntable to amplifier (plus speakers)
- turntable to powered/active speakers (these would have to have a volume control on them as your turntable won’t have a volume control)
- Bluetooth turntable to Bluetooth speaker/headphone

If you aren’t planning to do option 3 then you can forget about needing Bluetooth on the turntable. Also worth considering is how time consuming converting LPs to digital is, you might give up after a few!
 

Gray

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Also worth considering is how time consuming converting LPs to digital is, you might give up after a few!
Extremely time consuming when you do it properly - real-time recording, manually* removing clicks / pops, dividing tracks, finding best quality album art, entering metadata......some albums will have been originally recorded in less time!

*Software can scan the file and do blanket removal - but has a detrimental effect on the music.
 
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