Vinyl has lost its warmth and appeal with the Sony strdn1080

[The Boy!]

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 4k tv and a ps5 and with no Earc on the STRDN2400es and the introduction of Dolby Vision and Atmos (I have a 7.1 setup) I chose to upgrade to the Sony STRDN1080 for it's rave reviews. The sound when watching tv, movies and playing games is unreal and I'm extremely happy on that side of things however at the weekends when I like to just chill and listen to my vinyl collection the sound from my old receiver has gone and so too has the joy of that pastime.

When opting for the STRDN1080 I did note that it didn't have a phono sound stage but the Audio Technica has a switch to use it's own internal phono stage and after some research found that everything would be ok. apparently that's not the case in this instance and I'm now having buyers remorse for not saving up some more money and opting for say a Denon with a built in phono stage.

It's too late to return the receiver so my question is, what can I do get the beautiful sound back into my vinyl listening? I've been around in circles on forums and other websites as I would like to use my front stereo pair (Polk tsi400) for both movies and listening to music. My best option seems to be sourcing a Dynavox amp-s and purchasing a stereo amplifier (or using the old STRDA2400es) just for my Vinyl listening but any other advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Al ears]

Can you not simply buy an external phono preamp and connect that to the 1080?
The one on the turntable itself is not very good

 

[The Boy!]

Can you not simply buy an external phono preamp and connect that to the 1080?
The one on the turntable itself is not very good

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 because it will force the AV receiver’s preamp to deal with more voltage than it is designed to handle."

Am I reading this right or do they mean a regular input on a receiver that has a preamp? if the 1080 doesn't have one then surely I can do exactly as you've said.

 

[Al ears]

I think there's some confusion between preamp and a phono preamp which will only outputs line level voltage.
you should be able to connect to any of the three audio in pairs of sockets

 

[The Boy!]

I think there's some confusion between preamp and a phono preamp which will only outputs line level voltage.
you should be able to connect to any of the three audio in pairs of sockets

Thanks again Al ears, any suggestions as to what type of pre amp I should go for considering the turntable and receiver I have?

 

[bigfish786]

pro-ject do a simple phono stage for around £49 amazon.
its all down to your budget, and how much you want to spend.

 

[The Boy!]

pro-ject do a simple phono stage for around £49 amazon.
its all down to your budget, and how much you want to spend.

Perfect, thanks bigfish786!

 

[The Boy!]

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 awful, which isn't a great way to sell a record player! Thanks Al ears and Bigfish786 for your advice, much appreciated.

 

[Al ears]

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 awful, which isn't a great way to sell a record player! Thanks Al ears and Bigfish786 for your advice, much appreciated.

Great to hear you now have the sound you were looking for.

 

[rainsoothe]

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 awful, which isn't a great way to sell a record player! Thanks Al ears and Bigfish786 for your advice, much appreciated.

Think of it as a convenience feature and be thankful they made it by-passable

 

[bigfish786]

happy to help.