Category: Audio Visual

Phono stage -€“ better sound from your records

There are more and more components to sound systems constantly being developed, as speakers and hi-fis are becoming more up-to-date. But at the end of the day, some people still want to utilise the old-fashioned devices, such as tape decks or vinyl players. Reconciling these types of music players with the most up-to-date digital music equipment can be very complicated, as any vinyl junkie will tell you. Many people simply give up on playing the collections they may have spent decades building up, and instead buy new versions of all their music. However, there is a solution to this difficulty: a phono preamp (otherwise known as a phono amp or phono stage) can convert the output from a vinyl turntable into a sound you can play on the most modern speakers.

Vinyl is often thought of as the real ‘problem format’ for old music lovers. Most of the devices which are generally connected to a stereo system or speakers, though they can work less well than the most modern sound systems, will give a satisfying sound. But vinyl records work with a far smaller output, as they use magnetic cartridges. Vinyl records just can’t be played without an artificial amplification – and that’s where phono preamps enter the stage.

The phono amp is an additional amplification stage, usually built into older receivers and amps. But modern sound systems, such as mini-systems, home theatre units, and most stereo systems, do not have a place for phono input; they really don’t cater for vinyl lovers, instead choosing to play music through the newer systems. This means that you’ll have to turn to the existing inputs within your sound systems (the CD, Aux, Line In, etc) to connect your vinyl turntable, with the help of a phono stage to reconcile the two points. This amplification is known as RIAA re-equalisation, as it removes the effect originally made when cutting the LP, ‘equalisation.’ This effect was useful back then to get rid of feedback and background noise, but it interferes with vinyl being played with modern speakers now.

A phono amp can be found in most electrical shops, and when wired up between the turntable and the speaker or stereo system, should allow you to enjoy the vinyl records that you’ve collected over the years, with minimal hassle. So if you know anyone who’s concerned about the problems of playing vinyl records with decent modern speakers, let them know that all they need is a phono stage; the phono amp, when added to the amplification inside decent speakers, will let your vinyl play as clearly as ever.

Please visit http://www.whestaudio.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.whestaudio.co.uk/

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Specialist phono amp equipment is very important for enhanced sound quality

If you are paying out hundreds of pounds on setting up a music system, either for your home pleasure, or for professional reasons, it is imperative to invest in the right kit. The days when you could simply purchase any old gramophone are gone. With the exceptional improvement in quality in recent years there has been a corresponding growth in the amount of different components and options which must be debated. One of the most critical of these is the phono stage, also sometimes known as the phono preamp stage or the phono amp stage.

In this arena many components are identified by the name phono. Phono is short for the word phonograph, which literally means ‘sound writer’. The word ‘phonograph’ is in fact a combination of two Greek words. The first, transliterated from the Greek alphabet as phone, means ‘sound’ or ‘voice’, and the second, transliterated as graphe, means ‘writing’. The original author of the word was F. B. Fenby, an inventor in Worcester, Massachusetts in the middle of the nineteenth century. In 1863 Fenby was allowed a patent for a device described as the ‘Electro-Magnetic Phonograph’. It must be said, however, that no working model was ever completed.

Nowadays, there are many terms employed to describe the equipment for playing records, for example: stereos, hi-fis, record players, turntables, and, when used in conjunction with a mixer as part of a disc jockey’s set-up, decks. Many of these have built-in phono stages, but these are almost universally of distressingly poor quality. The output level from a turntable is lower than from a CD player or cassette desk (so called ‘line level’ equipment) and phono stages are necessary to boost the amplification of the signal received from the turntable. Specialist outboard phono stages can offer huge improvements in sound quality. A specialist phono stage is responsible for 95 per cent of bass amplification when using a moving coil cartridge and for 80 per cent of the signal amplification for the mid-range.

The next time you are investing in a record player, make sure that you invest in a specialist phono stage. Ask any dedicated music connoisseur about the benefits of a specialist phono preamp stage (also sometimes called a phono amp stage) and you cannot fail to be convinced. A stand alone device allows a clean and unimpeded power supply and means that settings can be adjusted for different record players. It is considered indispensable by most serious lovers of vinyl records.

Please visit http://www.whestaudio.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

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