Hi. I just purchased a Marantz 6100 TT from e-bay. To make a long story short, it came broken. That is the belt was basically not there. It looked like a fruit roll up in broken pieces on the platter. The lid was broken, and the styus was also broken. You would think that with all of these problems, I would pack it up and send it back right? Nope. For some reason I decided I would fix it and get $25.00 taken off the price. I figured the $25.00 would pay for a new needle and belt. I put on a new belt and a Audio Technica CN5625AL cartridge and plugged it into my Rotel RX-875 receiver. Problem is-there is barely any sound coming from the speakers. I have it in the phono jack in the back of my receiver and I checked the continuity between the cartridge leads to the rca plugs and all seems fine. I have red (R+) green (R-) white (L+) and blue (L-) Could it be that the preamp in my receiver is fried? If I were to plug it into the CD inputs I get the same results obviously since it doesn't have a preamp. My question is: Is it supposed to be that quiet? I mean it is barely audible. I wish I found this forum before my purchase. It was an impulse buy!

Have you got the TT grounded?

It sounds the same grounded or not grounded.

Is there a switch for the preamp, either on the amp or somewhere on the turntable? It maybe under the platter. I am not sure of that model, but in the past i have run acrossed this.

Mute is not on ? Needle tight ? Protective crap all removed from cartridge ? Two phonos in to try ? MM / MC switch on back ? You want MM. moving magnet. Phono level control on back. Internal / External pre-amp fuse ? Jiggle your RCA patch cord. Dance with manual held over head !

I'm fairly certain that there isn't a pre-amp switch on either, but I'll check when I get home. Thanks.

Hmmm. I know there is a fuse. I'll check that. If that doesn't work I'll try the dancing.
thanks.

Ideally you should never plug a turntable into anything other than the phono input of your Rotel preamp (assuming the turntable doesn't have it's own preamp). If you don't have another receiver to plug it into to for testing, you might try taking it over to a friends house and plugging it into his receiver. You can often hear the music faintly without any amplifier if you put your ear up to the turntable and listen. Do you hear anything music from the turntable alone?

Yes. I can hear the music faintly even if I don't plug it in. But to be honest, if I plug it in it's not that much better. Does a preamp make it that much louder? The turntable doen't have a preamp. Thanks-

Do you have a cheap plastic turntable left over from the 80s that you can use to test the phono stage of your preamp? Use Michael Bolton's Time Love and Tenderness as your test album:

http://rateyourmusic.com/album_images/16826.jpg

I think there may be some sloppiness in our terms here. A basic system consists of an input source feeding into a pre-amplifier which feeds into an amplifier. The pre-amp boosts the signal to a level that the amp can use. Since all input sources are not created equal, some need even more boost before they get to the amp. Typically a TT needs a phono preamp as the input to the preamp which feeds the amp (in the house that Jack built).

Some receivers have a phono preamp built in along with the regular preamp and amplifier. OTOH some receivers do not have a phono preamp. If you are plugging your TT directly into your receiver and not hearing much output, it could be because your receiver does not have a phono preamp.

Since I know nothing about the Rotels, I have to ask... How is the input connection from the TT labeled on back of the Rotel? Input? Or Phono? Or AUX?

If it is anything other than Phono, then you probably do not have a phono preamp in the Rotel.

With nothing connected to your rotel except either speakers or earphones, switch between the different modes, aux, tape, cd, phono with the volume turned way up to the point where you can hear white noise. The phono stage should have it's own distinct "sound" compared to the other modes. This sound is typically similar to the distant sound of running water.

The Rotel does have a phono input. I just did rulerboyz test with the white noise. The phono stage does sound louder as far as hiss goes. Hmmm. I don't have either an extra turntable or receiver and sadly I don't have Michael Bolton's Time Love and Tenderness to use as my test album. I'm going to test the TT on a friends receiver on Wed. Thanks much for your help!

Sounds to me like a Rotel problem. There isn't that much to a Marantz 6100 so if the platter is spinning and the needle is running in the groove, it should be ok. Why don't you take the bottom off of the 6100 and see what the teeny tiny wires coming out of the tonearm look like. They should be soldered to a terminal that also has the RCA patch cord leads soldered to it. Maybe in all that rough shipping the tonearm leads broke loose or shorted. Would be unusual for it to happen in both channels but... hey you're not listening to music so what else do you have to do right?

PS. The 6100 is not a bad turntable for the money in my opinion. They don't get talked about much but I think they sound pretty darn good and you can fall asleep and the thing shuts off!

I agree. Problem is in the Rotel. If the cartridge works and you have continuity in the wiring the signal is getting to the receiver. Ground wire won't affect it.

Have you tried it on any other input connection? Phono input is lower than other sources (why the phono stage preamplifier is needed) but you should get some response at reduced volume by trying it on your Aux connection.

Thanks much for the response. Literally, as I was typing this my co-worker handed me a Marantz 2215B receiver! I guess I'll be able to try this when I get home! Is this a good receiver? I guess if it works it would be better than my rotel.

Your Rotel (in perfect working condition) is definitely considered more valuable than the Marantz.

Well, it was my Rotel. I think I'm just going to buy a new external pre-amp for it. Maybe something like this http://www.audioreplay.net/tc750newpp.html

Thanks-Jim