Help choosing a budget preamp

Thanks. I bought it for $220. I checked the clearances with my hand and everything looked very solid despite the use I am sure it has had, it plays records perfectly and everything works. I will spend around $160 for someone to do a complete clean, lubing and tuning, polish the arm and weight mechanism, replacing RCA's and fixing the pop-up light, so it will be around $380 in the end, a little more than what I was hoping to spend but I think I will end up with a good TT that will last a long time. It's perhaps within the range where I could get a really good new TT as well, but there's something about having a classic TT made in the 70's, and probably the most iconic TT model ever made that really appeals to me TBH. It's a gorgeous machine.

The cartridge it came with is a Sure M44-7 (imagine what the TT was used for!). I will definitely upgrade down the line, and get something like a Shure M97xE (any feedback?). But I will stick to it for a while.

The speakers are a powered 2.1 set. I don't know the model and I'm not home to check it out, but they look like a Bose Companion set, that right now I am connecting to the TT through a DJ mixer I am borrowing from a friend, that's why I'm looking for a preamp.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

It sounds like you are going to need not just a phono preamp, but a line amp and power amp as well.
 
It sounds like you are going to need not just a phono preamp, but a line amp and power amp as well.
The speakers are powered and I think connecting them to the preamp will work no? Right now they're connected to a dj mixer I'm using for the phono input and I have loud enough sound (sound quality is awful though because the mixer is crappy).
 
The speakers are powered and I think connecting them to the preamp will work no? Right now they're connected to a dj mixer I'm using for the phono input and I have loud enough sound (sound quality is awful though because the mixer is crappy).

I don't know your particular speakers, but I don't know of any powered speakers that have a line level preamp built-in.
 
I don't know your particular speakers, but I don't know of any powered speakers that have a line level preamp built-in.
I'm sorry but could you clarify this a little further? Why would I need a line-level preamp? Isn't a typical setup TT -> phono preamp -> powered speakers (or amplifier -> passive speakers)?
 
I don't know your particular speakers, but I don't know of any powered speakers that have a line level preamp built-in.

Hrmm... What sort of inputs do your powered speakers have? Mine have RCA unbalanced inputs and TRS balanced inputs. One pair also has XLR balanced inputs. They will work just fine run direct from a phono preamp, iPod, line level outputs from a receiver or integrated amp or mixing board.
 
I have the Pluto. It works great for me. It sounds a bit better than the phono stage in an older Onkyo receiver and noticeably better than the non-USB ART and the phono stage in my late 90s top-of-the-line Kenwood receiver.
 
You can run straight from the phono-pre into powered speakers. I do this with a Klipsch set-up on my computer desk.
 
I have the Pluto. It works great for me. It sounds a bit better than the phono stage in an older Onkyo receiver and noticeably better than the non-USB ART and the phono stage in my late 90s top-of-the-line Kenwood receiver.
Thanks for the feedback. The speakers only have a TRS balanced input that I intend to connect the preamp to.

I have actually been thinking about getting a Kenwood receiver, you can get a new one for like $70 on Amazon (or even less on Craigslist), they have Phono in and should have a decent sound by what I have been hearing on the internet. I would need to get a pair of passive speakers but I think I could craiglist a decent pair as well for cheap. Would you personally choose this option or go for the U-Turn Pluto and keep the powered speakers? Tthe speakers are a 2.1 set of Bose Companion so they're not bad, but I've been borrowing them so I would need to get something else along the line.

Cheers
 
Well, I haven't had much good experience with the phono input with my Kenwood. My receiver was the monster $950-ish model, but from 1997 or so. Basically almost top of the line, but from am era when the phono stage was an afterthought at best.

The phono section on my older Onkyo (Dolby Pro Logic, not Dolby Digital) was quite a bit better in my opinion. That's what made me get the ART to use with the Kenwood, but it was relatively noisy. Then I got the Pluto. No noise and I think it sounds better overall. Maybe not quite as much bass as with the ART, but quieter and just more natural sounding overall.

I will say that I listen to quite a bit of classical and acoustic jazz. For more rock type stuff, I wouldn't have as much of a preference of the Pluto over the ART in terms of tonal balance, but my Pluto was more quiet than my ART.

Not sure what to suggest as far as a direction to go. You have more speaker options with a traditional receiver, so that's probably where I'd lean as I feel the speakers and the room as the biggest parts of the equation, but you could go either way right now.
 
I'm sorry but could you clarify this a little further? Why would I need a line-level preamp? Isn't a typical setup TT -> phono preamp -> powered speakers (or amplifier -> passive speakers)?

Typically there is the following:

1) MM Cartridge
2) Turntable
3) Phono preamp
4) Line Level preamp
5) Power Amplifier
6) Speakers

There are variations to the above formula, for instance,

3, 4 & 5 combined would be a typical Integrated Amplifier

or

3 & 4 combined would be a typical Preamplifier

in your case, 5 and 6 are combined, so you will need 3 & 4

EDIT: some have suggested that your powered speakers have some sort of preamp built-in. If that is the case, then I stand corrected.
 
Most powered speakers have a pre-amp built in, that is the stage with the volume control. There are some powered speakers that take a line level signal from a standard pre-amp using that unit's volume/tone/switching controls. But, for the purposes of our discussion, and in the context of Bose powered speakers, the pre is built in, and would pose no problem in running the signal directly from a phono-pre. Or so I would assume.
 
I ran my Bose Cinemates with my tv hooked up to the optical input and my CNC phono stage hooked to the analogue inputs. Worked fine, I was a bit concerned with damaging the small speakers though when the urge to crank the music up overtook me.
 
Most powered speakers have a pre-amp built in, that is the stage with the volume control. There are some powered speakers that take a line level signal from a standard pre-amp using that unit's volume/tone/switching controls. But, for the purposes of our discussion, and in the context of Bose powered speakers, the pre is built in, and would pose no problem in running the signal directly from a phono-pre. Or so I would assume.
I assumed this to be true, but thanks for clarifying. If I buy a typical receiver on Amazon, one of those generic $150 Sony's on Kenwoods, I would assume they have a line amp as well, so I can connect preamp -> receiver -> passive speakers. Am I right?
 
I currently have a pioneer SA-8500 mkII and the phono input sounds really nice. But the schiit mani and even the art pre dj sound better connected to the aux input.

Listening to Ben Webster soulsville on my Lenco with the ART dj. Incrível edible how this little preamp sounds good
 
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