Does my receiver have a preamp? IT's a Sony from 2001. How do i know? I need a preamp for a record player

Question

Does my receiver have a preamp? IT's a Sony from 2001. How do i know? I need a preamp for a record player that I want to buy on Ebay.

THanks!!!

Answer 1

The answer above about a phono input is incomplete. It has a pre-amplifier IF if has a magnetic cartridge input for the phono input. Otherwise, it may or may not have a pre-amp. Magnetic phono cartridges are so low level, they require a pre-amp to work. Radio Shack and other consumer electronics places like Circuit City or Magnolia HiFi sell external pre-amps for the case where you want to use the superior quality of a magnetic pickup with an amplifier without a pre-amp. They are relatively cheap, $10-$20. The phono input may simply be a low-level input as opposed to the AUX input which is a line level input, or rather a high level input. I suggest that since you are in a time crunch with an auction, you buy a pre-amp anyway, the cheapest you can get will do quite well, and if you need it you have it, rather than find out later you needed it and don't have it. I bought one a while back, for exactly the same reason as I said to you, maybe I would need it. It turned out I didn't, but I found the pre-amp worked well with loudspeakers as microphones, long distance-listen to the people down the block when sitting in an open window, run into the AUX input of a cheap amplifier. The impedences were wrong, but close enough that it worked reasonable well.

Answer 2

Hi. As the other guys have mentioned if there is no phono preamp input on the back of the Sony you will need to get an external one.Is the turntable you are buying on ebay a good quality one with good tone arm and cartridge if so it would be wise to get a better quality phono preamp to start with.The better the pre amp the better the final sound.You don't have to spend a fortune on one but get the best you can afford.Records can and indeed do sound better than CDs if they are clean and looked after.Some of the preamps sold on ebay are excellent and don't cost a lot. Phono preamps usually have two inputs, one for moving magnet cartridges and the other for moving coil cartridges (MM MC)so make sure you connect the output of the turntable cables into the correct phono input cartridge loading (mm or mc)

Answer 3

Every reciever has a LINE LEVEL pre-amp and amp. What you need is a PHONO pre-amp. Depending on a cartridge you will be using - moving magnet (MM) or moving coil (MC), you get a phono pre-amp, a.k.a phono stage, and plug it into a line input of your reciever.

You can get phono stages/pre-amps on-line starting at $50 or so.

Answer 4

if it has a phono input then it has a pre amp if not you can buy a cheap external pre-amp at a radio shack.

Answer 5

most all of the answers are correct, but AM is giving you a pithy and accurate answer.