I really enjoy the sound of Lp's especially the ones I bought orig. back
in the late 70's and have taken grate care of. I am using a Denon turn
table p-23 with a Grado mmc platinum cart. ( the $300.00 one) into the
phono input in a yamaha rx-z1 receiver using B&W 804S ( new series) .
There , now that that's out of the way my question is....Would I be
better off using a separate phono pre amp and if so what kind?
Right now one thing that I don't like is the out put is low and I need
to turn the volume way up . Is there a phono pre amp with a gain adj.
or volume adj. for a mmc cart. that would work with this set up? I
just don't want to buy something and get the same results. I am open
to any and all suggestions. Thank You!!

Hi, I do believe that an outboard Phono Pre-Amp will give you much
better sound than the Pre-Amp currently residing within your reciever.

In virtually all recievers built now, Phono Pre-Amps are basically an
afterthought, and just stuck in there to add to the list of features.
Very doubtful, if that Phono Pre-Amp that's in there is worth more than
$20.

You basically won't find good high quality Phono Stages in any gear like
this, modern, or vintage.

Back in the '70's the Equipment like Marantz, Sansui, Kenwood, Harmon
Kardon, etc weren't bad, and probably no doubt had better Phono Stages
than what's in most average equipment today (There may be exceptions to
the rule, so I'm not trying to ruffle any Magnun Dynalab reciever
owners, or the like, etc)

Yes, in most instances, virtually all reciever's Phono Sections offered
slightly less volume in comparison to running a Tape Deck, or a CD
Player in another input. But as you have found, some offer
substantially less.

I'm using an outboard McCormack Micro Phono Drive, (Was about $500 new)
but am also using a Benz Glider Hi-Output MC Cartirdge.

None the less, this Model was adjustable for gain as many good external
Phono Stages are.
I believe the low output for mine is usable for MM Cartridges.

Other benefits-beauties of using these external pre-amps, is
adjustability of Loading Capacitance. Some cartridges like being run at
47pf, and others don't. One will then have the ability to experiment a
bit determining what sounds best.

Places to shop, and gather some info, would be places like MusicDirect,
The Elusive Disc, the Needle Doctor, and of course here.

There's many units available on the market that are $200-$600, in which
virtually all cases (provided the Gain, and loading is correct) they
will all outperform what you're using right now.
Mark

wrote:

I really enjoy the sound of Lp's especially the ones I bought orig. back
in the late 70's and have taken grate care of. I am using a Denon turn
table p-23 with a Grado mmc platinum cart. ( the $300.00 one) into the
phono input in a yamaha rx-z1 receiver using B&W 804S ( new series) .
There , now that that's out of the way my question is....Would I be
better off using a separate phono pre amp and if so what kind?
Right now one thing that I don't like is the out put is low and I need
to turn the volume way up . Is there a phono pre amp with a gain adj.
or volume adj. for a mmc cart. that would work with this set up? I
just don't want to buy something and get the same results. I am open
to any and all suggestions. Thank You!!



If you're willing to be a little adventurous, you might consider
snagging one of those little tube based phono preamps you see
on EBay with some regularity. The Shure Brothers company made
one called the model M-65. The manual and schematic are at:

http://www.shure.com/pdf/discontinued/m65.pdf

I've seen similar units under different brands such as Lafayette.
They may have been made under license to Shure or actually made
by Shure with different branding. If you were really bold, you
could probably fabricate the whole thing yourself just from the
schematic.

Russ

wrote:
I really enjoy the sound of Lp's especially the ones I bought orig. back
in the late 70's and have taken grate care of. I am using a Denon turn
table p-23 with a Grado mmc platinum cart. ( the $300.00 one) into the
phono input in a yamaha rx-z1 receiver using B&W 804S ( new series) .
There , now that that's out of the way my question is....Would I be
better off using a separate phono pre amp and if so what kind?
Right now one thing that I don't like is the out put is low and I need
to turn the volume way up . Is there a phono pre amp with a gain adj.
or volume adj. for a mmc cart. that would work with this set up? I
just don't want to buy something and get the same results. I am open
to any and all suggestions. Thank You!!

The TC-750LC is what I picked. It works great - quiet and perfect for
what you are trying to do.

http://www.audioreplay.net/tc750LCpp.html

Given the rest of the system at hand, a separate pre-amp will add
nothing. And the Yamaha detracts nothing either. The fewer components
in the system the better, the lower the complexity the better. Yamaha
has a creditable pre-amp in their receiver, properly matched and
integrated, so use it.

Peter Wieck
Wyncote, PA

wrote in message ...
Given the rest of the system at hand, a separate pre-amp will add
nothing. And the Yamaha detracts nothing either. The fewer components
in the system the better, the lower the complexity the better. Yamaha
has a creditable pre-amp in their receiver, properly matched and
integrated, so use it.

Given any system at hand the Yamaha will not be bettered even though our
hobby involves giving them a try. If you want to play around with a once
long time ago considered 'phile pre-amp with a phono section usable with
high output MC, pick up an Adcom GFP 565 or 555 on ebay for $200-$250.

Lafayette-I think -here in the US was Fischer??

"AL" wrote in message ...
Lafayette-I think -here in the US was Fischer??

Al -

No, Lafayette was a fairly large retail chain and catalog house, based out
of NYC. They had private label gear designed to their spec and
manufacturered for them. Some was pretty cheap junk. Others were supurb -
Their high end tube preamp and power amp were designed by the same team that
did the original Citations, for example, and to much the same spec. These
units are much sought after on the used market. They had a much higher
ratio of good-to-bad than does, for example, Radio Shack. Or their main
competitor at the time, Allied Radio out of Chicago.

Harry

A good preamp will make a huge difference in sound quality. They can
be rather expensive however. The obvious choice would be the Grado
PH-1 phonostage. Another unit that is about the same size and price is
the Dynavector P-75. Either are fairly affordable (around $500) and
offer very low noise and high resolution.
-Bill
www.uptownaudio.com
Roanoke VA
(540) 343-1250

wrote in message
...
I really enjoy the sound of Lp's especially the ones I bought orig.
back
in the late 70's and have taken grate care of. I am using a Denon
turn
table p-23 with a Grado mmc platinum cart. ( the $300.00 one) into
the
phono input in a yamaha rx-z1 receiver using B&W 804S ( new series)
.
There , now that that's out of the way my question is....Would I be
better off using a separate phono pre amp and if so what kind?
Right now one thing that I don't like is the out put is low and I
need
to turn the volume way up . Is there a phono pre amp with a gain
adj.
or volume adj. for a mmc cart. that would work with this set up? I
just don't want to buy something and get the same results. I am
open
to any and all suggestions. Thank You!!