Modern turntables tend to give you all at once. You can easily find a record player with a phono pre-amp (also known as phono stage), Bluetooth and even an amplifier. The problem is there is no sound magic in such an item. You just can imagine how bad your turntable would sound with the built-in phono stage. Spoiler - it would be not even bad, but horrible. That’s why ideally you need to get all or most of the devices of your sound system separately.
If you read this page, it means that you are ready to build up a serious Hi-Fi system for true pleasure. And now you need to buy a phono stage.
What does phono stage mean?
In a nutshell, a phono stage or phono pre-amp is a device that firstly receives a signal from a needle of your turntable. After this, a phono stage makes a frequency correction and gives some boost to this signal. And finally, this signal hits our amplifier and we hear a clean sound.
Phono stage is absolutely needed for a normal listening experience, otherwise you are going to hear just a very weak and quiet sound, even if you unscrew the tumblers of your devices on max.
What kind of turntable do I need then - with a built-in phono stage or not?
It depends on your purposes. If you need a turntable for playing some music in the background during small friends gatherings - choose the one with built-in phono stage without a doubt. But if you want to get a sound close to the one during recording sessions and hear all those instruments, you should look closely at separate phono pre-amps.
Choosing a phono stage: what should I know?
There are two types of phono pre-amps in the turntable world - MM and MC.
MM means moving magnet. A turntable’s needle is attached to a magnet and moves him between fixed coils. It gives an electric signal that we need. MM is one of the widespread types of phono stages.
MC means moving coil. The principle of work of this type is different. We have a coil at the end of the needle. And this coil is moving in the field of permanent magnets. This type is much better one, but more expensive too.
Where should I buy my first phono stage? At Vinyla!
We know that all of these specifications and nuances sound tough for newbies and can result in even more questions that you have before reading this article. But specifically for that we have an amazing team that helps you to choose your first phono stage or upgrade it, and will answer all of your questions.
You’ll have no worries with us. If you don’t want to go deep into that topic, just give us some clues and we offer you nothing but the best options of phono pre-amps. At the same time, if you have a lot of experience in this, we can give you decent items to choose your upgrade from:
- Yamaha
Just come over at our corner in Kyiv to learn about the differences between phono pre-amps, have a chat with our team and find your unique sound. Alternatively, if you know exactly what you need, just make an order on our website and the delivery service will bring your new phono preamplifier straight to your door.