Suitability of a radio receiver/turntable combination.

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

I downloaded Audacity and installed with FDM and my downloads folder says I have Audacity 2.1.1 Setup , so it must be .exe. I run Win7 Home Basic on a Mecer dual core setup. 3mm plugs on the back are L-R Pink, Green, Blue being line in.

I have an old Phillips entry level radio receiver/turntable combination with stereo channels. On the front there are two 3mm microphone jacks and one 6.3mm headphone jack. At the back there are two 6.3mm speaker jacks through which I have played my LP’s onto two self-made speakers.

According to the tutorial Connecting your Equipment to record LP’s a standalone turntable is a cautionary tale. You also mention phono amps w2ith variously marked outputs. I have none of those, about which you remark that they run at a fixed voltage of 1.5.

Question. Will it be safe to connect between this combination and my PC? I understand that you cannot run any guarantees here, but if I measure the voltage with a DMM and find it to be at or below 5 volts, would it be any indication of the suitability of such a setup?

Thanks, all ideas welcome.

2

Does the Philips still have any kind of type number?

If there isn’t any output, you would need to tap the speaker outputs. That can be done, but it wouldn’t provide the best of quality. You’d need something like this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HIGH-LEVEL-SPEAKER-TO-LOW-LEVEL-RCA-CONVERTER-2-CHANNEL-CABLE-ADAPTER-CTLOC10-/361011092624

And you need to verify if your computer has a true stereo line level input. Most laptops these days only offer a mono mic input.

3

I’d try the headphone output into your soundcard’s line-in. A headphone signal (at fairly “loud” volume) is a good match for line-in. Of course, you’ll need an appropriate adapter cable.

According to the tutorial Connecting your Equipment to record LP’s a standalone turntable is a cautionary tale. You also mention phono amps w2ith variously marked outputs. I have none of those, about which you remark that they run at a fixed voltage of 1.5.

You don’t need a preamp. The phono preamps are built-into your all-in-one system. Older stereos generally had phono inputs and a built-in preamp so you didn’t need a separate one. If the turntable has a “cheap” ceramic cartridge it doesn’t need a preamp, but it’s designed for a high-impedance load (but that would also be built-in) and the ceramic cartridge itself provides approximate RIAA equalization.

What you are missing is the preamp output (or “tape” or line-level output), but the headphone output should suffice.

4

Thanks much both.

Cyrano, there is a Model number 29 AH 975 and I suppose a serial number 150132 on a sticker on the back panel. Bought it in the mid seventies for ZAR 170 which then was about USD 229! If you can believe that! I did assume that I’d not need a pre-amp, but I was more concerned with blowing the PC up by doing some stupid over voltage match.

DVDdoug, I more or less suspected the setup to be as you describe here, but what I know about electronics make me a bigger liability than an asset. I did once try to link the phono with some tape deck through the headphone jack at the time, but the sound came out very garbled and slowed down. Very disappointing, yet also attributable to my complete lack of understanding of anything electronic then.

Anyway, lots of food for thought and tampering. Leaves me with a lot better confidence to try my hand at it.

Thank you.

5

Doug’s suggestion is probably the easiest and most sensible.

I can’t find a Philips 29AH975. There used to be a 22AH975, so it’s possible yours is the US version of that one. But even from that one, I can’t find a pic or a schematic.

6

I did once try to link the phono with some tape deck through the headphone jack at the time, but the sound came out very garbled and slowed down. Very disappointing

Plugging something into the headphone jack shouldn’t slow-down the turntable, so I assume that was a problem with the tape deck or the tape.

The garbled sound could be from plugging into a microphone jack on the tape deck. (a line-level or headphone-level signal is about 100 times the voltage of a microphone signal). Or, maybe the volume was just cranked-up too loud? Or, maybe that was a problem with the tape deck too.

Or, there’s a slight chance that the headphone output needs a “DC load”. In that case, the simplest solution would be to get a Y-Adapter and plug-in headphones and the computer at the same time. But, just try it straight from the headphone jack to the computer’s line-in first.

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P.S.
If you have a large record collection that you want to digitize, your records are in good shape, and you want to retain the best quality,etc., you might want get a decent USB turntable. (That’s going to cost you around $300 USD.) [u]Knowzy.com[/u] has USB turntable reviews and recommendations. A USB turntable will have a built-in preamp and line-level outputs, but you don’t need the line-outs for recording since it’s essentially got it’s own “soundcard” built-in. Most will also come with a phono cartridge. (Higher-end turntables are analog and don’t come with a cartridge and you need a separate preamp.)

On one hand, it’s analog so better equipment will give you better sound. On the other hand, you are playing analog vinyl and you are never going to get “digital quality” (even if your records are in excellent shape). …You can spend spend thousands of dollars on a turntable, cartridge, and preamp, but I think that’s silly since no matter how much you spend it’s not going to sound as good as a $50 CD/DVD player. (Although some people do prefer the sound of analog vinyl, and that’s a matter of personal taste.)

Audacity has a Click Removal effect that can help with some of the vinyl “snap”, “crackle”, and “pop”, and you can use the Noise Reduction effect to remove constant low-level hum and hiss. (You have to be careful with Noise Reduction, especially if the noise is bad, because there can be side-effects that damage the sound.)

Or, [u]this page[/u] as recommendations for special-purpose vinyl clean-up software, as well as tons of other information about digitizing vinyl. I use [u]Wave Repair[/u] ($30 USD, developed by the author of that web page). Wave Repair does an audibly perfect job on most clicks & pops, and it only “touches” the audio where you identify a defect, but it’s VERY time consuming to find and mark all of the defects. [u]Wave Corrector[/u] and [u]Click Repair[/u] are more automated options and they are in a similar price range.


P.P.S.
I always forget my main advice… If you want the best quality, JUST BUY THE DANG CD!!! :smiley: :smiley: (Or download the MP3) if digital versions are available. If cost is a concern, look for used CDs.

7

Thanks again, gents. Looks like I will have to go with the headphone jack for the moment. With that first attempt Audacity was nowhere near to be heard of. Not here anyway. Sound quality is as said a matter of taste and in this case largely one of sentimental value. Reminder of the sound quality in a concert hall. Wonder what things really sounded like in the times of the Classic composers. Incidentally listened to some harpsicord recordings and you definitely need to be an afficionado to appreciate it.

Well, it’s near the bewitching hour here, so I will attend to it in the morning. Thanks again. There are a myriad options to consider and try out. Will have to get some work in on this as well.

Ciao.