How to connect to turntable
- Thread starter amr
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Mr Ee
Major Contributor
How far is not near?
A little unusual not to have a source fairly close to an amp for just this reason!
Assuming the TT has a line out (or you have a separate phono stage) then I assume a long set of leads...
Or... get a pro plus
TT into pro plus (still need line out from TT or phono stage), and group the pro and the amp.
As @Mr Ee said, the first and most important question to answer is if your turntable has an in-built phono preamp, providing the RIAA correction and lifting the output voltage to line level.
If so, you might get away with a long set of leads, indeed. If long means 3 meters or more of unbalanced (and usually rather poorly shielded) cable this is unfavorable, to say the least.
If not, the you will need a separate phono pre anyway. The WiiM Amp cannot take the input of a phono cartridge directly.
Pro-Ject Audio make version of their Phono Box E series with either Bluetooth (lossy) or optical output. Optical "cables" can be way longer without a problem.
www.project-audio.com
www.project-audio.com
If so, you might get away with a long set of leads, indeed. If long means 3 meters or more of unbalanced (and usually rather poorly shielded) cable this is unfavorable, to say the least.
If not, the you will need a separate phono pre anyway. The WiiM Amp cannot take the input of a phono cartridge directly.
Pro-Ject Audio make version of their Phono Box E series with either Bluetooth (lossy) or optical output. Optical "cables" can be way longer without a problem.
Phono Box E BT 5 – Pro-Ject Audio Systems
Wireless Bluetooth 5.2 streaming with aptX Adaptive and HD of built-in Phono preamplifier and additional line source After the big success of our VT-E BT we dec
www.project-audio.com
Optical Box E Phono – Pro-Ject Audio Systems
Multi-purpose phono preamplifier with A/D conversion and 2 output options: Line level and digital optic! Anyone who wants to use the record player together with
www.project-audio.com
Hey,How far is not near?
A little unusual not to have a source fairly close to an amp for just this reason!
Assuming the TT has a line out (or you have a separate phono stage) then I assume a long set of leads...
Or... get a pro plus
TT into pro plus (still need line out from TT or phono stage), and group the pro and the amp.
Thanks for getting back to me.
I know it’s a bit weird but the TT sits on a stand away from the TV ( I don’t have space near the TV for the TT) or if I put it below the TV in the stand, it’s really low near the ground and awkward to change records etc.
Technically, I could do this, and the sound would be better but I was hoping for a seamless (read wireless) way of doing this.
In terms of sound quality, is hooking the TT up to a pro plus better than getting a BT transmitter and doing it this way? Not sure what codecs the Wiim amp uses, but I’m sure it’s not one of the better ones if I’m not mistaken?
The TT has a phono stage built in so was thinking TT to transmitter then Wiim amp picks up signal. Is this worth it?
Thanks once again.
Yes. When you pair two WiiM devices they are sharing the audio lossless over network (WiFi or Ethernet) connection. It is like the difference between AirPlay vs BT.
Although I think the Pro Plus would be the easier solution, if you are interested in a less expensive solution and comfortable setting up a RPi, you could look at using one as an Airplay sender like this project:
DavidGriffiths
Member
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2023
- Messages
- 21
I have roughly 3 metres of cable carrying line out from turntable to amp. After reading people talking about shielding and so on I bought some good quality thick RCA audio cable to replace the rather thin headphone style cable I had been using. Roped my son in with his younger ears to help judge but neither of us could detect any difference.
Ian
Active member
I have a similar issue, I've not solved it but I'm getting there.
My Linn LP12 is on a different wall to the rest of my gear. I rarely use it nowadays but occasionally get the urge to spin some vinyl
My amp is a Cambridge Audio CXA610 which has onboard aptXHD bluetooth. It sounds great from my phone! So I thought I'd try that. Bought a cheap aptX transceiver and cheap phono preamp. It sounds crap
Curious to discover the weak link in the chain, I tried a RCA cable (3m long) between my TT and amp. It sounds great! I can live with this but it's very 'last century' so:
I have a few Wiim minis so I relocated one to my TT preamp & linked it to my 'main' Wiim. It sounds great! Problem solved I guess but I'm reluctant to spend £90 to replace a £5 cable!
I'm still playing with this. I think it can be done in (too) many ways. Streaming via LMS is my next play thing
AFAIK the Wiim amp doesn't support aptXHD so Bluetooth is a poor choice for you.
Ian
My Linn LP12 is on a different wall to the rest of my gear. I rarely use it nowadays but occasionally get the urge to spin some vinyl
My amp is a Cambridge Audio CXA610 which has onboard aptXHD bluetooth. It sounds great from my phone! So I thought I'd try that. Bought a cheap aptX transceiver and cheap phono preamp. It sounds crap
Curious to discover the weak link in the chain, I tried a RCA cable (3m long) between my TT and amp. It sounds great! I can live with this but it's very 'last century' so:
I have a few Wiim minis so I relocated one to my TT preamp & linked it to my 'main' Wiim. It sounds great! Problem solved I guess but I'm reluctant to spend £90 to replace a £5 cable!
I'm still playing with this. I think it can be done in (too) many ways. Streaming via LMS is my next play thing
AFAIK the Wiim amp doesn't support aptXHD so Bluetooth is a poor choice for you.
Ian
Wii
If there is no relevant RF interference near your cable then nothing is to be gained from better shielding. Generally speaking there are three potential problems of long analog cable connections: Sensitivity to interference, cable resistance and cable capacitance.
The best way to mitigate interference issues is to use a balanced connection (not possible with existing hardware using RCA plugs). If there are no issues with interference in your environment there's nothing to worry about. Better shielding doesn't hurt but is less efficient than using a balanced connection where the interference on both "hot" wires (with opposing polarity) cancel out each other.
Cable resistance mostly just reduces the signal level available on the receiving side. Better quality simply means cable cross-section. Probably not an issue with a 3 m run, but can be easily mitigated with thicker cables (beware that a bigger diameter of the cable sheathing not necessarily means higher cross-section or better shielding, could just be more rubber). High resistance can be more problematic when combined with the third issue.
Cable capacitance should be as low as possible because it can lead to HF loss over the line, thus muddied sound. If and to what degree this might be a problem also depends on the cable resistance and the output resistance of the source (the built-in phono-pre in this setup). The lower the output resistance, the better.
Wireless of optical digital signal transfer is not affected by any of these factors. Digital transfer through a coaxial cable is still much less prone to these problems. Bluetooth is both, wireless and digital, but almost all audio codecs used are lossy (definitely all used by WiiM hardware so far). To the best of my knowledge WiiM/Linkplay don't explicitly mention which codecs are supported, but aptX (or aptX HD or aptX Low Latency or aptX Adaptive) are definitely not.
Glad to hear it's working fine for you (and I have absolutely no intention to question that).
If there is no relevant RF interference near your cable then nothing is to be gained from better shielding. Generally speaking there are three potential problems of long analog cable connections: Sensitivity to interference, cable resistance and cable capacitance.
The best way to mitigate interference issues is to use a balanced connection (not possible with existing hardware using RCA plugs). If there are no issues with interference in your environment there's nothing to worry about. Better shielding doesn't hurt but is less efficient than using a balanced connection where the interference on both "hot" wires (with opposing polarity) cancel out each other.
Cable resistance mostly just reduces the signal level available on the receiving side. Better quality simply means cable cross-section. Probably not an issue with a 3 m run, but can be easily mitigated with thicker cables (beware that a bigger diameter of the cable sheathing not necessarily means higher cross-section or better shielding, could just be more rubber). High resistance can be more problematic when combined with the third issue.
Cable capacitance should be as low as possible because it can lead to HF loss over the line, thus muddied sound. If and to what degree this might be a problem also depends on the cable resistance and the output resistance of the source (the built-in phono-pre in this setup). The lower the output resistance, the better.
Wireless of optical digital signal transfer is not affected by any of these factors. Digital transfer through a coaxial cable is still much less prone to these problems. Bluetooth is both, wireless and digital, but almost all audio codecs used are lossy (definitely all used by WiiM hardware so far). To the best of my knowledge WiiM/Linkplay don't explicitly mention which codecs are supported, but aptX (or aptX HD or aptX Low Latency or aptX Adaptive) are definitely not.
Streaming via LMSI have a similar issue, I've not solved it but I'm getting there.
My Linn LP12 is on a different wall to the rest of my gear. I rarely use it nowadays but occasionally get the urge to spin some vinyl
My amp is a Cambridge Audio CXA610 which has onboard aptXHD bluetooth. It sounds great from my phone! So I thought I'd try that. Bought a cheap aptX transceiver and cheap phono preamp. It sounds crap
Curious to discover the weak link in the chain, I tried a RCA cable (3m long) between my TT and amp. It sounds great! I can live with this but it's very 'last century' so:
I have a few Wiim minis so I relocated one to my TT preamp & linked it to my 'main' Wiim. It sounds great! Problem solved I guess but I'm reluctant to spend £90 to replace a £5 cable!
I'm still playing with this. I think it can be done in (too) many ways. Streaming via LMS is my next play thing
AFAIK the Wiim amp doesn't support aptXHD so Bluetooth is a poor choice for you.
Ian
Raspberry Pi with piCorePlayer and a suitable USB ADC (Behringer UCA202 as you have phono preamp)
Brantome
Moderator
SBC/AAC have often been quoted - indeed on checking, the manuals for the Pro, Pro Plus and Amp all state that
I stand corrected.
It's not in the technical specifications (of the Amp, at least, which I feel it should) but it is in the manual, indeed.
