I've been scavenging the internet in search for the holy grail but I feel I'm missing out on something really basic.
So here is my story/setup.
I've un-hearted from the father-in-law garage an old turntable (Panasonic SL-H401) that after a bit of cleaning works great. I've brought to Berlin where my audio setup consists in just a Libratone Zipp wireless speaker.
With time, I plan to replace it with some other, better powered speakers but at the moment this one just works fine (baby steps) so the first step was to get a phono-preamp. And this is where it gets complicated.
I just wanted a preamp that would have a volume control so I could set the turntable volume without having to mess with the speaker volume (which is annoying to say the least).
So I started searching for something for my shelf (small footprint) and budget (< 300 euros) and there weren't many options. Most were quite cheap (under 100 like the dynavox and the ART DJ) but when connected they hum a lot and they are just unusable. - Yes I've retested the connections including the ground. Currently have it setup with a xone23 mixer from a friend that works great, but I can't keep. So the turntable and speaker works fine.
But now I feel I'm hitting a wall: is there really no market for this kind of devices? Will I need 2 separate devices (phono-preamp + amp) like the Schiit Mani and Magni that are just impossible to find in Europe. Most volume control amps are for headphones or USB recording, not RCA line outs.
Will I need to give up for the volume control and just get the preamp and thats it?
So here is my story/setup.
I've un-hearted from the father-in-law garage an old turntable (Panasonic SL-H401) that after a bit of cleaning works great. I've brought to Berlin where my audio setup consists in just a Libratone Zipp wireless speaker.
With time, I plan to replace it with some other, better powered speakers but at the moment this one just works fine (baby steps) so the first step was to get a phono-preamp. And this is where it gets complicated.
I just wanted a preamp that would have a volume control so I could set the turntable volume without having to mess with the speaker volume (which is annoying to say the least).
So I started searching for something for my shelf (small footprint) and budget (< 300 euros) and there weren't many options. Most were quite cheap (under 100 like the dynavox and the ART DJ) but when connected they hum a lot and they are just unusable. - Yes I've retested the connections including the ground. Currently have it setup with a xone23 mixer from a friend that works great, but I can't keep. So the turntable and speaker works fine.
But now I feel I'm hitting a wall: is there really no market for this kind of devices? Will I need 2 separate devices (phono-preamp + amp) like the Schiit Mani and Magni that are just impossible to find in Europe. Most volume control amps are for headphones or USB recording, not RCA line outs.
Will I need to give up for the volume control and just get the preamp and thats it?