Unconventional Stereo System Issues

[Rockwill1066]

So, earlier today, I encountered a really catastrophic issue regarding my unconventional stereo system. I connected my Victorola TT (https://www.amazon.com/Victrola-Bluetooth-Suitcase-Turntable-Speakers/dp/B00UMVW4VA) to a phono pre-amp (https://www.amazon.com/Pyle-Phono-Turntable-Preamp-Preamplifier/dp/B004HJ1TTQ) with a red/white RCA cord, then I connected my pre-amp to my head-amp (https://www.amazon.com/FiiO-A3-Portable-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B00Z9BIODA) with an RCA > AUX splitter from the two RCA ports on my pre-amp to the single 3.5 millimeter "AUX IN" port on my head-amp. I, fortunately, heard the TT playing the record, although at a very low clarity but, after I attempted to use the head-amp with which both of my SOUNDBOKS 2 speakers (https://www.amazon.com/SOUNDBOKS-Loudest-Wireless-Bluetooth-BATTERYBOKS/dp/B077XFYQ6F) are connected, in order to play music from my computer through a Bluetooth adapter inserted into the "AUX IN" port, I encountered the dreaded of issue of hearing absolutely no audio.

To provide some context, the exact same issue arose with my last head-amp of the same design, so I decided to order another one. After the first blow-out, I determined that the cause of the issue was the incredibly low-power phono audio signal, being far weaker than a digital signal, causing my battery to malfunction. After performing some research, reading the description of the page of the head-amp which states that it converts phono to RCA signals (and I, at the time, presumed that RCA could be converted to a digital signal with a splitter due to what I'm about to say), in addition to consulting with a friend of mine, and finally, making a post on a supposedly 'audiophile' forum on which someone, with great confidence and belief in their own veracity, told me that the arrangement would function, I decided to do what was said in the first paragraph. So, needless to say, I'm very desperate for someone with actual experience, diligence, and honesty to inform me of whether my new plan if implemented, will yield successful results. Of course, I appreciate any effort in regards to helping me resolve my issue but, if you're not confident that it will be successful, then I'd prefer you to mention your uncertainty in order to prevent the aforementioned situation. I've spent hours researching this topic and I still find it highly complicated and confusing, unfortunately.

My new plan consists of connecting the TT to the phono pre-amp with RCA cables, connecting my phono pre-amp to my Rockwell Equalizer (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Rockvill...Band-Graphic-Equalizer-EQ-VU-Meters/373722599) with RCA cables, connecting my Rockwell Equalizer with RCA cables to my ADC (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B081PK5Y6T/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1), and, finally, using a Coaxial > 3.5-millimeter AUX cable inserted into my head-amp. I would also like to know if it's possible for me to successfully use a CD Player, or Cassette Deck, in substitution for the TT with the same linear components of the plan above followed. Thank you for taking the time to read this in advance, and I would like to use this forum more in order to gain more understanding regarding the audio world as I do find it interesting.

 

[AnalogSteph]

First off, just so you know, that turntable is about as crappy as they come.

A typical MM phono preamp like the Pyle is not the right thing to use with it (due to the use of a ceramic cartridge), but at best this should result in very loud, muffled and distorted audio. It is unclear to me whether or not a buffer stage for the line out is included; comments indicate it may be, even if not presenting as high an input input impedance to the cartridge as that would need (part of why sound quality is so naff). In any case, you can do away with the phonopre for now - this is intended for record players with an MM cartridge and no internal amplifying electronics of their own, as used to be common. (I would keep watching Craigslist and see what comes up in your area. It shouldn't be too hard to do better than with what you have now. Note, Pyle PP444 reviews indicate no screw terminal for extra tonearm grounding wire, which may prove an inconvenience though I guess one may be able to use one of the RCA jack screws.)

It is conceivable that overdriving the A3's input could damage it, I don't know the circuit to be able to say for sure. The input op-amp may be dead if that's the first thing in circuit. Should be repairable by someone who can fix other modern-day electronics on component level.

You have a way of coming up with some bizarre contraptions, I must say. Phonopre > EQ > ADC >... analog input? Like, what?

What you'd basically need is a traditional hi-fi preamplifier. A few line-ins and a pre-out. Easier said than done though, these generally remained a premium product and as such are not overly common or cheap on the used market. Do you have the budget for, say, a JDS Labs Atom plus an extra RCA source selector?

I see some more potential pitfalls lurking in your setup. The speakers (a rather bizarre choice for indoor use, but OK) have an AUX input but I assume they'll be mixing left and right channels together. You would have to make sure that each is receiving only one channel in order to get stereo sound out of the whole affair. Maybe you already have but I just thought I'd mention it.

 

[JeffS7444]

I don't think you need to use a phono preamplifier, as your turntable appears to have a piezo cartridge which generally has much higher voltage output than a magnetic cartridge. The preamp you've linked to is designed to work with magnetic cartridges.

Got any cables longer than 1 meter or so? That can sometimes cause problems. But why not use Bluetooth to connect turntable and speakers, as that would eliminate the need for wires altogether.

BTW, if your turntable is fitted with the original sapphire stylus with red plastic cantilever, a nice upgrade might be to replace it with a diamond stylus such as those sold by LP Gear: Diamond costs a bit more, but it lasts a lot longer (something like 50 hours vs 1000 hours), and a better-quality stylus should also sound better.

 

[Rockwill1066]

First off, just so you know, that turntable is about as crappy as they come.

A typical MM phono preamp like the Pyle is not the right thing to use with it (due to the use of a ceramic cartridge), but at best this should result in very loud, muffled and distorted audio. It is unclear to me whether or not a buffer stage for the line out is included; comments indicate it may be, even if not presenting as high an input input impedance to the cartridge as that would need (part of why sound quality is so naff). In any case, you can do away with the phonopre for now - this is intended for record players with an MM cartridge and no internal amplifying electronics of their own, as used to be common. (I would keep watching Craigslist and see what comes up in your area. It shouldn't be too hard to do better than with what you have now. Note, Pyle PP444 reviews indicate no screw terminal for extra tonearm grounding wire, which may prove an inconvenience though I guess one may be able to use one of the RCA jack screws.)

It is conceivable that overdriving the A3's input could damage it, I don't know the circuit to be able to say for sure. The input op-amp may be dead if that's the first thing in circuit. Should be repairable by someone who can fix other modern-day electronics on component level.

You have a way of coming up with some bizarre contraptions, I must say. Phonopre > EQ > ADC >... analog input? Like, what?

What you'd basically need is a traditional hi-fi preamplifier. A few line-ins and a pre-out. Easier said than done though, these generally remained a premium product and as such are not overly common or cheap on the used market. Do you have the budget for, say, a JDS Labs Atom plus an extra RCA source selector?

I see some more potential pitfalls lurking in your setup. The speakers (a rather bizarre choice for indoor use, but OK) have an AUX input but I assume they'll be mixing left and right channels together. You would have to make sure that each is receiving only one channel in order to get stereo sound out of the whole affair. Maybe you already have but I just thought I'd mention it.

Unfortunately, the audio is very muffled and distorted although it's quiet due to some cause unknown to me. I didn't know that the pre-amp is MM nor did I know that the Victrola uses a ceramic cartridge; I wish I did before I made my purchases. I would presume that the phono pre-amp does have a buffer stage in order to provide electrical impedance transformation due to how it's described as being capable of transforming a phono audio signal into a digital one which requires a transformation of the audio signal. I don't know what you mean by "input impedance to the cartridge" although I understand what "output impedance from the cartridge" means as I imagine that the audio signal goes from the TT to the speakers. I understand, and I think I may seek a better, more aesthetically pleasing, MM Turn-Table that's compatible with my phono pre-amp. When I grounded my TT to my PP444 pre-amp, I just unscrewed a screw on the pre-amp and TT (as near as possible to the RCA ports that I was using) and used specialized grounding wire with little forks at both ends; was this effective, or do I need these "RCA Jack Screws" that you referred to instead?

I think I might've overdriven its input but, based on what I read, the low voltage from the TT might've caused it as the battery is designed to process electricity that's only within a certain voltage range but, based on what you said, this may very well not be the case. I'm not aware of what an "input op-amp" is. I've ordered a few BL-5B batteries that should be compatible with my old FiiO A3, so I hope that'll be successful; if it isn't, then, presumably, the input might've been damaged. Hopefully, this will provide some valuable information regarding the amp:

& this is the source from which I determined that the battery was most likely the issue: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/fiio-e11-e11k-a3-information-support.552605/ - even though this isn't for the FiiO A3, I feel like the design is probably very similar.

Well, at first, my decision was to connect the TT to the headphone amplifier with which both speakers are connected directly, which blew it, so then I added the phono pre-amp, which also blew it, so I suspected that the issue may be with the head-amp not being capable of processing an analog audio signal so, by converting it to digital, another blow-out may be averted. I always equalize my music, so that explains my choice to include an equalizer. I was informed that the EQ goes in-between the pre-amp and the amplifier. The EQ is analog, the headphone amplifier is digital, and the ADC is in-between them.

I'll look into purchasing a traditional hi-fi preamplifier. I'm presuming that the line-ins are for the RCA cables and the line-out is for the speakers? I just saw it and it seems very compatible with my system although I would need to be assured, 100%, that no damage would be caused to my speakers even though I'm 99.9% sure that none would. I just chose the FiiO A3 because that product was advertised. 99$ is definitely not out of my price range. Which RCA selector should I choose based on compatibility and a reasonable price and how would I use this? I don't know what it does.

The speakers were chosen due to my desire to use them out-side at camping events yet I didn't want to settle on having crappy outdoor speakers yet great indoor ones so I decided to purchase speakers that satisfied my needs for both situations. I understand your concern and, honestly, I haven't noticed any situations in which I was listening to a song and heard only instrumentals from one speaker but that may be due to my lack of memory regarding it; I'll test this tomorrow. I simply followed the video presenting instructions regarding connecting multiple SOUNDBOKS 2s together; here it is:

 

[Rockwill1066]

I don't think you need to use a phono preamplifier, as your turntable appears to have a piezo cartridge which generally has much higher voltage output than a magnetic cartridge. The preamp you've linked to is designed to work with magnetic cartridges.

Got any cables longer than 1 meter or so? That can sometimes cause problems. But why not use Bluetooth to connect turntable and speakers, as that would eliminate the need for wires altogether.

BTW, if your turntable is fitted with the original sapphire stylus with red plastic cantilever, a nice upgrade might be to replace it with a diamond stylus such as those sold by LP Gear: Diamond costs a bit more, but it lasts a lot longer (something like 50 hours vs 1000 hours), and a better-quality stylus should also sound better.

I wasn't aware of its "piezo" cartridge that outputs higher voltages but I'll keep that in mind. I'm displeased with my TT so I think I may actually purchase a decent one that has a magnetic cartridge.

I do have an RCA cable that's about 1.8 meters in length although I didn't employ it when my head-amp was blown. The Bluetooth is only compatible with smartphones for playing audio sourced from the smartphone through the built-in speakers of the turn-table.

Thank your for the recommendation regarding the stylus, although I'll only be interested in purchasing an upgraded stylus once, and if, I resolve the issue preventing me from playing music from the TT through my speakers which, by the way, occurred for a short while although the audio quality was absolutely awful; this was partially due to the warped and greasy state of my record but, even on account of that, it still sounded surprisingly terrible.

 

[Rockwill1066]

First off, just so you know, that turntable is about as crappy as they come.

A typical MM phono preamp like the Pyle is not the right thing to use with it (due to the use of a ceramic cartridge), but at best this should result in very loud, muffled and distorted audio. It is unclear to me whether or not a buffer stage for the line out is included; comments indicate it may be, even if not presenting as high an input input impedance to the cartridge as that would need (part of why sound quality is so naff). In any case, you can do away with the phonopre for now - this is intended for record players with an MM cartridge and no internal amplifying electronics of their own, as used to be common. (I would keep watching Craigslist and see what comes up in your area. It shouldn't be too hard to do better than with what you have now. Note, Pyle PP444 reviews indicate no screw terminal for extra tonearm grounding wire, which may prove an inconvenience though I guess one may be able to use one of the RCA jack screws.)

It is conceivable that overdriving the A3's input could damage it, I don't know the circuit to be able to say for sure. The input op-amp may be dead if that's the first thing in circuit. Should be repairable by someone who can fix other modern-day electronics on component level.

You have a way of coming up with some bizarre contraptions, I must say. Phonopre > EQ > ADC >... analog input? Like, what?

What you'd basically need is a traditional hi-fi preamplifier. A few line-ins and a pre-out. Easier said than done though, these generally remained a premium product and as such are not overly common or cheap on the used market. Do you have the budget for, say, a JDS Labs Atom plus an extra RCA source selector?

I see some more potential pitfalls lurking in your setup. The speakers (a rather bizarre choice for indoor use, but OK) have an AUX input but I assume they'll be mixing left and right channels together. You would have to make sure that each is receiving only one channel in order to get stereo sound out of the whole affair. Maybe you already have but I just thought I'd mention it.

Also, if I purchase this "JDS Labs Atom," I presume that it'd be the substitute for my head-phone amplifier taking into account the fact that it's both an amplifier and a pre-amplifier. So I'd just connect my TT directly to the pre-amps RCA input ports with RCA cables and I'd use a 2x female > 1x male AUX splitter with the male end inserted into the headphones port to connect both of my speakers to it? From what I've gathered, the EQ goes between the pre-amp and the amp, so where would that come in, in terms of the chain of devices? Although I'm starting to accept the fact that my system may not be compatible with an EQ.

 

[JeffS7444]

I wasn't aware of its "piezo" cartridge that outputs higher voltages but I'll keep that in mind. I'm displeased with my TT so I think I may actually purchase a decent one that has a magnetic cartridge.

I do have an RCA cable that's about 1.8 meters in length although I didn't employ it when my head-amp was blown. The Bluetooth is only compatible with smartphones for playing audio sourced from the smartphone through the built-in speakers of the turn-table.

Thank your for the recommendation regarding the stylus, although I'll only be interested in purchasing an upgraded stylus once, and if, I resolve the issue preventing me from playing music from the TT through my speakers which, by the way, occurred for a short while although the audio quality was absolutely awful; this was partially due to the warped and greasy state of my record but, even on account of that, it still sounded surprisingly terrible.

If you're not having luck getting sound out of your turntable's RCA jacks, try the headphone jack instead. For a different perspective on inexpensive turntables, check out "VWestlife" on YouTube: He specializes in getting better sound out of affordable gear. No doubt something like an Audio Technica LP60 or LP120 would be an improvement, but you lose some portability, and do you really want to spend the money?

 

[Rockwill1066]

If you're not having luck getting sound out of your turntable's RCA jacks, try the headphone jack instead. For a different perspective on inexpensive turntables, check out "VWestlife" on YouTube: He specializes in getting better sound out of affordable gear. No doubt something like an Audio Technica LP60 or LP120 would be an improvement, but you lose some portability, and do you really want to spend the money?

I don't know why I haven't thought of that yet although I think I will decide to do that in regards to using the headphone jack on the TT. Thank you for the recommendation and I'll look into it. I mean, I don't mind not bringing my TT with me when I go places personally. I'd prefer not to need to spend the money but I will if I need to.