Hi hsedky

One of my guys has played with that table http://tuneland.techno-zone.net/f10-sonic-s-thoughts-on-tuning if you want to give him a shout.

michael green
MGA/RoomTune

It sounds as if it's not hooked into a phono input? Do you have inputs called phono? If not, you'll have to get a phono preamp.

You aren't connecting the turntable RCA chords to a "phono" input on your amp are you? They should go to a line level connection on the amplifier...like CD, Aux, Tuner and the like.

To clarify, your turntable has a built-in phono pre and should feed to a line level on your amp. If the table also has a line level output, it may be because it can also benefit from another phono preamp instead of utilizing its own. In that case, the line out of the table would need to hook to another phono preamp section...perhaps.

I'm not familiar with why or how the table is utilizing its specs of having both a line output and a phono output. One probably bypasses the phono section of the table and that may be where your connectivity problem is happening.

It would seem to me that the easiest solution would be to use the tables phono out directly to a line level input of your amp.

One thing though, does your table have some sort of ability to control the volume? Something in your system has to be able to control the signal level to avoid sending full output directly to your amp. I'm assuming you have an integrated amp or some sort of amp with a volume control, otherwise, you are going to mess around and get the opposite of what you are getting now...a full strength signal directly to your amplifier and that could be very damaging to your speakers.

Sorry, I didn't notice that the op said it was a USB turntable

craigh wrote:

Sorry, I didn't notice that the op said it was a USB turntable

The first thing I thought was he was going from line level to line level without phono EQ too. And, that may be what is going on because the table's specs do show it to have a line out as well as a phono out, but I'm not familiar with the connections or what method the table uses for accomplishing both outputs.

hsedky wrote:

I just got an audio technica AT-LP 120 USB turntable and I've been having trouble connecting it with my amp and speaker. The quality of the sound is not good at all and the volume is very low. I tried connecting other devices (laptop, iphone) and the sound was fine. Any idea what I might be doing wrong?

That turntable has a phono preamp built in. There is a switch on the turntable to turn it on or off. It is on the REAR and is labelled "PHONO" and "LINE"

If you switch the phono preamp ON (LINE POSITION OF SWITCH)), the cables should be connected to a general-purpose LINE-LEVEL input on the amplifier, such as AUX or TUNER or other.

If you switch the phono preamp OFF (PHONO POSITION OF SWITCH) , then the cables should be connected to the PHONO INPUT jacks on the amplifier (the phono preamp within the amplifier will then be in use). I suspect that your amplifier does not HAVE PHONO input jacks or a phono preamp of its own, so this will not apply.

From the description of your problem, it sounds as if the phono preamp is OFF and you are connecting it to a line-level input, which results in distortion and a signal that is too small.

Put the switch on the rear of the turntable to the LINE position, and use a line-level input on the amp.