If the following situation sounds familiar, it may well be that you are in urgent need of a phono stage.  Your speaker system is all hooked up and ready to roll, your amplifiers are connected, but nothing seems to be making any sound.  Those speakers were not made for silence – why is the sound failing to come through?  The reason may be something to do with the fact that the majority of modern amplifiers are not fitted with an input socket marked turntable, so they cannot be connected unless you have a phono preamp.  This is basically an electronic circuit or stage that deals with the correct amplification of the phono cartridge and sends it to the amp or audio system. It is also often termed a phono stage or a phono amp, but these terms all mean the same thing.

It is important not to let all these different terms confuse you – this is simply a box that connects a turntable and an amplifier.  However, if this sort of sound technology is all rather unfamiliar, it can be difficult to choose which one to buy.  In order to make this choice, it is worth gaining some appreciation of how the phono amp works.  It is all down to changes in technology, as when vinyl records were the norm, integrated amplifiers always had an input for the record player or turntable.  However, when analogue sources started to become digital in origin, this no longer seemed important.  As digital sources have similar voltages, all that was needed a simple switch that selects between inputs.  For this reason, the ‘passive preamp’ was created.  This is not a preamp, rather, these boxes contain switches and relays.  The phono amp thus ensures that you achieve the ideal level of amplification.

Obtaining and setting up the preamp is remarkably stress free, even for those who are not particularly technologically savvy.  Setting up the system is just a matter of obtaining a phono-stage, linking up the turntable to it, and hooking up the output from the preamp to your amplifier.  As prices can vary widely, it can be difficult to decide which one to go for, but it is important to be aware that the quality of your sound will to an extent be dependent on the phono amp you decide on.  A very cheap preamp is generally unlikely to provide you with very good quality audio, but equally, some budget preamps are dressed up as very costly ones.  It is generally safest to opt for a mid-priced product.

It is important, therefore, not to be confused by the technicalities.  The phono stage, the phono preamp and the phono amp all have the same function, that of connecting your amp to your turntable.  Having found an amplifier that works, your music system should be ready to go. After this point, whether you are a part time DJ or just planning a party, you should find that all your records sound better than ever before with the right kind of amp to channel the beats.

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