HELP me Pls ......

[tony Ma]

Hi All,
I just bought Denon DP-7F for $25 from a very nice old lady and she gave me the whole LP Collection (Classical) (almost 100pcs LP).
I tried over there and it play ok but when I played at home the sound is very little so I need to crank the volume to very high
My questions are
1. Is there any thing wrong with this turntable? why the sound is so little. I have a Pre-amp but no Phono in (only Aux, CD, DVD etc)
2. How would I know when I need to change the cartridge?
3. Any suggestion best cartridge for this one?

tks so much.

Tony

[5th element]

It looks like you're simply missing the amplification and equalisation stage that is needed to correct for the RIAA standard.

You'll either need to make something yourself, or buy a ready made phono preamp.

[pieter t]

Tony, to play records you need a preamp with a phono input. The phono input is very sensitive because the signal from the cartridge is in the mV range; besides the signal from the cartridge must be equalized in the phone preamp, this is called the RIAA correction.
As you don't have that option you could look after a stand alone phono preamp, which you can connect between turntable and Aux input of your preamp.

[pieter t]

A good US source for phono preamps seems to be Needle Doctor.
A vast range from budget to more sophisticated.

[tony Ma]

Originally Posted by 5th element

It looks like you're simply missing the amplification and equalisation stage that is needed to correct for the RIAA standard.

You'll either need to make something yourself, or buy a ready made phono preamp.

Sorry for my silly question. My pre-amp is the newest one on the market. It is Emotiva UMC-1. My thought is I can just plug in with my pre-amp that has AUX in.
Is all Turntable need Phono Preamp or just this denon DP-7F.
Yes I remember when I tried with the old lady, she has OLD NAD with Phono in.

[tony Ma]

Originally Posted by pieter t

A good US source for phono preamps seems to be Needle Doctor.
A vast range from budget to more sophisticated.

Pieter, how would I know that I need replacement the cartridge/needle? I ask the lady who sold it to me she said she never changed it.
I believe this one made in 1998?

[5th element]

Almost all record players require a separate phono preamp. Debut I believe make a few that don't, but that's only because they've got the phono preamp already built in, so to answer your question, yes all record players require a phono preamp of some kind.

To contradict myself however, I do believe there was a system designed that could read the groove of a record with a laser and then convert that into an analogue signal. That player may not have needed a phono preamp although I don't know.

Your first requirement is a phono preamp, no cartridge will make your system work as you're missing essential hardware.

[freakydrew]

Tony, I did the exact same thing, was so disappointed when I had everything set up and voila! no sound...very discouraging. I ran out to radio shack and bought a battery powered phono pre amp until I could buy a better one online! (also just to make sure everything worked!).
Maybe the old lady will give you her NAD/
best of luck and enjoy the music!!

[c2cthomas]

Hi Tony - Your UMC-1 does not have a phono pre built into to it and thus - as per 5th element - you will need to provide an external phono preamp to boost the low level signal provided by the cartridge - something like this Needle Doctor 1-800-229-0644, Esoteric Sounds Rek-O-Kut Professional Phono Preamp MKII

Take the output of the preamp and plug it into the AUX input jacks of your UMC-1

To see if your cartridge or stylus needs replacing - 1st inspect the stylus with a magnifying glass and look for excessive or uneven wear. Examples of how to do this are on the web.

Assuming a good stylus you can check the output by playing just about any record - but if you wanna be assured of a known good signal there are records that have test tones recorded onto them - these test records will also help with testing for proper alignment.