Cannot get any pre-amp to work

[erco99]

Hello, I have a Music Hall MMF-1.5 and it has a pre amp. When trying to add any external pre amp, I get major distortion and inaudible music. I am deactivating the TT pre amp by selecting LINE (not Phono) and I'm plugging the pre amp into a line input (CF) on AVR (NOT PHONO). When using my TT pre amp and plugging into the Phono input on my AVR, sound is good, no distortion, no humming.

Amy ideas?

 

[conanski]

This may take a moment to wrap your head around but if you select the line output of the turntable you are using it's built-in preamp not bypassing it, and since a line level signal is much higher than a preamp signal this overdrives the external preamp you are trying to use.

 

[chrisng]

When trying to add any external pre amp, I get major distortion and inaudible music.

When switch is set to PHONO, turntable must be connected to an outboard phono preamp or dedicated phono input with built-in RIAA EQ from a preamp, AVR or integrated amplifier.