ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
I recently purchaced a refurbished Beogram 4200 ,with a MMC20CL cartridge. This is run through a McIntosh MA6100. What I have noticed is that the output sound level is much less with this turntable/ catridge combo, than my Luxman table with a Stanton Cartridge. Do I need a phono preamp? If so what brand do you recommend.
It depends on the sound quality - if it sounds fine but quiet and turning up the volume makes it sound OK, then you are fine. B&O cartridges do have a lower output than many other moving magnet cartridges. However if it sounds quiet and very tinny, you need an RIAA pre-amplifier. I would by a relatively cheap one! See what Lifestyle or Sounds Heavenly have on offer!
Peter
By the way, old B&O amps had an adjustment for that!
But I agree with Peter, just turn up the volume!
Jacques
You shouldn't need an external phono preamp as the McIntosh MA6100 has a phono section. As mentioned by the others above, the output of the Stanton is probably just higher that Bang & Olufsen. If turning up the volume also results in poor sound quality, then you have a problem. But that shouldn't be the case if your cartridge is in good order and your amplifier doesn't have a problem. I don't know if the McIntosh has input level adjustments but some amplifiers have level adjustments so the volume level is consistent across various music sources.
My Beosound 9000 doesn't have a phono input, so I use one of these:
http://www.phonopreamps.com/TC-770LCpp.html
It's got adjustable gain, and more gain than available than most phono preamps. It's specifically designed with the B&O cartridges in mind, even has a DIN socket for input.
If you use one of these, you'd run the output into a tape or aux input on your Mac, and could leave the table with the Stanton cartridge plugged into the Mac's phono input. I'm quite happy with the sound and gain on this preamp, it's a good piece and I recommend it for anyone with a B&O table who needs an outboard phono preamp. With it I was able to match the level of my phono and the internal CD player int he BS9000 quite easily.
Jeff
I'm afraid I'm recovering from the BeoVirus.