Record player hookup to Surround sound

[Lothlorien]

I'd appreciate your guys' help. I have a record player I bought about 5/6 years ago brand new and since then it has been hooked up to 1970's reciever and it has been working great. I have recently bought a Sony surround sound 5.1 set, and I plugged my record player into the back of the surround sound, and on the very highest max volume I can just barely hear my record player. The surround sound has three options of plugging in audio, TV, SAT, and CD. I can only hear the record player when plugged into the CD outlets and it's barely there.

Is there anything else I can try? do i need to buy some add-on chords or something? am i as dumb as i look? what will i get for christmas this year? thank you to all for your help. I'm so bad at these things, the answer is probably very clear but im too dumb to realize it.

 

[hezagenius]

I don't know how savvy you are with AV equipment so I will try to explain it very simply. The turntable should have a red jack and a white jack on the back. These are called RCA jacks. Get a set of RCA cables (might have been included with the player) and plug the correct color cable into each jack. The back of your receiver will have the same colored jacks for the CD input. Make sure the cables are plugged into the back of the receiver in the CD input correctly. Make sure the CD player is not connected with an optical cable (this could cause problems if the receiver is receiving signals from both the turntable and the CD player). On your receiver, make sure the CD input is selected. If you have the option to select the type of signal being received for each input, select ANALOG for the CD player input. If it is set to DIGITAL or OPTICAL, that would cause a problem. If there is a volume control on the turntable, make sure it isn't turned down all the way. Make sure there is a needle on the stylus. That should be it.

 

[Lothlorien]

^Thank you very much! so u think it was a problem for me to hook up my record player directly to the surround sound? i plugged the record player's black cable into the white, and the red into the red. u think the RCA cables will help? i will also have to see if it is set to analog as well. thank you once again!

 

[x_OPETH_x]

I think the problem is moreso due to the fact that the volume output from the turntable is VERY minimal. Is this new surround system also a power amplifier? I'm sure it's got amps inside to drive the speakers of course, but it probably assumes you'll be sending a hotter signal into the inputs. Is there a volume control on the turntable itself?

Like the other guy mentioned, try making sure that the input for the CD Player channel is set to Analog instead of Digital.

 

[hezagenius]

^Thank you very much! so u think it was a problem for me to hook up my record player directly to the surround sound? i plugged the record player's black cable into the white, and the red into the red. u think the RCA cables will help? i will also have to see if it is set to analog as well. thank you once again!

I'm not sure I understand how you set it up. Did you connect the turntable directly to a set of speakers? If so, that is a problem.

The connections should be as follows:

Turntable -> RCA cables (match red and white) -> CD Input on Receiver

Speaker Posts on Receiver -> speaker wire (match colors) -> Speaker Posts on Speaker

There should be 5 sets of speaker posts/jacks on the back of your receiver and a 6th for the subwoofer (the .1 in 5.1). The posts for each speaker are typically colored red and black (except sometimes for the subwoofer). Most speaker wire have two smaller pieces of wire, one dark and one light. Connect the dark part to the black post and the light part to the red post. Do the same on the back of the speakers. Also, make sure you have the speakers wired according to where they are placed. The subwoofer usually has only one cable because there isn't a left channel or right channel associated with it. Since you bought a surround sound package, the subwoofer cable should have come with it. Just plug the cable into the receiver and the subwoofer.

That should be enough to get you sound coming out of your speakers.

Now, to get "surround sound" using a stereo source (LPs only have left and right channel sound), you will need to choose some sort of soundfield on the receiver like "All Channels Stereo" or "Simulated Surround" or "Virtual Surround" or something like that. Each brand calls it something different. This will tell the receiver to send the left channel audio to both the front and rear left speakers and possibly to the center as well. It does the same for the right channel audio. It won't be "true" 5.1 surround sound but sound will come from all the speakers.

 

[hezagenius]

Another thing I totally forgot. You may or may not know, but does your turntable have a built-in preamp? If you don't know, it should say in the turntable manual if you still have it. Otherwise, tell me the model number and brand of your turntable. If it doesn't have a preamp, that could explain why you barely hear any sound. A preamp (pre amplifier) is a power source the boosts a signal before it is sent to the receiver.

If it does have a preamp, double check the volume/gain control on the turntable. If it is turned down, that will cause low volume.

 

[Kenneth R.]

listen to hezagenius. this man knows what he's talking about.

 

[in_my_time_of_disease]

He does, I wanted to know more about this a while back when I bought my record player.

 

[Lothlorien]

damn, i wasnt expecting such quality information and advice. i need to ask more questions here often.

ive been really busy and havent had time to mess with my record player and surround sound, so i have no results as to what has worked yet, hey hezagenius, this is the surround sound i bought:

http://www.google.com/products/cata...round+sound&cid=715812933799096278#ps-sellers

does it look like all i need is the rca cables? im plugging my record player cables into the receiver, into the CD plug ins, thats when i can just barely hear things from the speakers.

 

[el_serpiente]

Why make it so complicated, you probably only need to buy a RIAA, a pre-amplifier for your turntable. You can get them at almost any price from 20$ and up.

The only important information that you need to know if your cartridge is a MM or a MC so that you buy a RIAA that supports your cartridge.
Here is an example of a rather cheap RIAA that can amplify both MC and MM:
http://nadelectronics.com/products/hifi-amplifiers/PP-3-Digital-Phono-Preamplifier/details

 

[hezagenius]

damn, i wasnt expecting such quality information and advice. i need to ask more questions here often.

ive been really busy and havent had time to mess with my record player and surround sound, so i have no results as to what has worked yet, hey hezagenius, this is the surround sound i bought:

http://www.google.com/products/cata...round+sound&cid=715812933799096278#ps-sellers

does it look like all i need is the rca cables? im plugging my record player cables into the receiver, into the CD plug ins, thats when i can just barely hear things from the speakers.

Are there cables that are permanently attached to your player? If so, they should have RCA tips so you wouldn't need to buy more. If not, buy some RCA cables. They are pretty cheap - $5 or something like that.

Double check your volume or gain control on your turntable to make sure it isn't turned down.

Most likely, your problem is that you need a pre-amp. Given that your turntable is 5-6 years old, it probably doesn't have one built into it. Like el_serpiente said, they can be had for cheap. Once you know which type your need, check amazon or some other website.