jimjimmyjones85

That turntable can be made to sound a lot better but you do need a good level of technical skills.
 
Basically you re-wire the arm using Cardas cable right through in one and remove all the phono stage and USB electronics. so you do need to be pretty competent to do that sort of work.
 
As to a cartridge for something like that and as you are in the US you won't go wrong with one of the Shure carts, there are some posts on here that talk about and recommend the ones to get or possibly someone will chime in.
 
And if you are replacing your receiver and don't need the radio part or the multi speaker part then get a proper stereo integrated amplifier.
 
Adding the radio part in adds unwanted electrical noise and a multi speaker AV amp is really intended for films not music.

To be clear, you have to use a pre-amp in one form or another (you should probably actually read this - http://lmgtfy.com/?q... a phono preamp)
 
The signal coming from a turn table is weaker than the signal that typically comes from another source like a CD player.  The phono pre-amp changes that signal into something usable.
 
Some receivers or integrated amplifiers have a 'phono' input with an on board pre-amp section.  You can bypass this by simply not using the phono input.
 
some (typically lower-end) turn tables have a built in pre-amp.  you typically have the option to turn this on or off as needed.
 
if a pre-amp is not included in either the turn table or the receiver/integrated amplifer, then you would have to get a seperate external phono pre-amp.
 
Based on what you said in your original post, it sounds like you have 2 pre-amps available now.   You can go ahead and add an external into the mix, but just be sure that no more than ONE is active at any given time.  Otherwise you are simply amplifying an already amplified signal.

There is nothing wrong with the Nad PP-1 so that will serve you well for a while.
 
And you're on a slippery slope now, it's worse when you get to the point where the law of diminishing returns kicks in, large outlays for no real gain, you get to a point where stuff isn't really better or worse it's just different

A half decent separate phono stage would give you a performance upgrade but the rest of your kit doesn't really warrant spending a lot of money on one, There's nothing inherently wrong with it but ideally you need things to all be of a similar quality otherwise one bit can show up the rest or you have an item that isn't being used to the full potential that you have paid for.
 
Try it as you have it for now and see how it goes before you commit to spending any money. Or if you know anyone technical get them to check the onboard phono stage in your Onkyo and the switching in the record player as I would suspect the onboard phono in the Onkyo would be better than the one in the AT.
 
I'm in the UK so can't really suggest what would be a good affordable phono stage but someone closer to you in the US should be able to but here I would be looking at something like the cheaper of the Cambridge Azur units or similar. Something of that quality whilst you might not use it to it's full potential now it could be used with a better turntable or amplifier later on.
 
To clarify the names of the bits in your receiver there are several blocks and in some systems these can all be separate units that give them their names.
 
Phono stage: The bit that amplifies the turntable signal up to the same level as a CD/DVD/Tape/Tuner etc.
Pre amp: The bit that selects what you are listening to, adjusts the tone, adjusts the volume.
Power amp: The bit that makes all the noise.
Tuner: The radio bit.
 
An integrated amplifier will have at least the pre and power but never the tuner as the tuner is what makes it a receiver.
 
The phono stage is sometimes called the phono pre amp which I think where the confusion about the name comes from, if it's to do with a turntable it should always have the word phono in the name.