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Upgrades on Audio Technica AT-LP120 for a nube who isn't handy with this kinda stuff.


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Hi All. First post. 

 

I was given an Audio Technica AT-LP120 USB as a wedding gift last year by a friend. he also gave us set of speakers and a receiver. Im all for free but I was in the market to start my record collecting experience with a bit more higher quality equipment. Needless to say Im not that impressed with the sound. Very blah, not ver warm. And rather than insult my friend by replacing the speakers and receiver i was looking for a few ways to upgrade the sound of the turntable. I came across a few threads that have said the built in preamp in the turntable is terrible and attributes to some of the lackluster sound. I have seen quite a few times that it is recommended to remove the preamp from the device and replace it with an external one. It supposedly makes a hell of a difference. Now i watched a youtube on how to do so and trust me there is no way Im doing this, im just not that handy and I dont want to ruin the thing. Im wondering if just turning off the preamp with the switch on the back and using a separate one will achieve the same sound or is it really that important to remove it entirely. I have heard removing it entirely is the only was to make a noticeable difference. Any idea? Or any other tips and suggestions would be greatly appreciated to help me improve the sound.

 

Thanks

Adam

 

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A good external preamp or good integrated amp can make a world of difference. Upgrading the cartridge can help as well. what kind of receiver and speakers are you using? I had an AT- LP120 running through a marantz surrond sound receiver. I was not thrilled with the sound at all.

I purchased a Cambridge audio Azur 551p preamp from amazon and the sound was like night and day compared to the internal preamp in the AT. I was finally as happy as I could be with the sound I was getting with my equipment at the time. Much warmer, and louder as well.

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A good external preamp or good integrated amp can make a world of difference. Upgrading the cartridge can help as well. what kind of receiver and speakers are you using? I had an AT- LP120 running through a marantz surrond sound receiver. I was not thrilled with the sound at all.

I purchased a Cambridge audio Azur 551p preamp from amazon and the sound was like night and day compared to the internal preamp in the AT. I was finally as happy as I could be with the sound I was getting with my equipment at the time. Much warmer, and louder as well.

That pretty much covers it. There are a few internal mods you can do to the AT-120 but you need to be pretty technical and good with a soldering iron as you've seen in the youtube video.

 

As BigWaveDave says using a better external phono stage will work wonders and yes removing the on board one is one of the mods but for where you are at the moment just switching it off is good enough, unless you have a really high end system you won't hear the difference removing it gives you.

 

You don't say what your receiver and speakers are so I can't comment on them but the basics of the AT-120 are pretty good and it's a big step up from the AT-60.

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Thanks A ton allenh  and Dave. Pretty much the answer i was looking for. The other stuff as far as the receiver and speaker goes are pretty low end.  Like I said, a friend bought us everything as a wedding present and kinda skipped out on the quality of the other parts. So my issue was I cant really go and change out the speakers and receiver just yet, because if he sees that I ditched them when he's over our place it would look pretty bad. It's a Sherwood rx4109 receiver and Cerwin Vega speakers that ran just over $100. So thats why I'm trying to see if i can atleast make the sound better with a preamp before replacing the speakers and such. I at least have to wait a while to do so. But after seeing the preamp removal videos i wasn't sure if it was THAT important or if i could just switch the preamp off, use an independent one and get a noticeably different sound

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Your receiver doesn't seem too bad as far as startups go. Just the fact that its a two channel receiver means it probably sounds better than the fancy schmancy Marantz Surround sound receiver I was using at the time.The Speakers could be a whole other story though as i'm not too familiar with Cerwin Vega. I was using the marantz along with Pioneer SP-BS21-LR speakers which can be purchased for $100-$125 for the pair.

 

 The setup I had definitely sounded much better with the Preamp I bought. I'm actually thinking about selling it. I currently have no use for it and don't see myself needing it anytime in the near future. If you are interested shoot me a message.

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You'll get the best sound out of the AT-LP120 by turning off the built-in pre-amp and using the phono stage on your receiver (I believe the Sherwood rx4109 has one). If that's still bland, check out an external phono stage, as suggested. The setup you have is very competent and should sound like a reasonable step up from MP3s and such, in my opinion.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have the same player but my speakers(gift) are KRK rokit 6.

 

still using the buitl in pre amp

 

Need help getting a pre amp/receiver. The pre amp listed early sounds great and affordable.

 

I have a vintage pioneer sx750 reciever and didn't know if this would work well in my setup.

 

I have always been into music and have always been terrible with audio technical needs and terms.

 

Any help is appreciated

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I have the same player but my speakers(gift) are KRK rokit 6.

 

still using the buitl in pre amp

 

Need help getting a pre amp/receiver. The pre amp listed early sounds great and affordable.

 

I have a vintage pioneer sx750 reciever and didn't know if this would work well in my setup.

 

I have always been into music and have always been terrible with audio technical needs and terms.

 

Any help is appreciated

 

The SX750 has a phono stage built in which will be far better than the one in the AT120 so turn off the on board phono stage on the At120 and plug it into the phono connections on the reciever, don't forget the ground connection and provided your Pioneer is electrically in good condition if you pair it with a decent pair of speakers you should get a very nice analogue sound from it all.

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I take it you just wired the AT120 into the powered speakers before?

 

If so it sounds like you have amplified speakers and to use your Pioneer or any normal hifi amplifier or receiver you would use normal un powered speakers which use the amplifier inside the Pioneer

 

If your speakers have a volume control which I suspect they have one way you can use your existing speakers is you can wire the speakers to the tape 1 output and that will mean you are just using the Pioneer as a phono stage. make sure you turn the speaker switch to off and you might need to try different positions on the duplicate and tape/source switches as i'm unsure if the Pioneer switches it's tape outputs at all.

 

Have a read of the beginner thread as all the differences between amplified and non amplified speakers and between the all the amplifier types are explained there quite a few times but basically in your system the power amplifier (the bit that makes all the noise) is in your speakers and with your Pioneer in your receiver but basically you can't wire two power amplifiers together in line unless you want to make smoke.

 

I haven't heard your amplified speakers so I may be wrong on this but if you had a decent pair of normal speakers that Pioneer would probably produce a nicer warmer sound than your amplified speakers.

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Yes as of now the table goes right into the speakers.

What I'm trying to do is work with both peices of equipment. The krk speakers are really nice and were a gift, and the pioneer receiver was my dads and looks really cool.

All this to say from the beginning it's never been my intention to use the built in am of my player.

I'll try and mess around with the configuration and see if they can go into the tape deck or something.

I will say this that it's current setup makes music sound really great and that's all thanks to the speakers. I know I could get a much better sound without the built in pre amp.

I guess if it comes down to it I would have to purchase some sort if setup with a phono pre amp / receiver / whatever it takes to get it going.

If you think I'm wasting my time let me know, but the speakers are killer. Whatever it takes to keep those in the mix.

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No you are not wasting your time and it's all a learning process, have a bit of fun with it, just wire it up as I've described with the speakers being driven from the tape out connections and that should work. Provided it's working as it should the phono stage inside the Pioneer should be better than that inside the AT-120.

 

Your opinion of what sounds good is influenced by the amount of different bits of equipment you hear and as long as you like the sound that's all that matters really, your ears are always the best judge but until you hear enough the best is usually the last thing you heard until you hear something better and high cost and or a good name doesn't always mean better.

 

As a general rule a separate amplifier and un powered speakers will sound better than powered speakers of similar quality because putting it simply power supplies are generally electrically noisy and you want the power supply as far away from the speakers as possible not inside them. That does also apply to your receiver as putting a radio inside the same box as the amplifier isn't exactly a good idea either but companies make both for convenience and convenience and high quality sound very rarely go together.

 

That does of course depend on the relative qualities and condition of the equipment you listen to which is why I say the more you different equipment you listen to the better informed your opinion will be.

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