I recently got a Numark TT200 Turntable to play in my appartment but I can't seem to get it hooked in to the system. The amp I am using is an Onkyo suround sound system which does not have a phono jack. I have tried the table in the cd and tape and other jack in, but have not had any luck. I can get a small amount of sound from the record if I turn it way up, with allot of hiss. Is it necessary to have a preamp for such a table? Is there a specific difference in a phono jack to a tape jack? thanks for your help.
A tape input is meant for a line level input. A phono input should provide you with an additional pre amplifciation stage which will boost the signal from your phono cratridge and provide RIAA equalization. You can buy an outboard phono pre amp and add it to your system. Look through this section of the forum and you will find this question repeated over and over again with suggestions for where to buy phono pre amps.