I'm very much a newbie. I have just recently moved out into my first apartment, and brought my old SHARP 3 CD changer minisystem with me. I know it's a crummy way to listen to music, but I can't afford a decent system yet.
Anyhow, my question: I picked up an old turntable (Technics SL-BD20) at a garage sale. It appears to be in fine working order. The problem arises when I connect my turntable to the minisystem, the volume emitting from the speakers is entirely too quiet.
Now from searching this forum, I'm assuming I'm missing out on the phono pre-amp you guys keep talking about. Is this something I can pick up at a used electronics store for a relatively inexpensive price? What should I look for? Eventually I'll buy a proper system, but for now I just want to listen to Dark Side of the Moon.
Any thoughts? Sorry, I'm sure you get this sort of question a lot, but I haven't found any applicable responses yet.
Yes, you need a phono pre amp. You can find receivers with phono sections in pawn shops and so forth but you are unlikely to find a phono section only. You can check the used equipment sections of places like Audiogon but these are probably going to be more expensive than you need or want. Put "phono pre amp" into a search engine and you can find some inexpensive models beginning at $30 or so.