Question

Vinyl Volume on Sonos Play 5

  • 14 June 2017
  • 5 replies
  • 1765 views

Hello!
I purchased a Sonos Play 5 to match up with my new UTurn Orbit turntable with built in pre-amp.

When playing apple music or other digital music through my Sonos, the sound is about twice as loud as when I play a record. Ie the record at full volume is about the same as 50/60% volume for the digital music. Even if i switch back and forth between record and digital for the exact same song it is not the same sound level.

This is my first turntable - is that normal?

The details of the preamp are here: https://uturnaudio.com/products/pluto-phono-preamp

I appreciate any guidance & wisdom! thanks,
Chris

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5 replies

See this, in particular the first post on line in settings: https://en.community.sonos.com/music-services-and-sources-228994/using-a-turntable-with-sonos-6769426/index1.html.

The pre amp is one of those mentioned in the post, so it should not exhibit what you are seeing, it isn't normal.
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
I second Kumar's suggestion. I have the Line-In Source Level set to '10' (High) for my TEAC TN-300 turntable. That provides plenty of volume.
Hi and thanks both of you. Appreciate your comments. I have also line 10. it sounds louder at line 10, but the volume between digital is still quite significant. Any other ideas?
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
No other ideas, other than perhaps inserting some amplification between the turntable and the Sonos input. Is the turntable volume level actually inadequate for your needs?
Userlevel 5
Badge +3
Hi and thanks both of you. Appreciate your comments. I have also line 10. it sounds louder at line 10, but the volume between digital is still quite significant. Any other ideas?

Hey ckone - Welcome to the community. I also own a U-Turn Orbit, albeit I don't have the model with a built-in pre-amp, so it's nice to see someone else with one here on the forum. I checked the specs for their turntables that do have a built-in pre-amp and saw that the pre-amp can be turned on/off. Can you confirm that the pre-amp is enabled when you're experiencing this issue?

With that being said, there is normally going to be a bit of a difference between volume levels. This is due to albums being mastered differently for vinyl than they are for digital mediums. The same album may have been mastered for several different formats and might sound different from format to format. There's been a lot of discussion about this topic for a few decades that it's affectionately become referred to as "Loudness war."