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Contributor I
July 21, 2017

Turntable > Amp > Sonos

  • July 21, 2017
  • 13 replies
  • 1145 views
I have a Technics turntable, and a Kenwood KR- a56R Stereo Receiver. I would like to get this hooked up to the sonos system in my house. A couple of questions, this is assuming I need to buy the CONNECT:

- There is not a "Line Out" or even RCA Out option on my reciever. The ONLY out options are to Speakers, and are the old Speaker wire types. Do I connect the Speaker Out to the CONNECT? In order to do this, I will need Speaker Wire to RCA adaptation I am assuming.

- DO I lose quality here? I.E. the Receiver has multiple Speaker Out terminal spots. If I only connect 1 "speaker out" to the CONNECT, do I lose the stereo effect?

- What would be the best speaker set up for this arrangement? Currently in that room, I have a Sound Bar (for the TV) and 2 PLAY 1 speakers (Surround) and a subwoofer. Should I add a 5th?


Thanks!
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13 replies

July 21, 2017
Why do you also have the Kenwood and its speakers in the same room? I ask because you could just wire the TT to a Connect and have the music be conveyed wirelessly to Sonos kit in that room.
Contributor I
July 21, 2017
The Kenwood amp/reciever is needed to get the Turntable phono-level sound up to Line-level. I don't think a Connect will do this? Most everyone I have talked to says you need either a pre-amp or Amp in between the TT and the CONNECT...Is that not true?

List of Equipment in the room:
Turntable
Kenwood Amp/Reciever
(CONNECT, not yet purchased)
Sonos Sound Bar
Sonos Subwoofer
2 Sonos PLay 1 Speakers
July 21, 2017
The Kenwood amp/reciever is needed to get the Turntable phono-level sound up to Line-level. I don't think a Connect will do this? Most everyone I have talked to says you need either a pre-amp or Amp in between the TT and the CONNECT...Is that not true?

Yes, the signal from the TT does need to be boosted to line level to suit Connect. It seems that the Kenwood has this, but it doesn't have an output suitable for the Connect, just for speakers and this is NOT suitable for Connect - you will damage the Connect if you wire speaker terminals on the receiver to the Connect.

You will need a dedicated phono preamp sitting between the TT and the Connect. The good news is that these are quite cheap now, and of a very small footprint and you can get rid of the Kenwood if there is no other use for it than as a phone pre amp. The phono amp will take in signals from the TT as input and deliver line level output to the Connect.

See this for general information as well: https://en.community.sonos.com/music-services-and-sources-228994/using-a-turntable-with-sonos-6769426

In particular, the first few posts there about things like compression and line in settings.
chicks
July 21, 2017
Google search shows it has two tape loops. Use one of them to connect to a Connect.
July 21, 2017
Tape out would allow the receiver to be used as an oversized phono amp for sure. It may even serve more uses if you have other sources to connect to it, like a CD player that some insist on also having.
Contributor I
August 2, 2017
Thanks both of you! Just to confirm-- connect the Tape: Recording Out to the Sonos Connect. This will not sacrifice quality or damage the Sonos Connect. Thanks again
Lyricist I
July 9, 2018
It seems like trying to use a Sonos with an analog TT would kill the sound of the analog TT. You would be converting the analog signal to a digital sample, thus undermining the sound quality of the TT. No?

I have a high end TT, pre-amp and receiver. The lure of a wireless speaker system is strong but I'm concerned that I'll turn my TT into something that sounds like a crappy, over-compressed digital stream.....
jgatie
July 9, 2018
It seems like trying to use a Sonos with an analog TT would kill the sound of the analog TT. You would be converting the analog signal to a digital sample, thus undermining the sound quality of the TT. No?

I have a high end TT, pre-amp and receiver. The lure of a wireless speaker system is strong but I'm concerned that I'll turn my TT into something that sounds like a crappy, over-compressed digital stream.....


Not at all. If you set the Line-In to uncompressed, it will be a lossless A->D conversion, meaning all of the original analog signal will be preserved. The "audiophile" notion that digital is somehow inferior to analog, or that digital gives you a "stairstep" estimate of the original analog, is utter nonsense.

Fact is, digital is capable of capturing any analog signal from 0 Hz to 22 KHz (far beyond the limits of human hearing) and reproducing it exactly as it was originally played, within the limitations of playback equipment. With audio, sampling is not an estimation of the original, it is the original. See this video by Monty Montgomery of Xiph.org (the makers of FLAC) for an explanation why this is so:

Contributor I
July 9, 2018
You could get a ConnectAMP instead to replace the receiver, only this is you would have to get a pre-amp too so it would essentially look like this: TT (Phono Out) --> (Phono In) PreAmp (Line Out) --> (Line In) ConnectAMP (Speaker Wire Out) --> Speakers
jgatie
July 9, 2018
You could get a ConnectAMP instead to replace the receiver, only this is you would have to get a pre-amp too so it would essentially look like this: TT (Phono Out) --> (Phono In) PreAmp (Line Out) --> (Line In) ConnectAMP (Speaker Wire Out) --> Speakers

A Connect:Amp is also going to digitize the signal, it is still a ADC to DAC signal path. But as stated above, that is no deterioration of the audio if you choose uncompressed for the Line-In settings.