I have a very nice but old Yamaha turntable and a Pro-Ject S2 preamp. Just for kicks I’d thought I’d connect them to a pair of Play:5 speakers working as a stereo pair. I’ll use an 3.5mm to RCA cable to connect the speakers to the preamp.
Both the preamp and the Sonos speakers have gain settings. Any advice on what to use? The Yamaha has a MM cartridge.
All tips are welcome.
Which model cartridge are you using? In general the gain should be set such that the level is compatible as you switch sources. In any case there should be no distortion on peak passages.
Great question, thanks. I’m using an Ortofon 2M Blue.
I am rocking an Ortofon Blue through a port input. Works and sounds great. Biggest thing to get used to is the slight delay introduced for buffering. We play through the house. I don’t have gain setting for my built in preamp, though, so can’t comment on that.
I think the line-in also has a volume setting, seen it mentioned here but don't recall the advice. Maybe check the turntable group?
Try mid-range to start, higher if volume is low or lower if sou d is distorted.
I think the line-in also has a volume setting, seen it mentioned here but don't recall the advice. Maybe check the turntable group?
Try mid-range to start, higher if volume is low or lower if sou d is distorted.
Yep. I have the input set to 8. Anything higher gets distorted.
If you like the sound of the Play 5’s in their current configuration you should be OK with the sound from the turntable. You will have to play the volume slightly higher. Not louder compared to other digital listening; but higher in terms of hearing the analog sound at the same comfortable level. For example, if a comfortable listening level is 3 the turntable level may be 4 to achieve a similar sound stage. This has nothing to do with setting the line-level in the Sonos app for pick-up by the stylus.
I’m getting plenty of treble but nearly no bass. Must be a RIAA preamp settings issue. I will be fiddling with the multiple switches on the Pro-Ject S2 RIAA to fix it. Will report back when I’m satisfied.
Haha total schoolboy error on my part. The RIAA switching was fine. I hadn’t plugged in the 3.5mm cable fully into the Play:5! So it was giving a stereo signal but without any bass. Worth mentioning here in case anybody experiences the same issue.
So the settings for the Ortofon Red 2M (not Blue as I mentioned before, but the settings are the same):
40 dB gain (I also tried 43 dB but it only created distortion)
47 ohm impedance
220 pF capacitance (the Ortofon 2M series needs 200 pF but the Phono Box gives 220 pF
The Sonos Play:5 Source Level is set to 2 (A/V component) and increasing it doesn’t improve the sound.
Thanks for all your help - LMK if you have any questions.
Having fiddled with the Source Level, I agree with the above statement by wds0001 that level 8 is crackingly good. I turned off the Loudness switch.
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