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Vinyl question - Connect vs Connect Amp

  • 2 December 2018
  • 9 replies
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Apologies as this is the second vinyl question I’m asking in less than a week, but I recently received some conflicting information from a friend vs. what I read on here last week...

I have an existing Sonos setup with (playbar, sub, and 2 play 1s). I want to introduce a turntable to the mix and know I need get a connect or a connect amp with a line-in. I want to use my existing Sonos speakers only and have no external speakers to add. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but in the above scenario I should be fine with just the connect, as I don’t need an amp? Is that correct. My friend is telling me I still need the amp to get the “right sound”, but I don’t think he’s right

Also, any recommendations on a great turntable that won’t break the bank? Thank you all again!
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Best answer by Chris 2 December 2018, 16:28

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I think where they are confused in that you may need a pre-amp on the turntable (not a Sonos unit for that)

You will want to get a Connect.

But if your turntable doesn’t have a built in ore-amp you need to buy a phono pre-amp ( NOT a Sonos amp / connect:amp which would not serve this function - they are for amplifying speakers)
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Apologies as this is the second vinyl question I’m asking in less than a week, but I recently received some conflicting information from a friend vs. what I read on here last week...

I have an existing Sonos setup with (playbar, sub, and 2 play 1s). I want to introduce a turntable to the mix and know I need get a connect or a connect amp with a line-in. I want to use my existing Sonos speakers only and have no external speakers to add. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but in the above scenario I should be fine with just the connect, as I don’t need an amp? Is that correct. My friend is telling me I still need the amp to get the “right sound”, but I don’t think he’s right

Also, any recommendations on a great turntable that won’t break the bank? Thank you all again!


Thank you for confirming the connect. I am aware of the pre-amp, thank you. Can you recommend a turntable by any chance? Thank you
Userlevel 7
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Audio technica and pro-ject both make a turntable with preamp built in.
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I pretty much have this same set up:

1x playbar
1x sonos sub
2x play 1
1x connect

I currently have my turntable running to the phono pre-amp and the through the connect out to the Sonos speakers. I am actually wondering if there is any benefit of adding the actual Sonos Amp (or any other third-party amp for that matter) given that the speakers themselves are active? Anyone have thoughts on this topic?

Thanks!
Zero benefit of adding the CONNECT:AMP, or Sonos Amp, if the speakers are already powered. The line-in process would be exactly the same on the CONNECT versus those two. The benefit you would get from those two would be an amp to power speakers that don't have their own power source.
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Zero benefit of adding the CONNECT:AMP, or Sonos Amp, if the speakers are already powered. The line-in process would be exactly the same on the CONNECT versus those two. The benefit you would get from those two would be an amp to power speakers that don't have their own power source.

Interesting. I initially thought there may be a sound quality benefit to running it through a separate, dedicated amp prior to casting it out to the speakers.

Thanks for the reply.
The output from either one is an analog signal. Since your speakers are already powered, why would you want to add another power process, even if it would be digital? In the case of using a CONNECT:AMP or Sonos Amp, you wouldn't be using the "amp" part of it, and just using the output, which would be exactly the same as it would be on a CONNECT.

Am I misunderstanding your question? Are you asking if you should use non-powered speakers with a CONNECT:AMP or Sonos Amp instead of powered speakers? That's a very different question.

Perhaps I'm not understanding what you mean by "active" when you talk about speakers. In my parlance, that means that they are powered on their own, and only require a line level input, i.e. the amp that is used is onboard.
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The output from either one is an analog signal. Since your speakers are already powered, why would you want to add another power process, even if it would be digital? In the case of using a CONNECT:AMP or Sonos Amp, you wouldn't be using the "amp" part of it, and just using the output, which would be exactly the same as it would be on a CONNECT.

Am I misunderstanding your question? Are you asking if you should use non-powered speakers with a CONNECT:AMP or Sonos Amp instead of powered speakers? That's a very different question.

Perhaps I'm not understanding what you mean by "active" when you talk about speakers. In my parlance, that means that they are powered on their own, and only require a line level input, i.e. the amp that is used is onboard.


Thanks Bruce very helpful. You understood the question, I think the confusion was in my own lack of knowledge of the built in amp.

Thanks,
No worries at all, just a matter of making sure that you and I have the same thing in mind when we're talking. I don't want/mean to mislead you in anyway. 🙂