Affordable phono preamps for vinyl restoration?

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resolectric
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Post by resolectric »

mhschmieder wrote:Didn't Adobe Audition get a bad review recently for its restoration stuff; in particular its denoising component? Maybe that was here in this forum on one of the audio restoration topics vs. in a magazine. ...
That's quite natural.
Everything gets bad reviews every now and then.

If it fits the bill i'll give it a good review then.
Why?
Because i know how to use it's denoising component, wich, by the way, is awesome.

Adobe Audition = 5 stars.
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mhschmieder
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Post by mhschmieder »

Is it available for the Mac? Adobe has gone back and forth with some of its apps over the past few years. I think Premiere was the one that went Windows-only but is now back on the Mac?
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Post by wvandyck »

airtime wrote:As an experiment I dragged out my 27 year-old Technics SL-1800 turntable with Shure M95ED cartridge and connected the outputs to the fully turned up Mic/Guitar preamp inputs on my 828Mk2 (BLA mods) with no RIAA preamp in the chain. I recorded some tunes from a Missing Persons LP that printed at about -12 to -18 dBfs and sounded thin and tinny, as expected. Then I inserted an instance of the MOTU 2 band Parametric EQ and dialed in an approximation of the RIAA eq curve as compared with a version of the curve I found on a website. The result? Surprisingly good, although still lacking in overall gain. Adding 20dB of gain with a Trim insert after the Parametric EQ made it all good. If i knew how to attach an image to this post I'd show you the parametric settings.

No RIAA phono preamp is needed at all!
Wayne[/img]
Thanks for posting this.
I had given some thought to trying this out given the types of plug-ins at my disposal.

Right now there are many options to go with, and I'm not really which is the best for my intended use.

Your method is definitely priced right :D :D :D

To post an image, it has to be uploaded somewhere on line. You click the Img button, then drag the image from another web page open to the image. Click the Img button again. Result below.

You could PM me so you could attach the image to an email. Then I'll post it here.

Image
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Post by mhschmieder »

I just looked up the latest release of Adobe Audtion and it's still Windows-only, but only costs $349.

Several people on the KVR forum seem to prefer it to RX in terms of bang-for-buck, when ignoring the recent $199 promotional.

RX is still adding features and documentation.

If you go an all-software approach, be careful which order you apply the gain and the RIAA inverse EQ.
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Post by wvandyck »

mhschmieder wrote: If you go an all-software approach, be careful which order you apply the gain and the RIAA inverse EQ.
Can you be more specific about this?

A software approach may be the answer for the time being.

This thread has exposed me to some options I hadn't considered before: Audacity, the Gram Amp 2 SE (and Gram Amp 1), and the Denon DP-DJ150.

The dilema is that I'm not seeking out 'new' vinyl at this point. There are about 400 pieces available here at the house and my wife's parents home close by. I'm not sure how far I plan to go with vinyl restoration. Obtaining RX was a no-brainer. It's quite possible in time I may go with a Gram Amp to complement my current turntable, or go with a new turntable with a built-in preamp compatible with 78s and all the necessary connectivity options. So until I'm very clear on my plans, the less spent the better.

This has really been an informative thread with many new bookmarks as a result.
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Post by wvandyck »

So here's airtimes rendition of the RIAA curve:

Image
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Post by airtime »

thanks, flash!

wayne
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Post by airtime »

perhaps that's RIAA with a bit of IEC enhancement, eh?
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Post by mhschmieder »

Feel free to extract and wordsmith my PM's once you have a bit more clarity on your approach. It might prove useful to others, but I didn't want to sidetrack the topic once it switched over to talking about the software plug-ins.
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Eugenio Upright, 60th Ann P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35
D'angelico Bari, Dano 56 Bari, Select Strat/Tele, Am Pro Jazzmaster, Johhny Marr Jag, 57 LP, G5422-12
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Post by wvandyck »

mhschmieder wrote:Feel free to extract and wordsmith my PM's once you have a bit more clarity on your approach. It might prove useful to others, but I didn't want to sidetrack the topic once it switched over to talking about the software plug-ins.
I'll do that. You offered some very valuable points and information to consider.
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Post by wvandyck »

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airtime
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Post by airtime »

i'm totally EQed. not to mention phase shifted. it feels so . . .
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Post by vier-personen »

I didn‘t read the whole thread so I might be OT already, but I recently bought this fairly cheap phono preamp (70•‚¬), and I am satisfied with it:

http://www.project-audio.com/main.php?p ... es&lang=en
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Post by Phil O »

flashgerkin wrote: Light Reading. (Yeah right!)
Good stuff! Thanks for the links.

Phil
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Post by wvandyck »

airtime wrote:i'm totally EQed. not to mention phase shifted. it feels so . . .
I thought I might come across an easy to read chart from which to plot the curve. No such luck.

You actually nailed it down very well.
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