The location of your turntable can also aid in the reduction of electrical noise during playback.
What is the definition of interference? Excess noise during playback, such as a buzz, hum, or static sound, is a sign of interference. Remember that analog audio sources, such as turntables, will never be as quiet as digital audio sources. If you raise up the volume when there is no music playing, you will always hear some amount of hum/buzz (this is called the analog noise floor). However, if you notice noise when listening to music, you should try to separate your turntable from common electrical noise sources.
What can you do to avoid it? Place the turntable at least a few feet away from electrical gadgets, particularly those that use a lot of electricity or have wireless transmitters. Typical offenders include televisions, routers, cordless phones, and even light dimmers. It’s also crucial to avoid running your RCA wires across or near power cables or adapters.
Another reason to keep your turntable away from your powered speakers is because the transformers in amps and powered speakers create noise. Because the transformer is usually on the left side of most stereo receivers, placing the turntable on the right side is preferable. We strongly advise against placing your turntable on top of your receiver, as this might generate buzz and restrict appropriate airflow to your receiver.
Can you put things on top of receiver?
It’s possible that it’ll overheat. If there is enough open space, the receiver is designed to vent heat. Blocking the vents could cause overheating, especially with today’s hot receivers.
Where should I put my record player?
Let’s start with the most important component, the turntable. Getting this right from the start may save you a lot of time and frustration from having to constantly shift things around your space, so follow the tips below to avoid any needless issues.
Stability Is Key
First and foremost, you must locate a stable, hefty, and level surface on which to place your record player. To avoid tracking issues while your records are spinning and tonearm friction, make sure your turntable is set up on a flat and level surface. As a result, your records and record player components will survive much longer, and the sound quality will improve.
The purpose of a robust and hefty surface is to reduce the impact of vibrations and other factors that can degrade sound quality. Your record player and tonearm – which is designed to take up vibrations from the record when it spins – will be less likely to pick up undesired vibrations from whatever surface the record player is on if it is on a firm surface. A fantastic example of a good surface is an Ikea kallax unit, which also serves as a great piece of furniture for storing your vinyl.
Bad Vibrations
It’s not simply vibrations from a fragile surface that can harm your record player; you also need to be sure the record player isn’t malfunctioning. Aside from a basic range, most record players employ their own suspension and mass to dampen undesirable vibrations. The mass keeps the record player stable and in one spot, but the suspension allows for a small amount of movement to prevent undesired vibrations from reaching the music.
If your record player doesn’t already have isolator feet, you can add these to strengthen the stability of your record player to the surface it sits on. These are often metal studded or rubber discs that you may insert beneath the four corners of your record player to improve vibration stability.
Can you put center speaker on top of receiver?
I understand that you want to do what’s easiest, but covering those vents and allowing it to overheat could cause long-term damage to your receiver. You only need a little shelf or something to allow air to circulate around the receiver.
Is it OK to stack amplifiers?
Some audiophiles despise the technique, while others enjoy it; however, should you stack your hi-fi? Is it the case, and if so, how?
Terminology in the hi-fi industry can be amusing at times. For decades, some names and descriptions have been used. Because of the constant change in how we listen to music, some network players, such as our CXN and 851N, are frequently referred to as’streaming/DAC Preamps,’ integrating the features of several separate units.
The term ‘stack system’ appears to be becoming less and less popular. It alluded to the ability of different devices to be stacked on top of one another to conserve space while forming a powerful “tower of power” with your gear. Although the term has lost favor with the general public, it has had no effect on the ability of equipment to stack on top of one another. Should you do it, though, is a valid question. What should you be on the lookout for if you do?
In our scenario, we make each of our individual units capable of supporting more weight than it can bear on its own. Because our units are usually very large, placing each one on its own surface isn’t always a possibility. We constantly make sure that our equipment distributes its weight equally, so that when it’s stacked, it doesn’t put an uneven load on the ground. We also make sure that the feet on our items have a soft foundation so that they don’t scratch the surface they’re on. They’re also highly sticky, so equipment shouldn’t slide about.
So, within reason (we’ll get to that later…), you can stack your equipment on top of each other safely. However, there are a few more things you should be aware of. The first is your amplifier, or the power amp portion if you’re utilizing a separate pre and power amplifier. We wouldn’t recommend placing items on top of the amplifier because it has to be able to vent any heat it generates while in use. We recommend that the amplifier/power amplifier be positioned on top of any electronics stack, whether you’re using our equipment or components from another brand.
However, because the amplifier is typically the heaviest component in most systems, the amount of gear that should be placed beneath an amp in a stack is limited. We recommend using no more than two units underneath an amplifier as a rule of thumb, as the bottom unit will be carrying a significant amount of weight by this time (which is what we meant when we said ‘within reason’ earlier). This rule of three becomes less significant if the amp may be stacked next to the other gear.
If you have the space, keeping equipment separate from one another will always yield the best results. A separate equipment rack will improve the performance of your equipment while also removing any stacking height limits. Why does a rack provide these advantages? The basic answer is that it allows you to isolate any piece of equipment you own, which can be really advantageous. Many types of equipment can emit a significant amount of energy from their power supplies, which might cause damage to more sensitive equipment nearby.
If everything is on its own shelf, each unit will be able to work in complete isolation from the others, with no danger of interference influencing their performance. This isolation is especially important for highly sensitive instruments like turntables, which are also sensitive to vibration and any degrees of lean exerted on them. Your cabling can also be organized in a much more neat and orderly manner. Furthermore, rack-based systems are a LOT easier to dust….
Finally, if you need to save a little space, you’re fully covered. Keep your amp on top and stack your gear wisely, and you’ll be able to enjoy your gear for a long time without having to replace it. If you can switch to an equipment rack, you’ll get some additional performance and aesthetic benefits. There are heated arguments for and against CD players being placed at the bottom of a stacked system, but we don’t believe it makes a significant difference. On that one, we’ll let you decide! Although the term “stack systems” has fallen out of favor, you still have the capability if you need it.
So, do you have a stack or do you don’t have a stack? Leave a comment below and tell us how you store your hi-fi system.
Can you stack preamps?
Perhaps one of your preamps failed to enhance your signal sufficiently to make it audible. Alternatively, you might choose to combine the tones of several preamps to create a unique sound. Can you use two preamps for any reason?
Two preamps can be used as long as the gain on the preamps is balanced to ensure that the audio signal does not clip or distort. You can combine the two tones together by connecting the preamps in series or parallel. To avoid damage, make sure not to feed phantom power from the second preamp into the first.
Using numerous preamps is a popular topic of discussion. The idea of mixing two or more preamps in a single chain is fraught with misconceptions. However, if done correctly, there’s nothing wrong with employing two preamps.
Is it bad to put speakers next to turntable?
Speakers and record players are malfunctioning. A record player’s job is to read minuscule vibrations in the vinyl groove, and in order to do so effectively, the turntable must be completely steady and free of external vibration. If you place speakers close or on the same shelf as your record player, the vibrations from the speakers will interfere with the record player’s ability to perform. As a result, attempt to place your turntable on something tiny and away from the speakers, and your speakers on stands or wall brackets.
Does a turntable have to be level?
For better or worse, the difference between your turntable playing wonderful and sounding like a bag of spanners is razor-thin – at times irritatingly so. Any deck, whether it’s a $40 eBay impulse buy or several thousand dollars of high-end engineering, won’t provide what it can if it’s a few millimetres off level, has a cartridge slightly out of line, or is tracking a gramme out either way.
The good news is that, aside from your time, properly setting up a turntable does not have to be expensive. To ensure that your deck performs to its greatest potential, all you have to do is work carefully and attentively. So, here’s a quick rundown on how to optimize your turntable’s performance:
There are numerous aspects to turntable setup, but one that is vitally critical to their effectiveness is the surface they are mounted on. When vinyl is placed on an uneven surface, it is extremely sensitive. The effect of an angled platter varies significantly depending on your turntable, but it is unlikely to be advantageous. The position of the motor in relation to the gradient can cause pitch instability with belt drive designs, and the ‘flywheel’ effect used by heavier turntables can be disrupted. This can then be heard as a wow effect in the audio signal. Extremely radical angles of lean can cause excessive wear on your records, but keep in mind that this will only happen at extremely extreme angles of attack.
The solution to this, unlike any other component of the setup in this article, does not require any adjustments to the turntable (with one inescapable exception I’ll address later). If the deck isn’t level, even if it has adjustable feet or other means of leveling it, you should try to level the surface the turntable is on before adjusting the deck. If you’re using an equipment rack or anything similar, make sure it’s all level. If the turntable is on a shelf that isn’t level, you’ll either have to do it yourself or accept your limitations and get someone to do it for you.
A turntable with suspension that suspends the platter is an exception to this rule. If your plinth or chassis is level but your platter isn’t, you’ll need to use the turntable’s suspension to level the platter.
The outer world has an effect on turntables. To put it simply, if you have a suspended floor and bound across it to your deck, your stylus is likely to jump. The effect of your speakers and other external sources of vibration on your equipment will affect performance on a smaller scale. Because the signal from a cartridge is so little, any additional noise recorded by the stylus as a result of unintentional movement is highly undesirable.
A wall shelf is the most foolproof way to get rid of this obstruction (provided of course you have paid attention to the first section and fitted it level). The turntable will be effectively separated from the rest of your system if it is connected to a solid wall. If you are unable to do so, you have a number of additional possibilities. For separating the deck from the rest of your electronics, a basic isolation platform will work wonders. Any solid material with flexible feet that provides the necessary isolation will do the trick. Take two paving slabs and a bicycle inner tube as the ultimate representation of this. Use the inner tube to separate the two slabs after inflating it. While the end result is rarely attractive, it is always effective. If all of this seems a little excessive, Vibropod feet, which cost $6 apiece, can work miracles. Outside forces have less of an impact on heavyweight and suspended decks, but it is extremely unusual that isolation has a negative impact.
A tonearm’s job is to move the cartridge over the record while also applying the proper amount of tracking force. Although this force is rarely extremely high—the great majority of cartridges require no more than two or three grams to function—it is crucial to get this weight right. If you set it too low, the cartridge will not track correctly, and the sound will be thin and weak. If you turn it up too loud, the sound will become dull and muddy. If the weight is off by a significant amount, you risk harming or breaking the cartridge’s suspension.
If your turntable came with a cartridge already installed, this shouldn’t be a problem, but if you’re changing the cartridge or putting together a turntable for the first time, you’ll want to double-check your weights. You’ll need a stylus gauge to execute this with great precision. This functions as a little pair of scales, allowing you to determine the exact weight of the stylus. The counterweight at the back of the arm is moved to vary the weight. Unfortunately, ‘near enough’ isn’t going to cut it in this situation. If the cartridge calls for a certain weight, it should be set to that weight rather than a close approximation. Some cartridge makers provide a stylus gauge with their models, but the Shure SFG-2, which has been around for eons and will last you a lifetime, costs $30.
A cartridge is angled to move across the record in a tangent in order to sit correctly in the groove of the record. While the end of the arm is inclined to put you on the correct lines—and again, if the turntable comes with a pre-fitted cart, it will be aligned—if you are installing one for the first time, you will need to line it up. The good news is that practically every protractor for any deck and arm may be downloaded. If in doubt, ask the manufacturer which alignment method they prefer and whether they advocate using a protractor.
Alignment is a topic that elicits strangely heated debate, with proponents of one system frequently alleging that alternative methods are compromises or faulty in some way. The reality is that all methods are compromises in order to keep distortion to a minimum, so choose the one that works best for you and your equipment. Take your time and double-check that the cart is properly aligned; your records and ears will appreciate it.
The vertical tracking angle—the height of the arm above the record—can and should be adjusted on turntables and tonearms built to handle a range of cartridges—to ensure that it is a consistent height from front to back. Changing the angle at which the stylus touches the record, depending on whether the arm is tail up or tail down, will change the bass and treble. The amount of adjustment that an arm allows for varies, so verify the size of the cart and make sure you can reach the necessary elevation on the arm if you’re matching an arm and a cartridge.
For a newcomer, all of this may appear to be very scary, yet each step is rational and straightforward. Don’t rush, don’t lose your cool, and don’t scrimp on quality. The good news is that once you’ve done the labor, most turntables tend to stay there, and I promise you that the difference between a properly configured turntable and one that’s been strewn about should be enough to make you want to put in the effort to get the most out of what you’ve got.
