Ok Record Lovers. I am doing a dedicated Living room with a U-Turn turntable. I wanted to start a dedicated post just for this. So the customer was deciding weather or not to display the record player or have it will the a/v closet. The closet idea was going to be cool because she was going to do glass doors with LED lighting to display record player and all of her collection. She has now decided to have a location in the living room to display record player.

We are going to try a new company called Uturn audio.
[Link: store.uturnaudio.com]
they are built with MDF but sprayed with acrylic to help with humidity.

They also have a Pre-amp available
[Link: store.uturnaudio.com]

She wants to have custom cabinets build to hold her records and put the Turntable on display in the living room.

The rest of the home is pretty simple. Total control system with 3 zones of Sonos and 2 surround sound rooms.

She wants the record player to be able to be a source to sonos.

I would like to have a dedicated amplifier in the cabinet with 2 bookshelf speakers dedicated to the record player. I want to hide a sonos amp that will power one of the other zones in the home in the cabinet as well so I don't have to extend any signal over extenders back to the rack and be able to connect the amplifiers output to the sonos.

What modern looking good sounding dedicated amplifier would you recommend? Does it have phono pre-amp? Or will I have to use a Pre-amp listed above/ or something similar?
The amp will have to have an output for the record player to be a source to sonos.

Plan to use phase tech speakers. Something like this
[Link: phasetech.com]

Super excited about this. Please help with your ideas

I could be wrong, but didnt Audio Control come out with an amp that looks like a SONOS amp? Same footprint and form factor?

Yes, the Rialto.

Parasound had a phono preamp in their Z series and it had a USB output. I think one of their dealers has the remaining stock of this model. Supposedly, the phono section is as good or better than the P5 preamp's phono section and, as the owner of a P5, I have to say that I'm extremely happy with the MM/MC preamp.

+1 Parasound but I would use the new Halo Integrated amp. [Link: parasound.com]

Well, the Pluto has a ground connection, so that says they know something about what they're doing. I didn't quite understand what they meant by passive RIAA equalization, so I emailed 'em and I'll let you know what I hear.

If you use an outboard phono preamp such as the Pluto, you then have a line level signal you can use with any analog preamp, integrated amp, or receiver's line inputs. If you use the phono preamp built into a preamp or integrated amp, you can get that signal from the TAPE OUTs to use it in components other than that preamp or integrated amp.

I'm not sure which one I'd choose in your situation.... probably the outboard preamp. Does PS Audio still do audio? They had phono preamps with GREAT topology.

The USB output is a frill for you unless the client thinks she wants to go through the hassle of putting a computer in there and copying the music to files. Concentrate on audio performance, not stuff like USB.

+1 on the Parasound. We have a P5 and A21 in the showroom. Project Turntable and a Oppo 103 along with a Sonos Connect. speakers are Goldenear triton ones.

The Parasound is reasonably priced and sounds good.

Options would be a P5 and A23 or goto the new Integrated for a bit more power next step up would be the P5 and a A21

A23 is at 125 wpc, integrated ia at 160wpc and the a21 at 250wpc

Yep +1

Which cartridge(s) do you use?

Not sure if the speakers will need all of the power from an A21 or the Integrated amp. With average listening levels being less than 95dB for most people and no mention of a subwoofer in the OP, I think the A23 would be plenty of power unless the speakers are very insensitive or the room is extremely large and in that case those Phase Tech speakers will need a subwoofer. I don't have the input level controls on my A23 set to the maximum and my volume control is usually between 9:00 and 10:00 unless I'm using Phono, at which time it needs to be higher because I only use Moving Coil cartridges with typical output voltage (for that type). The one time I used a MM, the volume control position was about the same as when I use TV/Tuner/BD as the source.

+1 on Parasound generally and on the Zphono, Zpre2 and Zamp specifically. The Zpre2 has both fixed and variable line outputs (variable to amp to drive local bookshelves, fixed to line input of SONOS).

Also, they discontinued the rack ears in black, to appeal to more people.

I like the idea of this.




I plan on using a sub from phase tech as well. Sorry I did not mention this.

These poor unsuspecting souls have no idea of the education they are about to receive... ;-)

A lot of the comments about amplifiers are simply about a two channel system. Mr. Stanley has A LOT of experience with two channel, so his recommendations as to power would be helpful.

On the other hand, there is nothing magical about the power per channel required to make two speakers play correctly rather than 5, or 7... My last two-channel system, in the 80s, used a Citation 12 amplifier that I built; spec was 60 watts per channel, measured output was in the high 80s.


With that Citation 12 amp, I remember listening to a Taj Mahal record one day at a comfortable listening level (about 75 dB). At one point in the recording he puffed a bit of air onto the mic with the letter "p." Sitting across the room, it felt like I'd been tapped in the chest!

Now, unfortunately, if you want to maintain that kind of effect at higher volumes, say 10 dB higher, you'll need ten times the power! And I don't talk about 95 dB because that would cause hearing damage, as well as require a hundred times the power of the Citation to maintain dynamics of the recording.


Why would you do that?

The Phono Preamp stage of your preamp is designed to have the proper load impedance for a moving magnet, not a moving coil, so the system's frequency response was probably compromised. Also, there are moving coil transformers (Ortofon comes to mind) specifically designed to increase the moving coil voltage and match moving coil outputs so the standard phono input gets the proper level and source impedance for overall flat response.

Finally, would you install a system at a client's house where you have to leave him with the instructions "Oh, yeah, be sure you turn the main volume down about 12 dB before you switch away from phono to any other input"?

If you're going to install a moving coil cartridge, get a moving coil transformer.

Even more important is this: DO NOT EVER LET THE MAID DUST THE TURNTABLE!

Many many phono styli have been flung across the room by the conscientious maid who dusts everything under the dust cover. Doesn't matter how many watts you have if the needle has been broken. Again, dammit.