As per the title the audio output is low on the left channel, before I embark on fault diagnosis any general pointers please?

Cartridge is of unknow age / history, TT is the orginal Technics SL1200.

eBay link

Could be a bargain for someone, have a look at the pics.

Anesthetise wrote:Is there any sonic reason to use an active amp though? If the amp is able to strengthen the signal alone, why use an another piece of equipment that interferes

Some may wish to use a DAC which doubles as a pre or a music streamer like a Sonos that has a variable output, these would be active.

Did I read that the MK2 will work with active pre's?

Just run with the MK2 case range, the fact they are a uniform width makes the look seamless. If you can get the pre's / phono and AP in a matching case width then the whole black box range has a uniform look and may even help with less variations of case components.

You can test for a dead short or a wild resistance. Testing known good speakers will not give you the correct answer as speakers impediance vary over the frequency range.

The Doc will be along shortly for a 2nd opinion (proper answer)

It is a bit of a back art and something I will never ever embark on again (unless paid) as life's too short and I found CD's for the albums I really wanted to convert. Secondhand from eBay or Amazon they are cheap.

Skip the CD recorder step, TT to pre or amp then a line level out to a PC/Mac with an audio input, most do have this input. At this point you then record the audio using audacity coming from the TT and its saved on the computer. You can then compress or convert as you need. Hard to give you a storag...

You need an audio card with analog RCA inputs. Just plug in the phono stage, get some audio recording software, and voilla. :D As said with some software http://audacity.sourceforge.net I recorded about 20 albums, must have been 12 years ago now but it was a painful, slow experience and in the end ...

Some powerful amps sound poor in comparrison to lesser output models, they tend to loose that enjoyabilty factor. Must be something to do with stuffing up the enormous power supply.