analog to digital

If $1875 is within reason, you might also want to consider the Sound Devices 702. Their products are VERY highly regarded in professional sound recording applications. B&H, an excellent dealer, offers it for that price.

It accepts both mic level and line-level inputs, balanced or unbalanced. If you have a phono stage in one of your BAT units, or separately, which provides accessable line-level outputs, you could use the 702's line-level inputs. If not, you could go into the mic inputs (which I understand are extremely low noise), and do the RIAA equalization in software, as Herman describes.

The digitized signal is recorded to a Compact Flash card, which can be read either from the 702's firewire port, or by placing the card in an external card-reader.

HTH,
-- Al

Of course if you feed the cartridge outputs into mic-level inputs, you need to make sure that the cartridge sees a proper load. The Sound Devices 702's mic-level input impedance is 7.5K; I don't know about the RME unit. If the cartridge is a moving magnet type which wants to see 47K, that may be a problem. For a moving coil cartridge, the 7.5K could be reduced if need be by connecting an external resistor.

-- Al

With the BAT preamp having a phono stage and a tape output, you've got exactly what you need to provide an RIAA-equalized line-level signal to an a/d converter, or to a recorder that contains an a/d recorder. There are lots of choices, ranging from a little more than a hundred dollars on up into the multi-thousand dollar range.

For really good quality, I would still recommend the Sound Devices 702, but there are lots of much less expensive choices you can peruse at B&H's site here.

I've used a Marantz PMD670 ($630) with very good results, using its line-level inputs (its mic amplifiers leave something to be desired). Like the Sound Devices 702, it records to compact flash cards, from which the digitized files can be subsequently transferred to a computer. The Marantz unit has a usb interface, while the Sound Devices uses firewire. Or alternatively, the Compact Flash card can be removed and inserted into an inexpensive card reader which connects to the computer, typically via usb.

HTH,
-- Al

Correction: The last word of the first sentence of my previous post should obviously be "converter," not "recorder."

-- Al

Do these things ever come up for sale on audiogon - and where would you look for them - under analog or digital? (I haven't seen them on either).

I don't recall noticing any listings here for adc's or digital recorders since I became a member last fall, although I haven't particularly looked for them. I've seen a few Sound Devices 702's and Marantz PMD670's appear on eBay now and then, but the asking prices on them are typically not a whole lot less than B&H's prices for new equipment. And in at least one case that I can recall, the eBay listing (for a 702) was obviously fraudulent, copied from someone else's listing which had appeared a few months earlier.

Perhaps there is a site comparable to Audiogon that specializes in pro audio equipment, but I am not specifically aware of one.

Regards,
-- Al