Turntable, Two Arms, Stereo and Mono: Is your system ready for 2 phono???


Thanks to help here, I successfully am set up with big Victor Plinth, 2 arms, mono and stereo ready to go. Love it.

I realized how lucky I was that my old McIntosh preamp has 2 phono inputs, so I just plugged the 2 arms in. (In my enthusiasm I hadn't considered where the 2 tonearms would go).

I see an opportunity to buy another plinth, move my stuff to it, and end up with a second two arm setup fully ready to sell (only reason I would do this: I would end up with no extra holes in my armboards).
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QUESTION: I'm wondering how many people who might be interested are likely to be able to hook up 2 phono without buying another phono preamp.
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If I supplied an inexpensive pre-amp for the mono arm, then mono could go to any spare line input. This setup with an in-expensive preamp???

Thanks for any insight you can give me,

Elliott


elliottbnewcombjr
You can see how you would get hooked by this, I inherited it in 1973.

It had a Viking 2 track tape deck in a drawer (I have it and some extra parts).

Viking 75, has 3 heads, so it could play either In-Line (the agreed standard eventually) or Staggared, the 3rd head was advanced 1.25", an equal amount to the two tracks which were recorded staggared. A switch changed which head it picked up the 2nd track from.

Original Stereo Tape, 1956, was original mono head, and a second mono head added 1.25" away, upside down, thus 2 track staggered. Then, a separate 2 track in line head was developed. Two WIDE tracks! Best sounding tapes I own.

A Garrard Changer in another drawer, I tossed that out.

My uncle was an opera critic, and friend of Avery Fisher. They came to his NYC Apt and added a pair of preamps to convert the cartridge from ceramic to MM.

I bought a fisher multi-plex to get Stereo FM out of the 80 FM Tuner.

It was a very short period when Live Binaural Broadcasts existed, just prior to Armstrong Stereo FM.

Stations, i.e. CBS had CBS FM (mono), and CBS AM (mono). They would mic the left side of the stage and broadcast it CBS FM. Simultaneous right side mic broadcasting CBS AM.

Control Panel to FM, tune CBS. Control Panel to AM, tune CBS. Snap the control panel to Stereo Radio, there you had live binaural.

It had a pair of 35 watt Mono Blocks, Mullard EL37’s, or use EL34 for 30 wpc, or any substitute for either of them.

16, 8, 4 ohm taps.

Drivers and Crossovers and rheostats ’Presence’ and ’Brilliance’ all 16 ohm, thus I needed early Cayin A88T with 16 ohm taps. (sadly interior bias pots)

Oh yeah, a programmable clock.

All in 1958.

I used the mono blocks for many years, then added the Chase unit for remote balance and remote volume, then changed to Cayin Integrated and McIntosh tube tuner/preamp mx110z

I used to play McIntosh SS MC2250 (McIntosh tested accurate to 305 wpc), with McIntosh SS C28 preamp. Then blindly switch to Fisher tube 80z (az?) 30 wpc, EVERYONE ALWAYS chose tubes.

The fisher amps, and a 3rd spare are downstairs now, no need to compare tubes to tubes.

Stood in line at store’s electronic tube tester a week before Thanksgiving every year, tested 38 tubes. Flip charts, bags, tape with id on faded writing, my feet hurt thinking about how long it took.

I said "I want my own tube tester". Got off the train 1 night, my birthday, and Nancy drove me to a driveway and said, that guy has something for you. She had run a wanted add, got me a small portable tube tester.

https://www.ebay.com/i/323712928966?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=323712928966&targetid=858380238160&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9003512&poi=&campaignid=6470719340&mkgroupid=77931583832&rlsatarget=pla-858380238160&abcId=1140476&merchantid=115026223&gclid=Cj0KCQiAs67yBRC7ARIsAF49CdXegta_aPtAMx5HIpkE0sCOWla3mDqpokxO3Jk6zc077v8j_Bl0fC4aAsJ6EALw_wcB

Sadly she died young, age 39, needless to say, that tester is one of my best memories and possessions.

I got 2 more big testers, gave one away. I find the small one always agrees with the big one



This Fisher President II, inherited from my uncle, is what got me hooked

https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/fisher_president_ii_console_3000m.html

I have all the components, burnt the wood console in my fireplace.

When I get home, I will have a look at the Central Control Panel, it has several individual curves for both Phono and Tape, standards were not finalized at that time (1958). I might have some fun with it.

Those drivers are in my current speakers, in new Rosewood enclosures, 15" woofers re-coned twice, horn mid and horn tweet. Full set of spare horns and a spare woofer.
thoughts about it arriving with inexpensive preamp?

IOW, if ready to go, will I be able to sell it easier, ... successfully ... not stuck with it ...

IOW, better just live with my existing setup with extra hole.
Yes, it's nice having a Pre with two phono inputs.  Currently I use three TT's.  The 3rd is used with a Jolida JD-9 into the AUX input. Most of the time it's two MC and a MM cartridge.  Before the latest Pre arrived, I used the JD-9 along with the internal MM/MC input of my previous pre for two TT's.   Adding the 3rd TT caused me to reconfigure my Salamander Twin 40 rack into a Triple 40.  I purchased the hardware from Salamander and made the top and bottom shelves myself. The parts were not overly pricey but the wood pieces would have been very expensive because of size and weight.  The wood would have cost more than one of my TT's. 
I have a Pass (Xono) which already has inputs for two independent cartridges, another pre phono which has two inputs and two independent outputs adjustable from the front (Camtech) plus another pre phono with single input and output. (Audio Analogue Aria); everything will be connected to the pre line which has many inputs.
Having to manage 6 o 7 turntables in the future with a number of arms ranging from 6 to 12 I find it necessary not to have to go crazy about disconnecting cables continuously.
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In my situation i have to connect 4 tonearms on two different turntables to one rack in the middle (with my amps, preamps). 

Connecting two at the same time is a must and i'm happy that with Gold Note PH-10 i can do that. The benefit of Gold Note PH-10 is that each input can be adjusted individually for MM or MC. Basically, it can be two MC or two MM, or MM and MC. This is great! 

Another cool thing is that my Pass Labs ALEPH has 4 line inputs, so i can use many phono stages (at least 3 more).