Connecting the turntable to speakers is the first step to enjoying your LPs.
If you have no experience connecting a turntable to your speakers, no problem.
In this quick guide we’ll walk you through how to easily connect a turntable to speakers, and you can do it yourself at home.
First and foremost, you have to choose between active and passive speakers.
- Active Speakers: Active speakers are built in, so you don’t need to use external speakers.
- Passive Speakers: Passive speakers have no built-in, so you need an amplifier or receiver to provide power to produce sound.
HOW TO SET UP PASSIVE SPEAKERS WITH A TURNTABLE
To use passive speakers with a turntable, you’ll only need a receiver, phono pre-amp, RCA connections, and a pair of speakers. While passive speakers have more components than powered speakers, the method isn’t substantially more complicated.
- Connect the turntable to the preamp using the RCA cords. (Grounding is required for some turntables.)
- RCA cables connect the preamp to the amplifier.
- Connect the speakers to the amplifier.
- Put the needle down and relax!
HOW TO SET UP POWERED SPEAKERS WITH A TURNTABLE
You can connect your turntable directly to the speakers if it is a powered speaker.
Connecting a turntable to powered speakers is as simple as connecting an auxiliary wire between them and plugging it into your amplifier, as shown below:
- Connect your turntable to the audio-out jack on your amplifier or receiver.
- Using an auxiliary cable, connect your powered speakers to the audio-in jack on your amplifier or receiver.
- Turn on all devices and set the volume on both units to halfway, then gradually increase the volume until sound begins to come out of each set of speakers.
- If particular noises are too low or too loud later on, you may need to change the level on each device.
- Gently lower your stylus onto a record until you hear sound coming from both sets of speakers.