Pyle Mini Phono Turntable Preamp - Low Noise Stereo Preamplifier with RCA Input/Output - 12V DC Adapter - High-Fidelity Audio for Vinyl - Phonograph - Home Audio - PP999

I was digitizing my album collection and was using a McLelland pre-amp. The McLelland pre-amp was more expensive than the Pyle and had better specs. (It had a better signal to noise ratio.) During recording, there would be occasional "dropouts" where sound would be lost for a second. At first, I accepted this as an isolated quirk and just re-recorded the songs where that occurred.That got real old after ten albums and I decided to try and nail down the problem. I first swapped out the turntable cartridge and needle, but the problem persisted. I then swapped out the McLelland pre-amp for the Pyle....no more dropouts!Not only that, but the bass was much improved and the sound was louder. I'm using Audacity (an awesome free editing program) and had to amplify the songs after they were recorded using the McLelland and the bass was also very weak.This just goes to show you that more expensive doesn't necessarily mean better. I now have a thirty dollar paperweight.I'm in the process of re-recording the albums that were recorded using the McLelland pre-amp and the Pyle has been performing without a hitch. There's no need to amplify the songs recorded using the Pyle so it's one less thing to have to do.The Pyle pre-amp is deceivingly small. It measures approximately 3 9/16" L X 2 1/8" W x 1 1/8" H. It doesn't have a dedicated grounding terminal like the McLelland but that isn't a problem at all. There's 4 Philips head screws on the unit. I inserted a small washer under the screw that's closest to the phono input jacks. To attach the ground wire from the turntable, I just loosen the screw and slip the prong from the grounding wire between the washer and the unit and tighten the screw. This works like a charm, no buzz/hum. You could probably get by without a washer but I feel that it gives more surface contact area for the grounding. (I've uploaded some photos in the "Customer Images" section showing this.)The Pyle pre-amp is a little bigger than a pack of cigarettes and comes in a chintzy looking blister pack but don't let looks fool you. This pre-amp is a solid performer and well worth the money.

So I dug out my old amp and preamp after sitting in a closet since my son was born. 17 years later it was time to get the old workhorse going again. My very old phono preamp was giving allot of noise. So I went looking for one and no luck at Best Buy. So I looked here and a few other high end stores. They had some really nice tube preamp that were really cool. But I went for the $15 one here. Works fine and my records sound warm and natural.

This phonograph preamp really does the job it sets to do well. It does not alter the sound in any way, just amplifies to a line-level input; I use it with a line input on a stereo from 2005 and find that I need to have its volume on the stereo set twice as high as any other input (tape, CD, radio) but makes it usable. The lack of volume isn't a big deal though as that provides wiggle room if I were to add a tube preamp to adjust the sound as well, which often those can increase volume to bring it up to the other line levels. The ground works well and there is no hum from the turntable at all. The construction seems very solid, but you can tell cost-effective measures were taken to keep it affordable while keeping the build quality great. For example I initially had the left and right channels reversed when I hooked it up because the colors on the phono input were incorrect; the same RCA plugs were used on each side and that made the colors backwards on the input side... they are labelled correctly on the case of the unit so follow the label on the case instead of the color! Also the ground screw is not a thumb screw as pictured but a very stiff hex screw; I needed to use a pliers to actually move it to get the ground wire secured in place, but once it's done it's done. I do like that the unit itself is silent, does not get warm in the least, and has no lights to distract you. An on-off switch would be a nice addition but I solved this concern by having it on a switched surge protector (from Trickle Star) that automatically turns on when the stereo turns on. All in all a good product at a very good price point.

This works great! The built in amp for my turntable was not amplifying to an acceptable level and picking up lots of noise. With this the noise went away and the sound is not at an acceptable level.

I don’t typically bother writing negative reviews but I felt it was important to let people who may not know any better know what they’re getting into with this preamp. I kind of knew it wouldn’t be that great given the price. But I saw plenty of positive reviews so I figured I’d give it a shot. Well, I tried it with two different turntables and two different sets of speakers. The sound quality is frankly abysmal. It adds tons of unwanted distortion, and is particularly noticeable in vocals.If you are just getting into vinyl or getting your first setup you might not know any better. And it could sound passable enough. But if you know what your records/setup are actually supposed to sound like you’ll be immediately disappointed.Yes it is dirt cheap and I know it’s tempting. But believe me, this thing will make your listening experience so much worse than it needs to be. I ended up getting the Fluance preamp, which admittedly is like 7x the price. But the difference is absolute night and day. I’m sure there are plenty cheaper than the Fluance that work just great. But this Pyle preamp just isn’t it.If you’re splashing out on a nice turntable and/or speakers (or even “okay” ones), don’t let a junky preamp handicap the whole thing.