Starting vinyl, setup change help required!

emphatic

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Hello all, new user here, general AV newbie too so please go easy on me, and hi!

A brief introduction:

I currently have an Onkyo HT-R548 receiver/5.1 package which I use in my living room for home cinema usage. Obviously, this isn't very good for playing music, and I'm looking to add a turntable to the room (Rega RP1 or Pro-ject Debut Carbon)

Ideally I'd like to get a good pair of bookshelf speakers and use them as the front speakers of my 5.1 AND as stereo for the turntable. As far as I can see, I can get a good phono pre-amp and pass this through the AV receiver, which has a speaker set A/B selector functionality. Or I could get a completely separate amplifier and do some kind of switching between inputs to the speakers?

The essence of my question is, would my entry level amplifier negate the benefit of getting a good phono pre-amp, and therefore should I connect my soon-to-be-new turntable to speakers in some other way?

Thanks in advance!
 
The Onkyo HT-R548 does not have a turntable input, so you'll need to use a phono amp and one of the line level inputs. The A/B speaker selector is not relevant. If you wanted to use a distinct amplifier and share the speakers you'd need a speaker selector such as the Beresford TC-7220.

My guess is that you have a tight budget - otherwise you'd have bought a more sophisticated AV package or consider a more advanced TT. I therefore would make the pragmatic suggestion that you purchase only the TT and phono amp and use that through the existing system. You can always upgrade components later, when funding permits. You'll also need money to purchase source material - what's the point in spending all your budget on equipment if you don't have anything to play?
 
Hi Mark,

Thanks for your advice. Actually I'm in the process of upgrading gradually but hopefully efficiently. I've come into possession of a large vinyl collection from a friend's father which has been in storage. My budget is quite elastic, I just wanted to focus on weak links first.

I've purchased a pair of second hand Dali Mentor Menuets which should work nicely in my small living room, and I understand they won't be used to full potential but they were a steal! Thanks to your advice I think it's about time to upgrade the AV package now, but as I can't seem to find any with pre-outs I'll just look to find a fairly musical one in the January sales. Would you happen to have an idea what I should aim for?
 
Preouts on AVRs are standard when you leave the entry level models, so if you're having problems finding them, I'd conclude that your budget is limited. In such a case, I recommend looking for bargains / sales / end-of-range models that fulfil the requirements and which are available where you live when they happen. There is no point making any recommendation, as that will likely no coincide with the availability of bargains, and not living in UK, I don't know what is currently on sale where.

The Pro-ject Debut Carbon Phono USB, as opposed to the Pro-ject Debut Carbon, has a built-in phono preamp, so you could connect it straight to your Onkyo or a replacement phono-input-less AVR.
 
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