Help with connecting an Ultra 6014 record player to speakers
 

Hi all,

Forgive me for being that annoying person who hops on a forum to ask for help without contributing anything - but I have searched online for help with this (including on this website) and so far I've got nowhere. Hopefully if this question is answered, it will help not only me but others seeking help with the same issue!

I've been using an Ultra 6014 record player, and - separately - a Cambridge Audio A1 Mk3 Stereo Integrated Amplifier wired up to some speakers, a CD player and a tuner. I'd now like to connect up the record player and amp - and I hope you can help!

There are only a small number of outputs on the record player (as shown in the attached image). The amp has a range of inputs (as shown in the other attached image) and I have an audio cable that was connected to a CD player - but I can't see an easy way to connect this to the record player. I've previously plugged in a second speaker to the record player's Stereo output socket, so I assume this would be the starting point for connecting to the amp... However, I'm not sure if I need to buy a preamp plus some additional cables - or if it'd be possible (and easier and cheaper) to buy a cable with a 3.5mm Stereo plug on one end and two sockets of some sort (RCA?) on the other, to connect to the audio cable or even direct to the amp.

If anyone can help, I'd be eternally grateful!

Thanks,

Purplecabbage

Re: Help with connecting an Ultra 6014 record player to speakers
 

With no plug in the stereo socket of the player both channels of the cartridge are connected in parallel to the player's mono amplifier so the recording is heard in mono.

With a plug inserted in the stereo socket of the player, the right hand channel of the cartrdge is connected to the plug's lead and can be fed to an external mono amplifier. The left hand channel of the cartridge remains connected to the player's internal amplifier. The left hand channel is heard from the player and the right hand channel is heard from the external amplifier. Hence you can hear the record in stereo.

I suspect that what you want to do is feed the left and right hand channels of the cartridge to an external stereo amplifier, rendering the player's amp redundant. This will require modification of the player's wiring.

Re: Help with connecting an Ultra 6014 record player to speakers
 

Another problem I can see is that the ceramic cartridge in the record player needs to be connected to a high impedance input - 1Mohm or more. The Cambridge amplifier is designed for modern sources so will probably have an input impedance of around a tenth of this figure - good for its intended purpose but not much help to you here.

Of course it isn't that complicated to make a unity gain follower circuit based around an FET input op amp IC (TL072 etc), mount it in the bottom of the record player cabinet and wire this in line with the cartridge outputs, perhaps making use of the redundant microphone input socket. However, once you've done all that you still end up with something that will sound disappointing through your more modern amplifier and loudspeakers - a budget turntable with a magnetic cartridge from a slightly later era and a basic RIAA pre-amplifier would make more sense from a practical point of view.

Re: Help with connecting an Ultra 6014 record player to speakers
 

I think you will be very diasappointed at the sound quality if you attempt to modify your record player to play through your Cambridge amp. Also you you render your currently usable player, unusable in its own right.
The Ultra 6041 waa to designed to operate as a self-contained unit with everything compatible with each other i.e. cartridge, turntable, ampifier and speaker.
Playing through your Cambridge amp will reveal rumble, hum, hiss and distortion.
Far better to buy a new budget turntable or a used deck online - there is plenty of choice at the £50-70 mark which will be far more better matched to your current system.

Re: Help with connecting an Ultra 6014 record player to speakers
 

"Bedroom DJ special" direct-drive turntables are actually not bad at all if you just use them for playing records, though they will not stand up to much back-cueing or heavy scratching. But it's worth lifting off the turntable platter and making sure it really is direct-drive, because there were some really cheap clones (meant more for looking at than listening to) that used a belt.

Re: Help with connecting an Ultra 6014 record player to speakers
 

Hi, if you really want to go down the route of trying to connect your Ultra player to your Cambridge amplifier, without modifying the player in any way, it may be possible to connect the individual stereo channels of the players cartridge to your amplifiers RIAA equalised 'Phono' inputs (if it is equipped with such) as follows -

Make or obtain a couple of 3.5mm jack plug to Phono plug leads which have series resistors of around 470K to 1megohm (you may have to experiment a bit with the values) in series with the signal leads and connect the amplifiers left and right hand inputs respectively to the 'STEREO' and 'TAPE' outputs on your Ultra player.

If your amplifier is only fitted with Aux, CD, Tuner and/or Tape inputs you could try connecting as above in a similar fashion to those, omitting the series resistors.

Don't expect superb sound quality (as others may have mentioned) trying either method.

Regards

Andrew

Re: Help with connecting an Ultra 6014 record player to speakers
 

Many thanks to all of you for your time and help; I really appreciate it! I'll mull it over but it sounds like it may be best to keep the two systems separate. Thanks once again - you're all very kind!