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.

I was a little gun-shy about getting this, but it worked very well for a simple record player setup with some Amazon speakers. Great to hear the beautiful clarity of vinyl again. Easy setup as well. Simple and functional.

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.

I have been cleaning and testing out antique stereo equiptment. I was given a turntable from the 1970’s and it had no built in preamp. This solved the issuefor a great price.

I recently upgraded to a new turntable and wanted to give my old turntable (which doesn’t have a built-in preamp) to my son. The plan is to use the Pyle preamp to connect the turntable to a pair of powered budget speakers. The turntable and cartridge are in the $500 range, and this preamp (nor the budget speakers) will probably not be the best match for it. He can upgrade to a proper amplifier and speakers later if he wishes. The turntable was previously connected to a modern Marantz stereo amplifier, but I’m not expecting the Pyle to compare with that. I have a vintage Pioneer receiver and used that to compare the performance of the Pyle against the phono stage on the receiver. This review is based on that comparison. The turntable and the Pyle preamp are both connected to the grounding terminal on the receiver so that they share a common ground. The output from the Pyle is fed into the receiver through the tape input. The turntable is either connected directly to the phono input on the receiver or the Pyle depending on which one I am evaluating. There is a hum when using the Pyle. Because it is sharing the same ground as the receiver, I don’t think it is a grounding issue. The hum is not loud and is not noticeable when music is playing but is noticeable in the blank spaces between tracks or when the stylus is lifted off the record. As for the audio quality, the Pyle was almost as good as the receiver, which is pretty darn good for the price point. The bass was a bit muddy, but that might be due to the aforementioned hum. There was not much to complain about mids and highs which I felt was a tad better on the receiver’s phono input. The phono preamp has two things to do: amplify the weak signal from the turntable cartridge by about 1000-tmes to the standard line input level, and apply RIAA equalization. These two steps can introduce noise and distortion to the signal, and I think the Pyle did a very decent job in controlling that. If your amplifier or powered speakers are far from the turntable requiring extra long RCA cables first connect the preamp directly to the phono cable from the turntable and run the long RCA cable between the preamp and the amplifier/powered speakers. The phono cables are shielded to isolate from outside interferences and regular RCA cables typically are not. If the long RCA cable is used between the turntable and the preamp it will happily amplify (by about 1000 times) any interference picked up by the RCA cable and you will hear it. This is in no way an audiophile quality preamp. It is almost as good as the phono stage on a 50+ year old receiver with old worn transistors and capacitors. A good phono preamp would cost well over a hundred dollars, and this only cost me seventeen dollars! I think the Pyle is doing a stellar job at this price point.

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.

This a good device to get if you need one right away and it will last you. It is durable, gets the job done and the price point will not tombstone Pyle-drive your wallet. Its has a set level so no adjustments can be made there. Definitely works better accompanied by a mixer. There is a low level hum/sound floor that isn’t intrusive as it could be. With a mixer it can be eq’d out mostly, without compromising the sound. You don’t need a mixer, as a standalone device going from phonograph, passing through Pyle and into speakers, it still sounds good. I am very interested in some of their other products after adding this to my gear.

I wanted to rip music from old vinyl albums using my 1970s vintage Technics turntable but the digital capture device needed a pre-amp. The maker of the digital converter suggested the Pyle device and it works perfectly, was very inexpensive, small in size, and easy to use.