Pyle Phono Turntable Preamp - Mini Electronic Audio Stereo Phonograph Preamplifier with RCA Input, RCA Output & Low Noise Operation Powered by 12 Volt DC Adapter - PP999

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'm writing this review on the same day I am retiring my Pyle PP999 phono preamp. It wasn't until now that I realized what a gem this little guy really is. First, let's get the obvious out of the way- the is THE entry level of entry levels when in comes to phono preamps. You are not looking at this if you are anything approaching an audiophile. But for a budding (or reawakening) vinyl enthusiast of modest means who needs a phono preamp, the Pyle PP999 will serve you well as you feel out whether you want to go further with vinyl. I would say that this it the PERFECT choice for folks who have gotten their hands on a turntable somehow and just want to dip their toes into the water to start. For $15 this will produce admirable sound quality for the price. It is fantastic value at the $15-$20 price point. Use this with a pair of Edifier R1280T Powered Bookshelf Speakers and you can have that turntable spinning out some tunes for $115 (R1280T's only recommended for bedrooms, offices or small man caves). The sound quality on this is very good. Not excellent. Not great. Just very good. Operation is extremely easy. It is small...slightly larger than a deck of cards and very easy to hide away somewhere. I Velcro-ed it to back of my cabinet and completely out of sight. The build quality is excellent for the price point with an all metal housing and plugs that are mounted very securely. Even after taking the casing apart (I said I was retiring it), I still couldn't get the plugs to even wobble on the board. I am confident that this little guys could take quite a beating if I gave it one. The power plug is a wall wart type that might cover an extra space on your power strip- just fyi. Bottom line- For the price of a decent lunch this preamp is a very nice option if you are in a place where money really matters. Today as I unplugged my Pyle PP999 to replace it with an upgrade I realized that it had paid for itself many many times over as it allowed me to affordably dip my toes back into vinyl after pulled my turntable out of storage where it sat for 17 years. Since I had the turntable and already owned the Edifier speakers I mentioned above (their dual inputs allow them do double duty between my PC and my TT) I was able to start enjoying my collection again for an extremely affordable price. It worked without a single problem or issue the entire time I used it and can't recommend it enough if you need something very affordable, well built and that good sound.

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 purchased my first turntable last weekend at a garage sale. I've been wanting to get into the vinyl scene for years, but am very particular about what kind of devices I put in my living room. I finally found a Bang and Olufson player in like-new condition for $30, and dove in. Not knowing much about turntables at all, though, I was surprised when I brought it home and the sound was so quiet! Even with my speakers turned all the way up, it was too quiet for general listening. A quick Google search gave me plenty of solutions, though, and I found this preamp. NOTE: If you talk to an older vinyl enthusiast, they'll almost always shy away from a modern "preamp" and recommend you just get a "real" receiver that has an input called "phono" (the type of red/white or black/grey cables that come out of the turntable). I had two separate vinyl enthusiasts tell me to stay away from a preamp, but I didn't want to clutter up my living room with a big, clunky receiver from the 70's. After reading reviews on this site, I decided to order the preamp -- you can't beat the price! Long story short, the preamp is wonderful. As many others have mentioned, you should loosen one of the screws on the shell and tighten it down onto the grounding cable coming out of your turntable, if it has one. This will improve sound quality and get rid of any "hum" you may hear. No idea why the packaging doesn't suggest this, but it's an easy solution. Sound coming out of my turntable is now just as loud as any of my other inputs, and it is very clear and deep. The preamp is also small, has rubber feet, and is built like a tank. It's easy to hide and is made with quality stuff. If you have recently bought or are interested in buying a turntable/record player, this is what you need to get! (unless your current receiver has a phono input, of course)

I ordered this item and learned later that my newly purchased Denon audio receiver included a turn table preamp. I decided that I did not need an additional preamp, so I returned the item I do not know about the quality of the item because I never actually used it. If needed, I would reorder because it came on time as expected and appeared to be high quality.

Poor quality control. Order a different preamp from a completely different company that doesn't look anything like this one. These might have been in the past but the manufacturers have poor quality control and you don't know what you are going to get now. Customer Service is basically useless. The plugs were installed wrong on the input. Right is supposed to be RED (just like everywhere else in the world and on the other damn side of this very device/in the photo for their listing). Who knows if the soldering inside and everything else will hold up. At first it seemed like it worked fine. Then one of two of the different ones I ordered started producing about half the volume that it was supposed to (and compared to the other one and my other preamps). Pyle Customer Service was annoying. I pointed out the product defects to them. Instead of acknowledging them, even with my picture, they just kept arguing about me proving that the devices I ordered from Amazon were new when I bought them (as if somebody would un there RCA plugs and then reinstalled them in the wrong position) 🙄 I showed them screenshots of my order. They want me to download an Amazon invoice that Amazon apparently doesn't make available on the app anymore. There were videos about it online but that option doesn't appear on my app right below the order details like in the video. Rather than drag my laptop out and do what they want. I've decided just to trash talk them and let them figure out their own problems. I'm not getting anything back from them anyway. I figured it's better just to warn everybody else not to buy their stuff. I wouldn't buy anything from Pyle until they get their act together.

OK, the minor caveat up front. The output level of the PP999 is fixed and fairly low so, depending on your amp's input preamp circuits, you will probably be turning your volume control higher than you do on any of your other sources like CD, DVD, TV, or AM/FM Tuner. That's no big deal unless you forget to bring down the volume before you switch to another input and end up waking up the neighbors. ;-) If you must have an output control on your phone preamp, be prepared to pay about 4 times more than this unit and only get a slight boost in output for that. That aside, I found nothing else lacking with this unit and still gave it 5 stars because of its excellent value at this price point. Even at volume cranked to Max, I could hear no residual noise introduced by the unit. The PP999 is being used to connect my venerable Technics SL-1400Mk2 turntable to a Sony Home Theatre receiver which has no phono input. I put on my reference Deutsche Grammophon LP and was satisfied with the sound quality. If I had to have "Golden Ear" quality I would have plunked down $100+ for a "brand name" unit. But as the Technical Director both for a church and a community theatre I have learned to shop for quality on tight budgets. Pyle has fit the bill for many of these items. I bought a PDC21 DI Box for a church over four years ago and it's still kicking despite receiving its fair share of kicks. People are still amazed when I tell them how little I paid for it! The quality of today's Pyle products is much improved over that experienced in the early days. I chose the PP999 over the PP444 because I wanted the black color and did NOT want the power LED; I wanted the unit to "disappear" wherever I placed it amongst my equipment. I didn't choose the PP555 both for its LED and I didn't need the extra cost of added 9V battery operation. Bottom Line: I highly recommend this rock-sold, no-frills unit that is extremely kind on the budget,

I have a pretty amateur set when it comes to home audio. Most of my equipment was handed down to me from my father, so I wasn't looking to spend anymore than $30 on a phono amp for my turnable until I upgrade my receiver and speakers to something a little nicer. I took off one star because this until lacks a dedicated ground. Yes, there is a location under the screw to the left of the power port where bare metal is for a ground. However, some might not think to tinker around with the unit and just plug and play the wires and forgot to ground their unit. I took another star off because even after grounding the unit, there is still a dedicated hum coming from my speakers. (Specifically the left channel) While this is a cheap unit, it gets the job dones and sounds decent through my current system. The housing is sturdy and nice, and the unit comes in simple packaging. If you have a nice home theater set up do your self a favor and look elsewhere for a phono preamp otherwise this unit will degrade your sound quality. If you are just getting back into vinyl or want to play occasionally an old record of yours then this unit is perfect for you.

It works very well for my player, no hum or other static disturbances.

Me sorprendió el sonido que salió de este preamp phono. Honestamente no esperaba mucho por su bajo costo, pero haciendo pruebas de comparación auditiva con circuitería de preamp phono de buen equipo vintage, no ha quedado mal.

I didn't even know what a preamp was until I bought a used record player that I plugged into a unit with no PHONO input (just AUX and TV). The audio was very quiet and weak. This preamp did the trick to bridge the 2 devices and allow proper, clean audio levels. Now I can start my vinyl journey! Easy setup, quality build, and functions perfect. Recommended!

Cheaper alternatives than repair the build in phono stage

Un excellent rapport qualité prix. Une qualité plus que suffisante pour mon usage (pré-ampli pour platine vinyle). Attention au vendeur, le produits était arrivés dans un sac poubelle, l'emballage d'origine était défoncé, et le produit final légèrement abimé.