[tapehiss]

I apologize if I posted this in the wrong section. It covers several areas, and I wasn't exactly sure where it should go.

Summary:
I have a home theater system and a turntable/headphone system. Right now they are completely separate, but I would like to combine them in the best way possible. I have a feeling this may require either a new receiver and/or some cable work, and I'd like to seek some head-fi expertise to make sure I do it right.

Components:
Home theater: Onkyo SR605 receiver, Elemental Design speakers (A6-6T6, A3-300), Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, AppleTV
Audio System: Technics SL-1200 turntable with Ortofon Concorde Pro S30 cartridge, Creek OBH-18 phono preamp, DarkVoice 336se headphone amp, AKG701 headphones, Ultrasone Pro 750 headphones.

More Info:
I spend most of my time listening to records through headphones. Sometimes I want to listen to records through my speaker system though. To accomplish this now I have to unplug the audio cables from the headphone amp and plug them into my receiver, which is annoying. I've experimented with keeping the phono preamp plugged into the receiver, and then wiring the headphone amp to the receiver's headphone jack, but there are two problems. The major one is that it doesn't sound very good (lots of hum). Also I have to manually plug/unplug the headphone amp to/from the receiver whenever I want to change my listening mode. I'd much prefer if there was a way where I can just turn on/off my headphone amp and not have to mess with any cables.

I also spend a good amount of time playing video games and watching movies. This is usually through the speakers, but sometimes I'd prefer to use my headphones. Right now I usually just plug them directly into the receiver when I want to do this. I'd prefer them to be amped, but really can't stand the hum.

Extra credit:
One thing I commonly do now that's easy with a disjointed setup is play video games with the sound off while listening to music from my turtable. If I were to integrate my two systems, I'd really like to be able to still do this.

Sorry for the long post. I really appreciate anyone who spends time reading it and can offer up some advice. Thanks!

 

[NightOwl]

Leave the turntable connected to your Creek phono preamp. Connect the Creek to the receiver. Don't plug it into the phono input of your receiver if it has one. Connect it to an Aux In. Your stand-alone phono preamp will be better than the one in the receiver. If your receiver has a tape out or line out, connect your headphone amp to that. Mute or turn off the speaker output on your receiver if you just want to listen to your headphones. You will still get a signal through the tape/line out.

You're double amping by plugging the Darkvoice into the receiver headamp. The components could be be using different grounding methods and might also have an impedance mismatch. Any one of these could give you hum.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Does your receiver have a tape loop out or a record out (for DAT, CD recorder, etc.) where it sends an unamplified signal out? It might have a preamp out, even, in case it was designed to also be used with a separate amp. Look through your manual to see if it has anything like that.

If there's a tape loop out, connect your headphone amp there. Then, you'll be able to click on the tape and listen to headphones. I use a Conrad-Johnson PV2 preamp that has two tape loops - I can put two headphone amps on it, four sources, and use it to control speakers, too.

If your receiver has no record out or preamp out circuit, you might want to look for a receiver that does.

 

[soundboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NightOwl /img/forum/go_quote.gif Leave the turntable connected to your Creek phono preamp. Connect the Creek to the receiver. Don't plug it into the phono input of your receiver if it has one. Connect it to an Aux In. Your stand-alone phono preamp will be better than the one in the receiver. If your receiver has a tape out or line out, connect your headphone amp to that. Mute or turn off the speaker output on your receiver if you just want to listen to your headphones. You will still get a signal through the tape/line out.

I was going to say that

 

[tapehiss]

NightOwl and Uncle Erik, thanks very much. That's the exact bit of information I was looking for. I'm fairly certain that I remember seeing a tape loop on my receiver (marked 'REC', I believe). I was just unsure of what it did (I know, I know, gotta RTFM). I'm excited to go home and try this out. Thanks again.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tapehiss /img/forum/go_quote.gif NightOwl and Uncle Erik, thanks very much. That's the exact bit of information I was looking for. I'm fairly certain that I remember seeing a tape loop on my receiver (marked 'REC', I believe). I was just unsure of what it did (I know, I know, gotta RTFM). I'm excited to go home and try this out. Thanks again.

That should be exactly what you need. Plug your headphone amo into the REC jacks and hit the REC button when you want to listen to headphones.

Since no one else said it, welcome to Head-Fi and sorry about your wallet. Stick around and join in the discussion - that's half the fun of this hobby.

 

[tapehiss]

Thanks, I will! And no need to apologize to my wallet. It's actually much happier now that it's lighter and has no stress on its seams.

 

[tapehiss]

So I hooked everything up as described, and it works like a charm now with no hum. Beautiful! Thanks again.

My other question (video games w/no audio + turntable audio) still stands. I suspect it's a bizzarre, niche request pretty specific to my setup, so I don't expect anyone to have an answer. But if anyone reads this and has done what I'm looking for, please let me know. Some more background: I have my Xbox 360 hooked up via HDMI, and I'd like to sometimes be able to tell my receiver to instead output audio from my turntable. I wonder if this could be a job for zone 2 somehow...