Vinyl Data- Classic Computers / Indie music tricks crossover

[r.stricklin]

On Sep 30, 2008, at 3:55 PM, Mr Ian Primus wrote:

> I forget what their rationale was for not connecting the computer to  
> the hi-fi directly, but there was a warning that you could damage  
> the computer. (Probably, they were afraid of people hooking the  
> _speaker_ outputs into the poor little computer, instead of the line  
> out)


The primary reason is that it will only work in a handful of specific  
configurations, and assuming that everybody with a turntable at their  
disposal is able to comply is not really a sound business decision.

There are only a small number of standalone turntables I am aware of  
which had (have) normal line outputs. The vast majority of them  
require preamplification (and equalization) if they are to be used on  
a line input. The "phono" input on many amplifiers provides this  
preamplification; in this case the amplifier's line out or tape  
monitor output may be connected to the computer without consternation.

It's possible that some all-in-one style units may have had line  
outputs to connect, for example, cassette tape recorders; I don't  
know. Perhaps most at the time had a cassette deck built in and thus  
only speaker outputs.

ok
bear