Convert your LPs into CDs

Connecting The Turntable

Now that you already know how to identify a good sound card and a good record player for your conversion to be perfect, now we will explain how to connect your turntable to your PC. For this step you will need:

• One turntable;
• One receiver;
• One PC with a soundcard installed;
• One stereo RCA + ground cable to connect the turntable to the receiver;
• One cable with one stereo mini jack at one end and two RCA connectors at the other end to connect the receiver to your PC;
• A pair of computer speakers to monitor what is being recorded.

First let’s take a look at the cable that connects the turntable to the receiver. This cabe is shown in Figure 1. It has three plugs on each end, one red (or yellow) RCA standard, one white (or black) RCA standard and one ground wire with an “Y” shaped terminal.

Figure 1: Cable used to connect your turtable to your receiver.

Locate on the rear of your turntable were the plugs are connected. You will find two female RCA connectors and one thumb screw to connect the ground wire, see Figure 2.

Figure 2: Turntable plugs.

Just connect the male red (or yellow) plug from the cable into the red (or yellow or labeled “R” or “Right”) female turntable plug, the male white (or black) plug from the cable into the white (or black or labeled “L” or “Left”) female turntable plug and screw the “Y” shaped terminal from the ground wire to the thumb screw. The correct grounding is very important, because if this wire isn’t connected or has a bad connection you will get noise (“hum” noise). This color scheme for cable connection will be the same from here on.

Figure 3: Turntable with its cable correctly installed.