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Help hooking up a new amp

I just bought a Belles Aria integrated amp.  I have a question about how to incorporate it into my system. My TT is going into the phonostage on the Belles. I have a Cocktail Audio X30 media streamer that is going to go into on of the inputs on the back of the Belles. Here is my question.  In my old set up, I had a phono preamp that would connect to the X30 and then the X30 would run into my AVR amp.  In that way, I could do needledrops of my LPs into the X30.  How can I achieve using the Belles and eliminating the preamp?  Would I run interconnects from the pre outs or mon outs from the Belles into the input on the X30?  The music would be going into the Belles from the TT and then out either the pre outs or mon outs into the X30. That should work, right? Thanks in advance.
128x128boneius
boneius's avatar
boneius OP
14 posts
 
@imhififan , thanks for your help, but I'm curious. Why wouldn't I connect the X30 analog out to one of the analog inputs on the Belles? Let's say I just wanted to listen to the X30 directly, wouldn't I just switch to one of my analog inputs? Is there an advantage to using the monitor "in" in that way?
erik_squires
16,121 posts
 
The mon outs will keep the volume control out of the way, so it's more convenient. Otherwise, if you use the pre outs you have to manually set the volume each time to avoid overloading the X30.

Best,

E
boneius's avatar
boneius OP
14 posts
 
If I decide I like my Yamaha's phonostage better, would I set it up as TT>Yamaha>Belles Analog in? If I just bypass tone control on the Yamaha, will I then be hearing the "sound" of the Belles without any influence from the Yamaha?
imhififan's avatar
imhififan
2,204 posts
 

Let's say I just wanted to listen to the X30 directly, wouldn't I just switch to one of my analog inputs? Is there an advantage to using the monitor "in" in that way?
That way you can listen to the phono stage of Belles Aria directly or from the X30 output during recording.
If I decide I like my Yamaha's phonostage better, would I set it up as TT>Yamaha>Belles Analog in?
If you connect the Yamaha 'REC OUT' to Belles Analog in, it bypass the Yamaha line stage altogether.
boneius's avatar
boneius OP
14 posts
 
So, my Belles came yesterday, and I hooked it up. I like it a lot so far. It was a demo, so it is broken in, but it has been in storage for about 6 months, so the dealer said it might take a day or two to open up. It sounds good now, but I’m not thrilled with the phonostage compared to my Yamaha C-4, so I put that back into the chain. Now it’s is all magic to my ears. Now I have a new dilemma. Right now I have the following chain: TT>Yamaha phono in, Yamaha pre out>Belles Mon in. If I want to listen to my Cocktail audio X30, should I go analog out from that to a line in on the Belles, or would it be better to have the Yamaha go into a line in, and the X30 do the mon. in? In other words, where do I want the fixed volume, coming from the preamp or from the X30?
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