Vinyl listner

You will need a pre-amplifier of some sort--the turntable will not put out enough voltage to drive your speakers directly.

Option 1: a dedicated phono pre-amp with a built in volume control which steps up the voltage to what is considered "line level." This could then drive a powered speaker pair but you really won't have any system flexibility.

Option 2: a full-function pre-amp, but be sure it has a built-in phono stage (again, to step up the very low voltage cartridge to line level voltage). If you get a pre-amp that does not have a built-in phono stage, then you'll need an outboard pre-amp as noted above however it need not have a volume control.

FYI, a full-function pre-amp that does not include a phono stage is often referred to as a line stage.

Hope this helps!

Option 3: a receiver equipped with the phono stage as noted in option 2.

Of all, option 2 will give you the greatest long term flexibility. If you are like many of us here you will start a journey that will have many future twists and turns!

The audioengine A5+ has a remote volume control so you really only need a basic phono stage. It does not need a volume control. Unless you want to be able to listen to other sources, that is all you need.

What if I was to use an a/v receiver? Would that also work as well?