As i was recording yesterday some great cd’s on tape, i couldn’t want to start with my vinyl ! So i looked into it and too my surprise i can’t find the ‘Phono’ option in the dcc presets menu. That’s a bummer. But i’m totally ‘dcc-noob’ to know how to solve this problem on my own (i’m also electronics-noob). Can anybody tell me if i can record my phono records to dcc and how to do that? Or is of just impossible on nu model ?
Cheers
It depends on your turntable, which brand / model is it?
If it has outputs at line level then you just connect it to the analog inputs (REC) of the 951 and select the AUX 1/2 analog input.
If its outputs are at phono level then you need to boost the signal level with a separate phono pre-amp or connect it through a receiver / (pre)amplifier with a dedicated phono input.
Ton,
If you have an old-style conventional turntable (Technics, Pioneer, Sony etc. etc. etc.), then it will first have to be connected to an amplifier to bring the tiny signals up to ‘normal’ levels. That is the reason why most amplifiers have a special ‘PHONO’ input. This input has circuitry that takes care of the levels and also applies the correct RIAA equalization curve. Then use the output (tape out) of that amplifier to go to the DCC input and it will record just fine (in AUX or TUNER or whatever mode).
There are also external boxes, called ‘phono pre-amplifiers’, that will do exactly the same and can be connected directly to a line-level input.
If you have a turntable that is different from the description above, like some modern versions, I refer you to other people who have more experience with that situation.
-Philip.
Philip, i indeed have a old-style conventional turntable (pioneer pl-510a). It’s not a philips but hej…it was my granddad’s turntable 
My Turntable is all hooked up on a special ‘phono’ input on the amp. So now i have to connect the AUX from my Amp to the REC of the DCC Player and it should work. I’m gonna try that and come back to it.
Thanks for your answer !
The REC input of the DCC recorder should be connected to the tape recorder REC output of your amplifier. And the PLAY input of the amplifier should obviously go to the PLAY outputs of your DCC recorder.
Connecting the REC input to the AUX input of the amplifier is not going to work.
===Jac
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Jac,
On my Amp (fa930) there are only IN’s and OUT’s, and that’s already a big mystery for me. My TAPE on my AMP is already taken by a tapedeck. I should connect the DCC to the DCC’s IN and OUT on the AMP (then the DCC is out of connections). The only connection on my AMP that is free is the TV/AUX/VCR, so i hook up the DCC Rec to OUT on the Amp and the DCC Play to the IN on the Amp…but then the ‘dcc’ option on my amp will not work anymore and then i have to choose ’ TV/AUX/VCR’ is it like so ?
Sorry, I didn’t catch that you have an amplifier that has dedicated DCC inputs and outputs. That’s where you should connect it of course: The (analog) DCC IN on the amplifier should be connected to the (analog) PLAY outputs on the recorder and the (analog) DCC OUT on the amplifier should be connected to the (analog) REC inputs on the recorder. For the analog connections, make sure you don’t switch left and right: the white connector is left and the red connector is right, on both ends of the cable.
I see this amplifier also has digital connections: The (digital) DCC IN on the amplifier should be connected to the (digital) PLAY OUT on the DCC recorder, and the (digital) DCC OUT on the amplifier should be connected to the (digital) REC IN on the DCC recorder. You should also connect the digital output from your CD player to the digital CD in on the amplifier. With digital, both channels (left and right) go over the same cable so there is only one cable for each direction (play/rec). If you want, you can use a single stereo cable to connect both digital play and digital record between the DCC recorder and the amplifier.
In addition to the audio cables, you can also connect a single coax cable between one of the ESI ports on the amplifier and one of the ESI ports on the DCC recorder. It doesn’t make a difference which ports you use. If you also have a CD player that has an ESI bus connection, connect that to the other ESI port on the amplifier or the other ESI port of the DCC recorder (either is fine). That way, I think (but I’m not sure) you can do CD Synchro recording: When you start a recording on the DCC recorder, the DCC player will automatically start playing.
You may have to go through the Options menu on the DCC951 to tell it which input to use for which recording source. You will want to set the CD recording source to COAX so the DCC recorder records the signal from the CD player digitally (via the amplifier). Other settings depend on your preferences. For PHONO recording, you will want to set the preference in the Options menu to ANALOG for the AUX recording source. Then when you want to record a vinyl record, switch your amplifier to Phono and switch the recording source on the DCC recorder to AUX. Sorry, I don’t remember exactly how to do that; I think you push the REC/PAUSE switch multiple times to switch sources. When recording through the analog input, you will have to adjust the recording level so the dB values don’t go over -9 dB or so. For digital recordings, you can’t adjust the recording level because the recording is a digital copy.
All of this information should also be in the manuals for the FA930, the DCC951 and your CD player which are probably available online. The manuals probably also have some drawings to clear all this up.
Hope this helps!
===Jac
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Jac, Philip,
Philip´s answer already got me thinking. After i made some connections which did not work, i started to hook everything up ´the way it should´. But still i was wondering about the DCC´s presets…I thought that if i set the DCC presets to (let’s say) Aux 1, the DCC would record from the AUX in and out’s of the Amplifier ! But that’s not the case ! The DCC only needs the presets for the recording levels (more or less). So i tried it and my levels were to high at first but the DCC gives a warning on the display (the message on the display = OVER). After adjusting the recording level to 3 it all worked like a charm !!
I’m a happy camper right now
Thanks guys for your answers and putting me in the right direction.
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Right. The Philips engineers figured that a source switch with “Analog” vs “Coax” vs “Optical” would be too complicated, so they made it even more complicated by adding an Options menu. Most people probably had a smart nephew who could figure it out and program it, or something.
===Jac
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