Turntable advice please?

[broona]

Yeah, I mean, by the sounds of it you're buying "something" so why not add to an ecosystem you already use? Return the pair you bought and upgrade

Quite the pricy upgrade as it looks like only the Play 5 has an auxiliary input, and I then also lose the Alexa that my One has, think I'll just stick with what I've got.

 

[NickK]

I’d advise getting a cartridge alignment tool (looks like a plastic protractor) and a stylus loading gauge (the stylus sits on it and you can tune the force the arm applies to the record). Too much force will ruin the record and too little will skate or jump.

Lastly check the electrical resistance required for the preamp. It should give you a value or range that the cartridge should have to match. Not doing that will result in audio distortion (including lack of lows and/or highs)

 

[broona]

I’d advise getting a cartridge alignment tool (looks like a plastic protractor) and a stylus loading gauge (the stylus sits on it and you can tune the force the arm applies to the record). Too much force will ruin the record and too little will skate or jump.

Lastly check the electrical resistance required for the preamp. It should give you a value or range that the cartridge should have to match. Not doing that will result in audio distortion (including lack of lows and/or highs)

Most of that is way over my head, lol! Does the electrical resistance bit still count for a built in pre-amp, or only an external one?

 

[kitfit1]

Most of that is way over my head, lol! Does the electrical resistance bit still count for a built in pre-amp, or only an external one?

I'm not in the least bit surprised it's way over your head. And your right, for a built in pre-amp or external...............especially with a moving magnet cartridge............there is no need for any of what @NickK said.
All the low end Project decks come with the cartridge installed......................it's just plug and play.
If you had a Michell Orb with an SME V arm and £2k's worth of stylus on the end of it..........................then absolutely you would need all that he said. The fact is, you have none of that, so don't even bother about it.

 

[lucid]

There's a time and place for stuff such as alignment protractors, scales etc.

Scales are useful, but only if the arm has some way to adjust the tracking force. The Goodmans and its ilk don't, so all you're able to do is check that the stylus is tracking somewhere around the 3.5 - 4.5gms it's designed to do.

A Pro-Ject tonearm can be adjusted, but the counterbalance markings are fairly accurate anyway,but for peace-of-mind and just for dicking about with a new toy it's fun to measure.

Alignment protractors... Good tool, but not all cartridges have nice rectangular sides which make any adjustment simpler. Also, how level the tonearm is can be important, but again, only if the arm's pivot post has the ability to be raise or lowered. Not all arms have this.

Measuring the resistance.... Here be dragons.

A phono preamp has impedance not just resistance. That's a combination of resistance, capacitance and inductance. No one messes around with this stuff for Moving Magnet cartridges. Once someone gets in to moving coil carts' then it starts to become more of a thing, but you're not going to put a £300+ MC cartridge on the end of a tonearm of a £200 turntable.Nor are you going to find a turntable with a built-in phono pre-amp with any kind of adjustment.

If you want to buy accessories start with a good carbon fibre record brush.

 

[NickK]

There's a time and place for stuff such as alignment protractors, scales etc.

Scales are useful, but only if the arm has some way to adjust the tracking force. The Goodmans and its ilk don't, so all you're able to do is check that the stylus is tracking somewhere around the 3.5 - 4.5gms it's designed to do.

A Pro-Ject tonearm can be adjusted, but the counterbalance markings are fairly accurate anyway,but for peace-of-mind and just for dicking about with a new toy it's fun to measure.

Alignment protractors... Good tool, but not all cartridges have nice rectangular sides which make any adjustment simpler. Also, how level the tonearm is can be important, but again, only if the arm's pivot post has the ability to be raise or lowered. Not all arms have this.

Measuring the resistance.... Here be dragons.

A phono preamp has impedance not just resistance. That's a combination of resistance, capacitance and inductance. No one messes around with this stuff for Moving Magnet cartridges. Once someone gets in to moving coil carts' then it starts to become more of a thing, but you're not going to put a £300+ MC cartridge on the end of a tonearm of a £200 turntable.Nor are you going to find a turntable with a built-in phono pre-amp with any kind of adjustment.

If you want to buy accessories start with a good carbon fibre record brush.

Impedance isn't that bad - basically by simply being aware of the required impedance range and the cartridge impedance you will be fine. If that's a fixed unchangable or one-cart model then you're sorted. Long answer short - the more the impedance mismatch the more effect it will have on the sound. Sounds like you'll be fine then