Best place to connect phono preamp to Fisher 500C?

Of course, the 500C has a phono stage. It would be usable for moving magnet or high output moving coil cartridges, but too low gain for low output moving coil units. Peter Breuninger describes the 500C's inputs in his review in the June 2005 issue of Stereophile, from which I quote:

"The 500-C's amplifier section has five front-end inputs: two phono inputs and a tape-head input (all three of these use the phono stage but with different equalization options selected), a monitor input, and an Aux input. The phono/tape-head stage uses one 12AX7 tube per channel for about 20dB of amplification. A Sumiko Blue Point Special high-output MC phono cartridge is a good match gain-wise, but for lower-output MCs, it's best to use a step-up transformer to lower the noise floor."

With this, I would probably opt for using the "Aux" input for an outboard phono preamp. This would preserve the "Monitor" input as a logical choice for a line level tape source or for use with a processor loop.

Thank you for your response. The Linn presently has a Trak cartridge which doesn't work with any of the inputs. I also have an original Naim setup that was purchased with the Linn. It is a NAP250 amp, NAC 42 passive preamp, and Snaps power supply. The Linn sounds great with this setup but can not compare with the Fisher and my NAD Cd player. I really prefer the tube sound. I have been experimenting with marrying the two systems, any thoughts?
Regards

Are you able to use the NAC 42 as a phono preamp stage which would input into the Fisher? The NAC 42 outputs are DIN connectors, not RCA phono plugs, so connecting to the Fisher would require a DIN to RCA interconnect. Also, since the NAC 42 is a designed to work with the NAP 250, it is unclear if the output impedance and voltage level are compatible with the Fisher. If you have the appropriate interconnect, you could try it. Otherwise, I would go ahead with your earlier proposed plan of just getting a phono preamp and playing the Linn via the Fisher.

I have a 4 pin DIN to RCA phono cable. I am a little unclear where to plug into the Fisher. I have been told to use the tape out on the Fisher. A little nervous, don't want to short anything out. Getting confusing, may just go with my original idea, although I am very curious, I like the idea of the seperate power supply of the Naim.

If you use the tape out on the Fisher, would you not be connecting the output of the Fisher to the output of the NAC 42? If so, this might cause damage.

Instead, my thought was to connect the output of the NAC 42 to an INPUT of the Fisher. This would send the signal from the turntable through the NAC 42 and into the Fisher. The 4-pin DIN plug would be plugged into the only 4-pin DIN socket available on the back of the NAC 42, the one labeled "output." The other end of the interconnect would be plugged into the two RCA sockets on the back of the Fisher labeled "Aux" or "Aux In." Before turning anything on, make sure you have the volume on the NAC 42 and the Fisher both turned all the way down, then start by turning the Fisher up 1/4 or 1/3 of the way then turn the NAC 42 up until the volume is good for you. Good luck.

The Fisher 500C has a phono input, but it is designed for moving magnet type output levels, whereas your Linn cartridge has a much lower output. With your current equipment, probably the simplest thing to do is to plug the Linn arm output into your Naim 42 Preamp phono input, which is presumably designed to take the low output of the Linn cartridge and amplify and EQ it to a line level, then take the OUTPUT (either line output or tape output) of the Naim preamp into the Aux input of the Fisher. IIRC Naim likes to use DIN cables for all their inputs and outputs, so you will have to get a DIN to RCA converter cable to go from the Naim preamp into the Fisher.

The other alternative is to get a MC transformer or head amp to amplify the output of the Linn cartridge to a level that it can be input into the phono section of the FIsehr. However, you should be warned that the Fisher phono preamp is not up to modern standards in terms of RIAA EQ accuracty, being rolled off in the midbass and bass (sloping down from around 100-200 Hz to approximately 2 dB down at 50 Hz, and several more dB down at 20 Hz), which will tend to make the sound somewhat thin.

I don't know who suggested using the tape ouput of the Fisher as an input but whoever it was doesn't know what he or she is talking about. The tape OUTPUT of the Fisher is designed to send a signal (FM or phono) OUT to an external tape recorder, hence the OUTPUT designation. It is not designed as an INPUT, which is what you want to do to with the signal from your LP12/external phono stage.

I use my Linn LP-12 with a Fisher 400. I bought a step up preamp from KAB and he modified it to boost the .23mV output of my Dyna 17D2 to the 4.5mV needed by the Fisher. Works great. The Fisher is great at preserving the PRaT from the LP12.

I owned a Fisher 500C for a year, and enjoyed it a great deal.

(The following is recycled material from two years ago when I owned the Fisher. It is posted at www.audioasylum.com in the vintage asylum. There are some Fisher experts there, and lots of good info in the archives.)

"A few days ago someone asked how many line level inputs a Fisher 500C can handle. The answer is two.
I have a cd recorder that I connect to the tape in and tape out on the fisher. Today, I hooked up a spare tuner I have into the Fisher's AUX input. The tuner plays with the selector switch on tape. The cd player plays via the tape monitor.

An odd thing with the CD recorder is that if it is not powered on while listening to phono or FM, then the sound is very garbled. You can imagine the grief I went through before making that discovery! "

So, hook up the cd player to tape mon (definitely not tape out!), and the phono preamp into aux. You can listen to CD player via the tape monitor regardless of the position of the input selector, and to phono with the selector on tape - aux and the tape monitor off. Just make sure to leave your CD player on if the sound is garbled when listening to FM or phono.

Thank you everyone for all of the excellent information! It never ceases to amaze me how much knowledge can be found in these forums. I ended up buying a seperate phono preamp and have found the gain to be excellent. Thanks again!