I forgot,
thus, for phono playback: the bass has to be boosted back to normal, and the highs have to be cut back to normal. That is what the RIAA phono eq circuit does.
If a TT cartridge output is plugged into a line level input (without RIAA eq or signal strength boost), it will sound awful, no bass, screechy highs, and low volume, needing more pre-amp/amp signal boost, pushing either or both parts of the system up into noise/distortion range, especially tube equipment.
Believe it or not, early CD's, (early players costing $5k), some of the LP masters went directly to CD without RIAA eq, and the horror stories about CD's sounding awful resulted.
thus, for phono playback: the bass has to be boosted back to normal, and the highs have to be cut back to normal. That is what the RIAA phono eq circuit does.
If a TT cartridge output is plugged into a line level input (without RIAA eq or signal strength boost), it will sound awful, no bass, screechy highs, and low volume, needing more pre-amp/amp signal boost, pushing either or both parts of the system up into noise/distortion range, especially tube equipment.
Believe it or not, early CD's, (early players costing $5k), some of the LP masters went directly to CD without RIAA eq, and the horror stories about CD's sounding awful resulted.