REK O CUT preamp does not produce good audio into PC sound card

[kn4hhptc]

I just received a REK O KUT Ultra Phone Preamp. I direct connected my 78 RPM turntable cartridge to the Turntable 1 input and connected the output to the Line In jack on my Windows 10 PC. When I play a record, all I hear are bursts of very distorted audio. I tried the same setup on another PC with the same results. I then directly connected the preamp output to a set of powered PC speakers. The record played normally.
I would appreciate any suggestions on how to remedy this problem.

Many thanks, Bob W

[Craig Maier]

No sure, but it sounds like the soundcard is being over-driven. Usually that means that the settings for the soundcard are set for mic input rather than line level input. The fact that it sounds ok via a set of powered PC speakers is the key hint since those speakers are line level input only. Try to find the soundcard application and find the checkbox or settings for the input level and select line level.

Craig

[kn4hhptc]

Thanks, Craig. Yes, it does sound like overload. I should have thought of that. My sound card has a line in which I selected. However, the gain control is ahead of the input. I will try using an attenuator between the preamp and the sound card.
thanks again,
Bob W.

[Craig Maier]

Some soundcards do have an internal attenuator that can be activated via the soundcard's control panel. This is especially true with laptop computers that only have one analog port, Most desktops have three analog ports consisting of a Mic Input, Line Output and lastly a Line Input. However, most laptops these days just have that one single analog port used for either analog input or output. Makes things kind of tricky.

[Marc Hildebrant]

Bob W,

Could you explain the gain control you mentioned that is ahead of the input?

Marc

[kn4hhptc]

Thank you all for your input. It is time for me to fess up and admit my error. I checked out my cartridge/stylus assembly and discovered that it is ceramic.
I recently replaced my turntable with a Audio Technica with a magnetic cartridge. The turntable drives the Ultra Phono Preamp perfectly and the resulting audio in my PC sound system is excellent.
Thank you again for your valuable comments.

Bob W.

[Craig Maier]

That would explain things; a ceramic/piezoelectric cartridge produces about ten to twenty times greater output signal compared to a typical moving magnet cartridges. Also, the frequency response has a different shape (based on the physics of the difference between the two technologies) and the terminating resistance are also quite different.

Craig