How INPUT LP audio from turntable to MacBook Air 15-inch, M3, 2024

What equipment you need will depend on your turntable.

Traditional, high-quality, stereo component turntables have analog, phono-level outputs. There are two RCA jacks carrying audio for the left and right channels. There may also be a grounding wire to connect to a receiver to help control hum. This type of output needs to be processed by a preamp, to amplify the signal and apply the standard RIAA equalization curve. (The signal cut into the record de-emphasizes certain frequencies, and this needs to be reversed on playback.)

There are other types of output that are a bit more "cooked". Some modern turntables have

• Line output – which gives you the output from a preamp built into the turntable. You would not feed this output into a preamp, or into the special Phono jacks on a receiver. You'd just use it wherever you would use the line-level output from a CD/DVD/Blu-Ray player, tape recorder, DVR, etc.
• USB output, for a computer.
• Bluetooth output, for a computer.

I'm assuming that your turntable has either phono-level output or line-level output. In that case, you'll need at least one – and perhaps two – pieces of equipment.

• The first is a USB sound card that is Mac-compatible and that can digitize line-level stereo signals.
• If your turntable has phono-level output, you will also need a preamp (to put between the output of the turntable and the input of the USB sound card). I searched on the B&H Photo Video site for "phono preamp", then sorted by price. Three turned up that were less than $20. If your stereo receiver has a dedicated phono input, and also has line-level output (e.g., for sending audio to a tape deck or a TV), you may be able to use it as a preamp.

The most convenient way to connect the turntable to the MacBook would be via the Headphones jack, if that can be done successfully.

It might be possible to make a connection from the headphone jack on the Electra E200, but you would need to be careful with the volume, starting with it turned completely down, then slowly increasing it, to avoid overloading the inputs on the external sound card.

For line-level output, any of the following line-level outputs would probably do:

• The Left and Right Outputs from the X-LPS Phono Stage.
• The Line Out, Tape A Out, or Tape B Outputs from the Electra E200 Preamplifier

You would not want to connect the loudspeaker outputs from the X-A200 Power Amps to a USB sound card. Nor would you want to connect the outputs from the SL-200MK4 turntable to a USB sound card, unless you had some computer software that could simulate the function of the X-LPS Phono Stage.

My MacBook has 2 x Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports. I am still not sure how the connection should be done.

Most inexpensive sound cards connect via traditional USB (USB 2 or 3).

The USB-C ports on your Mac are multi-purpose ports that speak traditional USB, among other protocols. You might run into USB sound cards whose cables use traditional USB-A plugs. If so, there are many ways that you can get past that, including using an Apple USB-C to USB Adapter.

JohnnieSM wrote:

Do my components set out in the "chain" above include phono-level output and line-level output?

I can't find a complete set of specifications for the Technics SL-1200MK4 turntable. The Technics Support site has information about several other models in that series – but not that one. But from what I have gathered, it appears to be the sort of component turntable that one would expect to have phono-level output.

The next item in the chain confirms it.

Musical Fidelity – Archived Products – X-LPS Phono Stage Manual

This is a preamp (which apparently, in high-end audio circles, can also go by the name "phono stage"). It has two different sets of inputs depending on what particular type of phono cartridge (Moving Magnet or Moving Coil) your turntable has. The manual does not use the word "preamp," but it refers to "RIAA accuracy" (which I take to mean accuracy in applying the RIAA equalization curve), and the Connections section instructs you to "Connect the Left and Right Outputs from the X-LPS to an unused line level input (i.e. Aux, Line etc.) on your amplifier system."

Is your reference to my "stereo receiver" a reference to my Electra E200 Preamp. or one of the other components? Or to a Radio?

A stereo receiver is an "all-in-one" unit that combines the functions of

• A radio tuner,
• A phono preamp or phono stage (mandatory in the old days, not always present now)
• A switch box (for choosing between multiple input sources), and
• Power amps for two or more channels

Some audiophiles prefer to split functions up into multiple boxes.

Your system has

• A Musical Fidelity X-LPS Phono Stage that serves the role of a phono preamp.
• A Musical Fidelity Electra E200 Remote Control Stereo Preamplifier that serves the role of a switch box. From skimming the manual, it appears that by default, all of the inputs on the E200 are line-level inputs (see page 4). There was an option to pay a dealer to change the Option 1 and 2 inputs to be phono-level inputs; I'm guessing that you didn't do that, instead choosing to use a separate phono preamp (the X-LPS Phono Stage).
• Two Musical Fidelty X-A200 mono power amplifiers that take line-level output from the Electra E200, and that amplify it to produce signals for loudspeakers.

So basically, the E200 is giving you a remote-controlled volume control. The X-LPS Phono Stage is doing the work of applying the RIAA equalization curve – reducing the volume of high frequencies, relative to low ones, to reverse what the record companies did when they recorded your records.

Wikipedia – RIAA equalization

If nothing in the playback chain did that, your records would sound harsh, and too "trebly". But it should be done only in one place – which in your system, is in the X-LPS Phono Stage.

The other option might be to buy a turntable that has USB output, and that supports Macs.