Home > Consumer Reviews > ART DJ Pre II Phono Preamp

A well made and nicely engineered product that is a bargain for under fifty dollars . The ART phono preamp sounds much better than the phono input on my Pioneer Receiver.
I wish the ART folks would market a more expensive and higher quality model that you could upgrade to if desired .

I just received this little gem today, and after I fired it up and listened to some classic rock on vinyl, all I can say is "wow". S/N ratio is great, no noticeable 60 HZ hum, and a great looking little high quality package. I got this for use with a spare input with my Yamaha C-45 preamp, as the phono circuit on the preamp was a little on the noisy side.

I was not disappointed at all. You really can't go wrong for the money.

Jan, 2009 update: My only real complaint about this is the lack of a power switch. It's always "on" when plugged in to the wall wart power supply. Other than that, I'm still very pleased for the little money spent on this unit.

April, 2009 update: I've gone back to using the phono preamp circuit on my Yamaha C-45 preamp hooked up to my dual Yamaha monoblock amps.... the ART DJ was way too noisy, and was not as warm sounding as the circuit built into my system preamp. The ART DJ is still a good buy, but just not to my tastes.

Great solution to the missing phono input on most of today's receivers. Plug and play. Works great.

About a year ago, I got a great deal on a 7 speaker surround sound system that was a vast improvement over my old (as in 20 years old) two-speaker stereo. The only catch was that the system did not come with a phono input and I still have over 100 LPs from the days of my youth. This fall, I decided it was time to start listening to records again, so I started shopping around on-line. I stumbled upon the ART DJ Pre II Phono Preamp and its more sophisticated sibling, the ART V2 USB Phono Plus DJ Preamp. I opted for the lower tech version (without USB, optical, and other output options) because my computer's sound card has RCA inputs and because I primarily just want to listen, not convert my old LPs and because I liked the $44. price tag on the Pre II. It took less than 10 minutes to have it on-line and playing an old favorite. It has a simple interface of an output knob, two in-out buttons for the input limiter and the low-end cut (to reduce rumble) and a VERY bright blue power light. I chose an 1960s release of Debussy favorites that had seen a LOT of play in my childhood on less than audiophile quality turntables. I was impressed at how little noise came through the system and was very pleased with the over-all results. Although I am a musician and love music of all kinds, I need to tell you that my ears often are unoffended by little things that my more discerning friends find fault with. I want to hear the music with as little background noise (hiss, pop, or rumble) as possible and the ART DJ Pre II does that for me. I did not need to the input cap or low cut filters that toggle on an off on the front of the unit, it just sounds great on my system. There are just two things I would like to change about it. I am a very power-conscious person and there is no on/off switch on the unit. Furthermore, it is a DC powered unit with an inverter brick that also stays warm whether the unit is in use or not. Eventually, I will rearrange my power strip for my entire system so that I can kill the power when I am not using it, but it annoys me that the unit can't be a little "greener". and speaking of colors, the ultra-blue LED power light actually hurts my eyes to look at it. I will probably solve this problem with a piece of electrical tape. A quarter the brightness would give me the information that I need: that is whether or mot the unit has power. Still, I am pleased with the unit and give it a qualified thumbs-up.

I purchased this preamp so I could enjoy using my turntable once again. I had recently gotten the turntable out and plugged it up to my wife's stereo, which has no phono inputs. I was disapointed to find that the volume level was virtually nonexistent, so I bought the preamp, actually, as a result of all the positive reviews on Amazon. I finally used it for the first time today, not with the stereo, but in conjunction with a CD burner tht I have. I tried to hook the turntable up to my laptop and use the Audacity software, but I wasn't able to get that to work (I think because I was plugged into the mic jack- my laptop does not have a line in). At any rate, I was able to create a .wav file and it sounded terrible. So, I got out my old Pioneer CDR burner that is a stereo component, and I plugged the turntable to the preamp and right into the Pioneer. I was quickly able to do an input check and monitor the recording level, and within minutes, I was recording my vinyl onto a CDR. I later imported the CDR to my computer using Rhapsody and I have to say, it sounds like I am listening to vinyl right out of my computer. I am very satisfied with the DJ preamp. It is easy to use, and I have had no noise introduced that some others have complained about, so I have not had to use the ground at all. I'm looking forward to plugging this up to my stereo and just listening to all my old albums. You can't beat the price, either. Nice product!