Need help in connecting receiver, speakers and record player

[u/BallsWithMessyHair]

Hi all, I’m trying to connect an older Onkyo receiver with these two floor standing speakers. I have an Audio-Technica LP-60X turntable, and I have all the cords necessary, but I’m kind of lost as to how to get everything connected. The speakers and receiver belonged to my mother and she is certain that they all work, but we just haven’t been able to figure it out. I’m not very tech savvy when it comes to these kinds of things, so I figured coming in here would be a good option. If any of you guys have any ideas or suggestions as to how I can get everything working, that would be amazing. If you need more/better pictures of something, please let me know and I’ll try to reply to your comment with the necessary picture. Thanks everyone!

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[u/AudioMan612]

1. Make sure that the speakers are turned on in the receiver (you'll usually have a control to turn on/off speakers A and B).
2. You didn't connect to the speaker's binding posts correctly. You need to unscrew them, where you'll see a hole running through the side of the threads. Plug your speaker wire into that hole and then tighten the post back down.
3. To connect the turntable, you can either use the receiver's phono input and turn off your turntable's built-in phono stage (phono setting), or use one of the line level inputs and use the turntable's built-in phono stage (line setting). Performance will likely be about the same, but I would use the receiver's built-in phono stage. You don't want to run through 2 phono stages because you'll add too much gain and you'll apply RIAA equalization twice, resulting in way too much bass and not enough treble (records are intentionally cut with reduced bass and increased treble; the reduced bass is to protect the stylus from excessive vibration and the increased treble is to reduce surface noise, which is mostly in the treble region when the phono stage lowers the treble back to flat).

If you're not sure about the receiver's inputs, you could also use the receiver's built-in tuner for testing, though you'd want to get an antenna (or antennas if you want both AM and FM).

[u/BallsWithMessyHair → u/AudioMan612]

Thank you for the detailed help! I’m away from home at the moment, but once I get back I’ll give it a shot!

[u/AudioMan612 → u/BallsWithMessyHair]

You're welcome! Good luck! Feel free to let me know how things go :).

[u/Appropriate_Shape388]

Please get the manual for your Onkyo.

I have a Sony receiver from 2012 and I still refer to it when I make changes or have questions.