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I have an old turntable which I now want to connect to my amp via a phono preamp. It of course has inputs for both MC and MM pickups. Since I didn't buy the turntable or the pickup, I don't know which one it is. How can I tell?

PS: I'm not sure if I used the right terms since I'm not a native english speaker. Feel free to correct me :-)

André Stannek
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    Would need to know the make & model of the pickup to know for certain. Rule of thumb would be if it's an expensive deck, MC, if cheap, MM [but that would still be a guess] The terms stand for Moving Magnet & Moving Coil, btw. – Tetsujin Apr 01 '15 at 16:48
  • I actually know what they are and what the difference is. I just don't how to tell them apart. ;-) The turntable is an Akai AP003. No idea if the pickup is the original one though. Doesn't have any type on it. Appart from my case I like to know a general way how to tell them apart. – André Stannek Apr 01 '15 at 16:54
  • It always helps if you add known information, it saves duplicated effort. Anyway, that's a fairly low-end mass market turntable, I'd be surprised if it was MC. Still would need the actual cartridge details - you never know if it was swapped. As the coil & magnet are internal, I doubt you could tell non-destructively – Tetsujin Apr 01 '15 at 17:18
  • I guessed that such a question about a specific model would be considered "too localized" so I generalized it on purpose. This way it might help others. Besides that you have a point :-) – André Stannek Apr 01 '15 at 17:23
  • Just trying it showed two things: it's MM and I need a new one anyway because it sounds like crap :-D Still interested in a general solution that's not trial and error. – André Stannek Apr 01 '15 at 17:55
  • I'm pretty sure there isn't one. Long cable plugged to the MC socket might do it, as it's likely to get duller over distance, more capacitance-sensitive – Tetsujin Apr 01 '15 at 18:15
  • A better question might be "What is/how can I tell the difference between MC and MM phono cartridges?". (in audio terms that is) – user3169 Apr 01 '15 at 19:18
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    @AndréStannek There is no such thing as "too localized" on StackExchange anymore. The more details you can give about your problem, the better. – Ben Miller Apr 02 '15 at 02:59
  • @BenMiller Oh, that is indeed the case. I didn't noticed so far and missed the blog post about it. Thanks! – André Stannek Apr 02 '15 at 06:55

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