I needed to replace my old surround sound stereo because it lacked HDMI inputs so I put it to use as my audio stereo only problem was no input for a turntable which is why I bought this phono pre-amp. It was very easy to hook up and have noticed no difference in sound than with my old receiver which had a dedicated phono input. Its small enough to sit on top of my receiver while in the cabinet so its out of sight. Its getting harder to find stereos with phono inputs and for those of you that already have a surround system without a phono input this is a good solution. You can spend alot more on one of these and maybe the audiophiles of the world can hear the difference but for the casual listener this should work fine.