I have learned alot about turtables, difference cartridges, and difference output levels of different turntables in the last couple of days. Heres what I found. The better turntables require the inline phono amplifier b/c of the low voltage levels. If a turntable with the low voltage output is plugged into the denon, it will sound terrible......weak. Based on this, I purchased a cheaper turntable b/c of my budget.....and it sounds great. No phono amp needed. I made my purchasing decision based on budget. Go with cheaper turntable that will work with denon, or go with more expensive that will require a external phono amp. Thanks for all the input.