How can I get my JVC Record player hooked up to the speakers?

I have an old JVC Record player. I have a receiver, an equalizer and the turntable along with two JVC Speakers. When I put the arm down on a record, I can hear the faint music. We've tried almost every combination of wires into both the receiver and the equalizer. We plugged the turn table into the receiver and the receiver into the wall. We put the wires into both speakers and then into the back of the receiver. The red and white wires were also plugged in. We can get the receiver on and the turntable and equalizer on but nothing plays through the speakers. We switched around the red and black sides on both and switched both cables. We also even used every single outlet for the wires into the back of the receiver, switched around and all. We switched the red and white cables as well. We had phono on, the AC outlets were also on. Can anyone help? Much appreciated.