Phono Cable "breakout"

Spread the RCA plugs by slitting the main jacket? Then wrap the slit with electrician tape..

If I understand the issue correctly with your setup, since the VPI tonearm has RCA jacks you can resolve it by using most standard RCA interconnects which are generally two separate cables. This would eliminate any problem with the wide spacing of the input jacks on your phono stage. If you need to connect a ground wire to eliminate hum (although many times it is not needed with VPI tables) you can use a separate single conductor wire for the ground connection. The ground cable does not have to be integrated with the RCA cables and you can use any reasonable quality conductor that can be connected to the ground posts. Hope this helps!

I thought of that, Schipo, but it would be bad for resale, I think. So, Bill, and trust me I do not know this, is there no real difference between interconnect and phono cable? I have been doing what you say to do for quite some time, but I have been considering it a weak link because it is not actually designed for phono. Hmm, makes me wonder how many people use regular interconnect on their VPI tables.

You need to try some different ones first. For phono, they do need to be shielded better in a lot of cases. RF from radio stations, AC hum, could leak into some. I don't use the braided/interweave type for phono. That design seems to have some hum IME. I go by what sounds good there.

Synergistic Research Tricon phono cables come as 2 separate RCA cables so that should also work for you. I am using SR Tricon with my VPI table also.

Tricon sounds interesting even though I cannot find one picture of the phono version, and no mention of it on the Synergistic website. Once again, I wonder if Tricon and Tricon phono are the same cable.

Any RCA interconnect can be used for phono, but since the cable is handling a much lower level signal than with line level sources some additional criteria should be considered. Suitable interconnects should generally be well shielded designs, since these cables are susceptible to picking up hum from any electromagnetic sources in close proximity. The cables should also have low capacitance which is particularly important for MM cartridges, since their sound is more significantly affected by capacitive loading than are MC cartridges. The bottom line is that you can really try any RCA cables with your setup and just see which sound best to you.

Since audio began, we didn't have cables labeled for phono until recent years that I knew of, or at least payed any attention to them. I've tried some that friends loaned to me since they're always trying something new. My regular cables seems to sound better than some of the ones that are labeled as phono, in the same price range,or pricier sometimes, from the same companies. Like I mentioned above, try them first and go by the sound. The only ones that don't seem to work is the braided type do to poor shielding I'm guessing, plus some of them don't specs to compare . I use low output MC and MM cartridges. I wouldn't be surprised if some record companies just use coax, standard IC's to see how a record sounds fresh of the press.

I wonder how many companies do use basically the same cables for phono in just a different box or packaging not to loose sales. If they work great already, why change them. Here is an example of what I mean. Top of page ad.[http://buy.audiogon.com/cgia/fsb.pl?0&1&t2http://buy.audiogon.com/cgia/fsb.pl?0&1&t2]

Sorry, thank link takes you to a different home page. Here's
a copy & paste of the ad.
75% OFF - MIT Cables - HDMI
Clearance - Making way for new Packaging
Various lengths. Factory Warranty. Exceeds 1.3c standards. From 1 M to 50 Feet available. 75% OFF ALL LENGTHS! Discount is applied at checkout.