Can good IC's be used instead of dedicated phono's


I would like to change the el cheapo cabling on my turntable.

I do own some pretty transparent signature 2 XLO interconnects that I no longer use.

Do I really need to get dedicated phono cables ?
sonicbeauty
Hi Lew,

We're both right, as I see it. But the basic underlying point I wanted to convey in my response is that if low capacitance is required for a particular application, focus should not be placed exclusively or even primarily on unshielded designs.

Blue Jeans LC-1, btw, is a coaxial cable, with the shield (actually a double shield) serving as the return conductor. So comparison with an unshielded cable that is otherwise similar would not be meaningful or possible, as such a cable would not work. On the other hand, I agree that a cable design having both the signal and the return conductors within a shield, when compared with an otherwise identical cable having no shield, would have higher capacitance.

Best regards,
-- Al
If you use a separate ground wire for your phono interconnect, be sure to try different types of wire for the ground. I recently discovered by accident that the type of ground wire made a significant difference sonically. In my case, the ground wire runs from my SUT box to the phono preamp. All it does at the SUT box end is ground the aluminum chassis in which the transformers are mounted. It is not electrically connected to the transformers or any other part of the audio signal path, yet it makes a major difference. Go figure.
Salectric, It doesn't "figure". The gauge of the wire might make a difference, since any resistance in the ground wire would potentially allow the component to "float" at some tiny voltage above ground, which could potentiate hum, but otherwise, I cannot fathom why the character of the wire would make a difference, assuming copper or silver in the first place. Was there any difference in gauge (thickness) of the conductor? Or is it possible that when you were changing the ground wire, you did a better job making contacts between the two chassis? (That could also have an effect.)
I agree it doesn't make logical sense (at least anything that makes sense to me). That's why I mentioned it. I didn't notice any correlation between wire gauge and sound qualities. I tried about a half-dozen wires including solid silver, solid copper, and stranded copper before settling on some DH Labs 12 gauge silver-plated stranded copper. Of the ones I tried, this had the most neutral tonal balance with good dynamics and detail.
Salectric, my guess is that the different grounding wires probably made a difference in the amount and/or frequency characteristics of ultrasonic or RF energy entering the phono stage. Either by making a difference in the effectiveness of the shielding provided by the enclosure, or by differences in antenna effects.

With many and perhaps most phono stages audible differences can be expected to result from significant differences in ultrasonic or RF energy that may be sent into them, as a consequence of intermodulation, demodulation, and similar effects. One evidence of that is the number of threads we've seen here over the years in which people have reported problems hearing radio stations when listening to phono sources.

Were all of the wires you tried approximately the same length, and were they routed and positioned similarly, relative to other cables, power cords, and components (especially those containing digital circuitry) that may have been nearby?

Length differences would affect inductance, which would affect grounding effectiveness at ultrasonic and RF frequencies. Significant length differences might also result in differing antenna effects. Differences in positioning might affect pickup of ultrasonic or RF energy radiating from nearby power cords, cables, or components.

Regards,
-- Al