Advise on Long Phono Cable run
You can find a mint condition
PS Audio GCPH MM/MC Phono Preamplifier under $600. https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-6naz0isypk/images/stencil/2048x2048/products/27530/190549/2u6BN4o__2... https://www.hifishark.com/model/ps-audio-gcph |
Hello JagJag. You probably know that very long microphone cables are common at performance venues. Good quality microphone cables are not expensive especially when compared to some of the fancy "audiophile" cables being sold today. If you can solder, it's easy and cheap to try a few potential solutions. Microphone cables have generally two signal wires and a ground wire or they may use the shield for the ground. A DIY specialist carries a Chinese wire that imitates really good Belden cable. I have used it with excellent results. The trade name is "Talent." I think we are not supposed to mention dealers, etc. I'm not trying to be cute. TRY #1: At the turntable, connect the left channel wire to the white conductor and the right channel to the red conductor. This way you only have to run one piece of cable to your amp. Try not to run the wire parallel to any AC power cables. At the amp end, connect the white conductor and ground to a phono plug for the left channel and the red conductor and ground to a phono plug for the right channel. (A million people with no experience will tell you this won't work. Ignore them, this is worth a try. If it doesn't work out for you, you will know how long to cut the next wire.) TRY #2: Don't cut a second wire yet! If you get all your music on this system from records, this trick should work. At the phono cartridge, switch the wires for one of the channels. One channel will now be out of phase with the other. At the speaker for that channel, reverse the polarity of the speaker wires. Only make the change for one channel. (You are still using the wire from TRY #1.) Is the hum problem solved? If no, TRY #3: Cut another cable the same length as the one for TRY ##1. Connect the red wire to ground along with the shield and the white wire to the center pin of the phono plug (on both ends). Now you have a sheilded, "twisted pair" cable. Modify your first cable the same way. This does away with oddball terminations on the first cable. Connect the cartridge and the cables the conventional way. Less hum? Sound good? If that doesn't work, and you absolutely MUST have the turntable so far away, TRY #4: Get some high quality, double shielded (braid and foil) cable like your cable company uses to connect the set top boxes to the cable company's feed at the curb (it is often called RF cable or just RF Co-ax), put phono connectors on both ends, try that. You can start with one channel just to see if it works and avoid some work if you don't like the results. If it doesn't work, you can use those cables you made to connect a small phono preamp box right behind your turntable to the amp. It will beat most other cables out there. Happy Soldering! |
Hey Guys, Yes, get a phonostage !! My phono cables are 1.5 meter from cartridge pins to inputs on either phonostage. I can play my system a Low, Medium or High volume with satisfiying results !! This setup, is by personal choice. I do not like the setups that I see on virtual systems. All gear racked up between the speakers. Gear and especially TTs , Out of the room, IMHO. Thus, I need a long pair of ICs to accomplish this. I was a Spectral owner for 20 years. With a pair of Avalon Opus speakers. ( 2c3D ) system. Loved it, all these years. At Axpona 2016, I decided to totally revamp / upgrade my entire system Just wanted a change in sound and some extra convenient features. My current system is: Kuzma Stabi S w/ 12" VTA arm and 1.5 meter cable |
You probably know that very long microphone cables are common at performance venues.@bommerbillone The reason this works for microphones and not cartridges is pretty important! Microphones are typically driving an input transformer which is properly loaded on its secondary- eliminating any issues with electrical resonance. Microphones also have considerably more output. You might want to take a look at this article, which shows what the engineering issue is with electrical resonance: http://www.hagtech.com/loading.html |
