Dear Luis,
First of all many congratulations on taking possession of
one magnificent “beast” of a turntable. I’m sure it will quell the desire to
upgrade for years to come. :)
As an aside, I note the manufacturer of the Kairos states
that they now offer the option of using your own external phono cable via a DIN
connector at the base of the assembly. Reason given is, quote, “to minimise
transmission of vibration to the phono cable”. (I interpret this as reducing
external vibration to the more sensitive internal wiring of the tonearm.)
This is an interesting departure from the concept of the
one-piece cable loom. (Clearly it’s an opportunity to sell in-house phono cable
also.
FYI I don’t subscribe to single piece looms as I find them problematic
in several ways.)
Did you choose the Durand product or go with your own cable?
Another positive aspect of the DIN connector (other than the
ones declared by the manufacturer) is that it prevents accidents such as those
that occasionally plague e.g. the Tri-planar, where the 1 year old grandchild
toddles around into the crawl space behind the turntable and proceeds to yank
the tonearm’s “chain”. :D
Later, the poor owner turns up wondering what’s gone wrong
with his system and eventually realises the arm pivot is “snagged”. ;)
Not many audiophile have a propensity for pulling on tonearm
cables so in the grand scheme of things I’d say it was fairly safe either way.
;)
As you may have gathered, I do endorse the use of the DIN
connector as a one piece phono cable is not THAT easy to clamp securely and guarantee
the outcome. Dressing of the cable to minimise vibration is something I’ve
played around with over the years as it does influence the final sound (and one
can easily hear the difference “blind”, even doing comparatively simple things).
It would be interesting to know more about Durand’s
reasoning & approach to the subject…but don’t let that stop you enjoying
yourself. :)
Kind regards,
Bill
