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Help Turntable too far from preamp

I just moved, and I decided to put my Rega P25 (with its RB600 tonearm) in my office where my computer is, because I will otherwise not have the chance to listen to records very often. I installed my Rega wall shelf where my stud finder said there were studs for all three screws, but this places my turntable right around a foot too far from where my integrated amp is, which is on top of my desk. The desk cannot be moved, and I can't put a stand closer to the turntable because then the desk drawers can't be opened. If I turn my integrated amp around so the front of the amp faces the rear of the desk, then the tonearm cables reach my amp, but my wife would not be very happy to see all the wires in plain view, not to mention the inconvenience of changing the volume or turning the amp on and off.

So the question is, what can I do about this without spending a lot of money or degrading the sound? (Eventually, I'd like to get a standalone phono preamp so I can use the tube amp currently hooked up to my TV, but right now I don't have the money to buy one as good as the one in my solid state integrated amp. I have a MM cartridge, so my fantasy solution of getting a MC transformer would not work, because then I'd have to buy a MC cartridge to go with it.) Should I get extension cables for my tonearm cable? If so, which ones? Any other ideas?
samuelfigueroa

Showing 1 response by nsgarch

nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
You can add a short pair of extension patch cords as Stanwal suggests, but if you're planning to use the setup this way for any length of time, and don't want to degrade the sound, I'd advise you to:
1.) have the TA cables cut short and terminated at the TT base with a Cardas or other RCA connector box made just for that purpose. Then you can use any pair of quality IC's of the right length to connect to the integrated. And don't forget that with MM carts. you need to add in the capacitance of the cables to determine the proper capacitive loading (or un-loading ;-) at the phono preamp.
2.) have Incognito do their famous Rega tonearm internal re-wire, fitting it with a proper length cable (an extra foot or two won't make a difference if it's good shielded cable.)
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