how long interconnect for MM cart?

I am running a one meter cable connected to the termination box at the back of my turntable. There is another two feet of wire in the tonearm and up to the termination block.

My cartridge is only .25 MV output and I am driving a tube phono stage with no problems. My cable run is Purist Dominus, and I am told that 1.5 meter works even at this ultra low output. Your cartridges higher output is likely good for your longer run.

Just for safety, is there a chance your dealer would loan you a 2.5 meter for testing?

pcanis: in an analogue setup i had prior to my present one, i ran a half-meter balanced pair of ic's from my tt termination box to the seperate phono stage and a 7 meter pair of balanced ic's and like length of umbilical from the phono stage to the line stage/shared power supply. my mc cartridge's output was .3mV. this setup had more than enough gain and NO background noise at 10dB greater than "normal" listening levels. i'm not sure what sort of ic's you use between your tt and pre with phono, but it sounds like you may have a din>rca pair. i agree with albert. a 2.5 meter pair should work but i'd sure like to try it out first. -cfb

as always, thanks for the fast responses. I did some remeasuring, and am now getting 2.3 meter runs installed between the TT and the preamp/phono. I will get the table back in a week. I'll let you all know how it works out. The guy at the shop told me the only thing I would have to worry about would be the interconnects turning into a CB antenna, but I dont live near an interstate ;)

This is, btw, a rewiring job: my interconnects are pre-attached, so this is all about having a shop install a new length of interconnect. If it works, I've just saved my quite nice living room set up. If it fails, oh well, I'm just out the 50 dollar charge the shop is charging me for the rewiring ---- err, wait a sec, add another 50 for having it rewired BACk to a 1 meter length! Ah well, such is the hi-fi hobby, money comes, and boy does it go FAST.

pcanis

You also have to think about the capacitance of the cable.
Typical ballpark figure is 100pF/metre, so 2.5 metres will give you 250pF in addition to that of the Phono stage and the tonearm leads.

The ideal loading capacitance for an MM cartridge is 250pF, so the interconnect should be kept short.

Brian