Nick, No. The vast majority of cartridges are inherently balanced output. So it is possible to use a true balanced connection from the cartridge to the phono input. It especially makes sense to do so if you have a truly balanced phono stage. Such products are still rather rare, but they do exist. Atma-sphere preamplifiers, MP1 and MP3, are examples of such. The connection from the cartridge requires three discrete wires (positive and negative "hot" wires derived from what are labeled "hot and ground" on the cartridge body, and a separate ground) into an XLR connector, rather than the two normally associated with RCA connection ("hot" and "ground", as per the color-coded labels on the cartridge body).
Long cables from turntable or phono stage
Hi I have a question that involves a compromise. I have a turntable that (for various reasons) has to be positioned a little distance from the hifi, about 4m of cable. Would it be better to connect the turntable (transcriptors hydraulic reference, ADC XLM ii) to the phono stage (moon 110LP) then run long singled ended cable to the amplifier or should I run long extension cable from the turntable to the phono stage and use a short interconnect from the phono stage to the amplifier? For visual reasons the latter is better. Any thoughts?
(Amp is plinius tautoro/SA103, speakers confidence C1 Dynaudio, tautoro is the line stage only version).
(Amp is plinius tautoro/SA103, speakers confidence C1 Dynaudio, tautoro is the line stage only version).