Phono Cable

Nordost quattro fil is insanely expensive for little cable when you think of it, but it was a heck of an upgrade in my system.

I use som Van den Hull cable, a hybrid, sorry, can't remember the name, cable is terminated with Neutrik plugs and cost around $60 per metre, no plugs. Sounds brilliant! Michiel.

If we are talking phono tonearm cables, the one to beat is the SilverAudio Silver Breeze. I use a balanced ARC PH2 and for 5 years I used the ARC balanced phono cable. When I tried the Silver Breeze, I could not believe all the detail and resolution I had been missing all those years. At $400 it was not cheap, but compared to so many others, it's a great deal. Call Max at SilverAudio (www.silveraudio.com) and he will let you try it out. Mine has the Din-to-XLR but most are Din-to-RCA.

I am also about to upgrade my phono cable and I have been hearing good things about both the Van den Hul D502 and the SilverAudio Silver Breeze. Has anyone actually compared these two (or with any others like the Nordost)?

Nobody has mentioned the Hovland. It too is incredible.

I've been happy for years with the Graham IC-30 running direct into my preamp; if you have a Graham arm, worth considering.

The siltech is very good, and pretty reasonable. Less than the Hovland, and the grounding scheme is so much better. I reduced the noise floor dramatically and increased dynamics and soundstaging quite a bit at the same time. Mine is an older model, which I think has been discontinued, but the new ones have the same grounding scheme. I think grounding is really significant with the low level signals coming off a moving coil.

rcprince- I do have a graham 2 arm and currently a XLO sig 3.1 phono cable. Have you compared the Graham cable to this or other cables? Thanx, Mark

Mark: I used to have the XLO 3.1 Signature, but I used it from an Expressive Technologies step-up transformer (used to have one of the early Transfiguration cartridges) to my preamp, in conjunction with the Graham cable running into the ET. I thought the XLO was very good, and would recommend it as another cable to consider for this thread. The difference in sound between it and the Graham would be hard to figure in that setup; I did feel that the bass was a little thicker and heavier with the XLO and Expressive vs. running the Graham right into the preamp, but I couldn't tell you if that was a function of the XLO, the Expressive or the lack of gain with that cartridge. If you are in the NYC/NJ area, let me know, you could bring over your cable, or I could bring mine so you could hear the difference yourself.

Rcprince- Thanx for the offer, I'm in Ohio. I run the XLO directly into a Klyne phono pre from the Graham and Miyabi cart. I like what I have, but appreciate the differences in cabling and hence the inquiry. I have an SACD player, which I think is great, however still prefer Vinyl, and am always looking to tweak the format. Thanx for your comments & offer. Mark

friend installed his older cardas and it made a quantum improvement in the resolution, detail was incredible from stock so off to the bank and cardas golden reference now in system and have never been more satisfied with tt as today. i was a skeptic until that day and now i am thinking tweak not new equipment as the avenue to improved music.