What are some good phono cable options for around $150ish and under? So far I’m looking at BJ LC-1 and Zu Audio Mission cables. This would be for between my Pro-Ject Debut Carbon DC Esprit and most likely (still looking) a MoFi StudioPhono preamp. I have an extra pair of Kimber Silver Streak cables but they don’t look insulated well enough. I’ll be running DH Labs Air Matrix from my preamp to KEF LS50 Wireless speakers. I’d like something I can grow out a little with as I incrementally upgrade things. Stylus (Blue 2M?) is probably next.
I think so, before Zu became a Loudspeaker manufacturer the company name was Zu Cable and their cables are high quality for sure. You can't go wrong with the Zu Mission, no matter first one or mk2. In fact even stock Zu Mission Phono is absolutely beautiful! I have soldered german DIN connector and using at least 3 of them for my arms (with stock RCA).
I run the ZU Audio phono cable on my modest system. I have the Project Debut Carbon DC with many upgrades, new platter, Herbies mat, arm lift, upgraded feet and Nagaoka MP110-H cartridge. I run the Schiit Audio phono preamp and a Marantz SR 7010 receiver preamped to a luxman M 117 amplifier. I picked up my ZU Audio cable on ebay and was very impressed with the quality of the cable for the price. I love the musicality and definition of this moderately priced system.
With the current 13% off deal, and the CA to US currency exchange rate, the price for a 1.2 M cable, with burn-in service, is $136.
I'm happy with mine. Noticed an immediate improvement over stock. I think the $10 CAD for the burn-in service is a bargain. This is a small signal cable, and could potentially take a long time to burn-in just playing music.
The reason Zu Audio is better is their own promotional auction style sales on ebay (directly from the manufacturer) for Mission Phono cables. Prices are sweet and cables are brand new. Everyone who's familiar with soldering will tell you it's top quality cable!
After noticing that my "vintage" Linn Basik table seemed have suffered from tonearm cable rat bites (!) when owned by the previous guy, I decided to look around for another cable. DIN to RCAs with a grounding line...none of the local "audio salons" had one, nor were they particularly interested in my dilemma...lame...so, I ordered a Jelco gold plug Mogami in pink...the only color available, and it’s amazingly good, with hum and noise rejection to a degree that renders that stuff a non issue.
I'll checkout the audiosensibilty ones too. How about another pair of DH Labs Silver Sonic Air Matrix? I could find a used pair in my range? I'm also eyeballing Belden 8402 w/Switchcraft RCAs. I'd just have to add a ground to either of those.
So no go on the DH Labs Air Matrix over the other options? I’m thinking of going that route between the phono preamp and turntable and staying consistent.
Dollar for dollar, I have found nothing better than Anti-cables, at several different price points. Anti-cables only recently started making phono cables, by which I refer to cables terminated at one end with a Cardas DIN plug and at the other end with KLE male RCAs or Xhadow male XLRs. This is coming from someone who generally makes his own cables (me). But I cannot do it as well or for much less cost than can Anti-cables. ~$500 gets you very close to the very top of their line, for a one meter DIN to RCA cable. That's what I just bought, and I am blown away.
The best cable is used cable, because it is already burned-in and cost 50% less than new. Once i paid $600 for $2000 Stereolab Master Reference Phono cable right here on audiogon. This is what i like about used cables (the price). Stereovox, Stereolab and now The Black Cat are all made by Chris Sommovigo. He’s a guy who invented Xhadow RCA and XLR mentioned by Lewm. Now his new connectors called the LoveCraft premium.
But today i will never spend even $500 for a cable. I really like Zu Audio copper Phono cables, i also like Signal Cable Silver Resolution which i am using with Xhadow RCAs.
My interconnect and speaker cables are Stereovox Colibri and Stereovox Firebird and i’m using them for decades.
In my opinion phono cable itself is about $150, the rest is the cost of the connectors that anyone can choose (Xhadow, WBT, KLE, LoveCraft etc).
In my opinion Xhadow RCA is the best connector in the world for DIYers. It does not require soldering of the signal (there is a screw), only ground.
BTW here is some more info about Master Reference Phono cable from Stereolab, this model is discontinued. I don’t know why some cable manufacturers are making new models every year, probably clever marketing.
The Duelund wire w/their RCAs are a giant killer. If you build them yourself, you'll be in it for $150. If Chris at www.partconnexion builds it, double that.
The Audiosensibility Impact SE copper cable is an outrageous bargain, and an even more outrageous bargain when the US to Canadian dollar exchange rate is factored in.
Significantly better than the Jelco cable, which I’ve owned, grossly superior to Van den Hul 502, which I also have here (wouldn’t have the heart to sell it to anyone) and currently retails for around $450 U.S. apparently. Also significantly better than a custom cable I had built using Cardas wire, Vampire RCA’s and a Cardas phono DIN.
The AS cable is cryoed (as were my Jelco and Cardas) and it is very worthwhile to pay Steve the nominal fee for burn-in on the cable before purchase.
I have two of them (originally bought one for a second arm and then immediately purchased another one to replace the Jelco) and was pretty shocked at the improvement they made over the Jelco and Cardas cables. The Van den Hul cable IMO is simply an extremely poor cable and value, even though it or a variation of it is the stock cable with the SME arms. (Full disclosure-I have never heard it with an SME arm).
OK, so barring any score on a used cable I’m probably going to go with the AS Impact SE. I’m still wondering about another pair of DH Labs Air Matrix cables. I can get a used pair for the same as the AS Impact SE. I’d just have to add a ground wire. Is it just a bad choice for a phono cable? Low end (pricewise) is the Zu Audio Mission which I can pickup on eBay for $50ish max.
I must have found the Jelco cable on Ebay somewhere...and now that I just checked, indeed there are several...type in Jelco Phono Cable and there ya go!
Zu Mission is a killer phono cable, but don't mix it up with Mission Interconnect which is cheaper. Phono cable is shielded, interconnect cable is not shielded. Zu Phono kills expensive phono cables, for real.
Second @wolf_garcia Jelco recommendation. I use these on both of my tables. I have tried the above mentioned Audiosensibility phono cables and was amazed how much better the Jelco one was for half the price. So I sent the Audiosensibility back. Why? Loss of air and detail and slower. Buy the Jelco and the AS cables. Listen to them. Keep the Jelco and send back the AS as I did.
The Mission I spotted on eBay is the original version (not MKII) and is a phono cable. They are direct from Zu Audio but don't guarantee what connector I'll get. It would be some decent+ RCA though.
I see a lot of poorly shielded or even completely unshielded cables being recommended, such as Anticables, Kimber, as well as WBT Next Gen and KLE RCA plugs. Is there a reason for this?
Phono signal is extremely low in level and very susceptible to noise. It's simply improper to have an unshielded cable or an RCA plug that contacts the ground with a tiny point and leaves the rest of the plug completely unshielded.
Well I picked up an AE Impact SE and am going to try another pair of DH Labs Silver Sonic Air Matrix as well. I’ll probably get the Zu Audio Mission to try also. I’m having a hard time finding a reasonably priced Jelco with RCA/RCA. They all seem to have DIN on one end. Sorry, I’m new to vinyl. Should I be going direct to my tonearm with DIN for better results?
DIN or RCA it doesn’t matter, it’s just a connector (depends on tonearm original design), but i’ve missed that you have a wireless speakers! Why do you need so many cables if your signal goes to the wireless speakers in the end? Vinyl is analog media, but wireless speakers ....
Whatever you buy, this is what you want in a phono cable (or in any RCA to RCA cable for that matter, if possible): Since the cartridge is an inherently balanced device that is treated as single-ended when using RCA to RCA connection into a single-ended phono stage, you want a cable that uses separate but completely equal conductors, one that connected from "hot" to "hot" and one connected from "ground" (on the phono cartridge pins) to "ground" (the outer barrel of the RCA connection). The shield, if any, is only connected at one end, to chassis ground. You may say this is obvious, but many RCA cables carry the ground side of the audio signal on the shield; in this case there is only one wire surrounded by a shield.
That’s fundamentally false. A coax cable with a single center conductor can absolutely be used for phono applications. It is properly shielded. Unlike Anticables.
All of the most sensitive instrumentation equipment on Earth at research labs use coax cable. Where even the smallest amount of noise can be a huge issue.
The reason you can make an unshielded cable work in a phono situation is that the cartridge is a pretty low impedance. Its hard for radiated noise to impinge the cable when such a low source impedance is present. A further advantage is that unshielded cables have lower capacitance per foot, which is really helpful when dealing with the resonance that develops due to the cartridge inductance and the cable capacitance.
sorry to chime in here, but invictus, I don't think you can make a blanket statement like this. I am using Steger Silver Solids on my TT. They are unshielded, and I have no problems whatsoever with noise. My rig is dead quiet.
Phono cable must be shielded, good cables have low capacitance anyway, so we don't have to worry about it.
With unshielded cables anyone can listen to a radio in the speakers, it's a free bonus of unshielded cables, i don't think this is what we need.
My experience with unshielded cables is very bad, so i would never buy unshielded cable for phono use.
Have you noticed that the OP is using wireless speakers ? It it a bluetooth technology or radio wave ? I think this is killing the analog, no matter which cable he will use.
I took Chakster's advice and got some Zu Mission phono cables off the Ebay auction for $40.00 for my Technics table. I doubt there is a better deal for phono cables anywhere. At some point I would like to upgrade them but for now they are fine.
@andysf congrats, i think i paid $150 on auction for the same cable with shipping, but it was long time ago. That cable easily compete with $400 cables, so if you paid $40 it’s a steal :) I like they way Zu Audio sells overstock or discontinued items on ebay. I also use Zu Power cables, i think you can buy some of them too (for a decent price) for your gear.
Zu phono cable looks to be well built, but some of the stuff they write online screams ignorance (hi Raul). Crimped center conductor? Graphite infused epoxy potting?
Real professionals solder cable connectors using Sn62 solder. That is the law.
RCA connectors filled with epoxy, they are not removable, many top dollar cable manufacturers do the same. To remove stock RCAs user should cut them off. As i said earlier Zu Audio was a cable manufacturer in the beginning, company name was Zu Cable. These guys knows everything about cables. Balanced cables also available from Zu Audio. Their speaker cables are also highly acclaimed.
P.S. I use Cardas Solder usually, when we have to fix something.
@barbapapa you’re right, this is retail price for some of their new cables. I paid $390 for Mission Phono mkII with WBT RCA and Cardas DIN.
Special promotion price is only an option for discontinued models overstock and only in auction style. First version of Mission Phono, Mission Interconnect, Mission Power cables normally goes for reasonable price, but starting price is something like $1, so you never know how lucky you’re, it’s auction directly from the manufacturer Zu_promos (from Utah, USA). Try it!
I’ll make a recommendation to OP. Try the Ortofon 6NX-TSW-1010 phono cable. I believe it’s built by Zonotone out of Japan, correctly shielded, and has premium components throughout. Sounds very good IMO.
In my opinion to find something better than Zu Mission copper phono cable you have to spend at least $400 (retail). And if you will replace stock RCA on mission mk1 then this cable compete with some very expensive cables.
Are there different part #s of the actual cable used? I’m might pick that up and the Zu Audio Mission to try with the AS Impact SE to see which I prefer.
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