Which SME tonearm and table?
Phono cable upgrade recommendation for MC cartridge
Getting back into vinyl after a long exile and using a stock SME van den hul 105 DIN to RCA cable on a low output MC Transfiguration cartridge. Threads generally indicate that the bus goes a lot further (and can sound better) with a different cable. Looking at Cardas GR, Morrow ph7 and Audience Au24SE (low Z) right now. Lots of others also look promising, but availability given a ceiling of around $700 (used) is limiting. Any Audiogoner recommendations will be much appreciated!
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I have SME 309 tonearm and recently upgraded from stock van den Hul cable (DIN>RCA) to Audio Envy phono deluxe for under $300/4FT. With AE phono, the differences were far from subtle. In my system, this cable conveys wider soundstage, better transients and openness in the music. The cable has much better shielding and very transparent. You will hear exactly what your components are capable of; no coloration whatsoever. I opted for straight DIN to RCA termination. https://audioenvy.com/product/home-car-pro-interconnects/phono-deluxe-matched-pair/ |
Look for Zu Audio Mission Phono with WBT, try it, you can return any Zu product for full refund. |
Thanks for the recommendations, as usual it's something of a gamble to choose what's next when funds and time are limited. Fuzztone's point w/ regards to getting the cartridge dialed in makes sense, but i opted for the wywire silver, (which is copper w/air dielectric and... no ground wire...hope it won't be necessary to add one). Dunno if there's any benefit to also using wywire silver on the phono stage output, but i did purchase a used pair of these interconnects prior to starting this post. The van den hul 501 has been run in the system for about 80 hours...some familiar recordings sound great, others seem like an odd remix, can't be sure if it's (at least in part) just a burn in issue. By all accounts there will be plenty of burn in ups and downs w/ the wywires. |