Question on loading and interconnects


I'm having trouble wrapping my head around how length and capacitance of phono cables affects cartridge loading.

I am currently loaded at 400ohm, which is the max setting below 47k on my phono-pre.

Is there a way I can experiment with cables (higher or lower capacitance maybe?) that will create a percieved load closer to 1k or 1.5k ohm?

Any info appreciated, as i'm pretty much clueless on this one.
wrtickle

Showing 1 response by rgordonpf

If you want a convenient way to experiment with loadings, make or have made for you a phono cable that has a box in the middle that has two sets of binding posts. I had John Chapman of Bent Audio make one up for me that had male RCA connectors at both ends so that it could connect to the terminal box on my VPI turntable. For my other turntable, that has male RCAs coming out of the tonearms, I had a knowledgeable friend build a similar cable using Cardas' finest wire and connectors - a cable with male RCAs at one end and female RCAs at the other. You can buy from Bent Audio a set of resistor pairs in 20 different values. This should be enough to get you started.

With the binding posts, swapping resistors in and out is a 30 second task, so comparisons between resistor values is very easy. Plus, the cost of buying additional loadings is very cheap, just the cost of two resistors.