@lewm , "I also think that the advantage of direct wiring from cartridge to phono stage, especially with LOMC cartridges, mainly eliminating connectors in the signal path, outweighs the flexibility in choice of wire made possible by those connectors."
I know someone else that feels exactly the same way. FR arms may be beautifully made but they are archaic. Boat anchor tonearms and low compliance moving coils are a sure recipe for accelerated record and stylus wear. With modern technology, light armatures and rare earth magnets, stiff compliance cartridges should be a thing of the past as well as the heavy arms needed to hold them correctly. As far as audio is concerned I have no desire to relive the past. There is nothing special about it. Technology and wisdom move on. It seems some audiophiles want to spin wax cylinders. Not me. I am for the best sound and I do not care what it takes and I try not to move backwards in that quest. That is what being an audiophile is about, the best sound. The love of music is another issue.
Given that speakers are low impedance devices especially our ESLs keeping the speaker wire short is at least theoretically beneficial regardless of the amp being used. I have been running my system this way for decades even before balanced inputs became common. I did not like the idea of keeping big class A amps anywhere near low level equipment, just a knee jerk instinct.
I know someone else that feels exactly the same way. FR arms may be beautifully made but they are archaic. Boat anchor tonearms and low compliance moving coils are a sure recipe for accelerated record and stylus wear. With modern technology, light armatures and rare earth magnets, stiff compliance cartridges should be a thing of the past as well as the heavy arms needed to hold them correctly. As far as audio is concerned I have no desire to relive the past. There is nothing special about it. Technology and wisdom move on. It seems some audiophiles want to spin wax cylinders. Not me. I am for the best sound and I do not care what it takes and I try not to move backwards in that quest. That is what being an audiophile is about, the best sound. The love of music is another issue.
Given that speakers are low impedance devices especially our ESLs keeping the speaker wire short is at least theoretically beneficial regardless of the amp being used. I have been running my system this way for decades even before balanced inputs became common. I did not like the idea of keeping big class A amps anywhere near low level equipment, just a knee jerk instinct.