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SUT Interconnects

What cables have you tried between an MC SUT box and 47K MM phono stage? What was your favorite?

I’ve tried the AudioQuest upper-line "normal" ineterconnect cables (Sky, Fire) - great cables in other slots - but very colored coming out of a SUT. Not great performance. I assume that at 1.0m+ lengths, their capactitance is far too high for this application. I’ve tried 0.5m runs of Wind & Niagara (a bit lower in their "normal" IC line, slightly smaller guage wire and less shielding to boot) and got better results. However, my best results by far are with a 0.5m AQ WEL Signature LP phono cable (optimized for low capacitance phono applications). I’ve also tried the Bob’s Devices custom cables, 0.7m, both copper and solid silver versions - these have good performance (particularly the silver), but are more on the level of the 0.5m Niagara, still short of the WEL LP.

The problem I have is that the WEL LP is quite spendy, and I want a 2nd good SUT cable for a 2nd arm & SUT setup. Looking for more reasonably priced options. I’ve had excellent results with a Synergistic Research Foundation phono cable on a tonearm (DIN plug), and wonder how a short all-RCA run of it might do off a SUT (also interested in the Atmosphere X series). Any experience with SR or other cables off a SUT would be appreciated!

mulveling

Showing 2 responses by mulveling

mulveling's avatar
mulveling OP
2,133 posts
 

@atmasphere 

Very interesting! Your vast and deep expertise is always appreciated. 

Considering that SUT box users like me are, for practical reasons, usually limited to a 0.5m minimum cable length on either side (and usually RCA) - what are some good "audiophile" cables with the smallest possible capacitance per foot? Capacitance specs aren't always listed. From the specs I have seen, Cardas interconnects seem to consistently show an impressively low capacitance - much lower even than my AudioQuest phono / LP cables (AQ's normal interconnects are WAY too high). Is there anything likely to be better than Cardas for this role?

I know that besides a spec, there are some clues you can use - like avoid large gauge wires (keep it smaller than 23 AWG) and avoid braided geometries. The Stax headphone cables uses a ribbon layout (with large spacing gaps) to minimize capacitance. 

mulveling's avatar
mulveling OP
2,133 posts
 

@lewm

The "flying leads" makes sense, thanks. But as far as optimizing total run length to a phono 47K input - I always though it was more critical to keep capacitance low AFTER the SUT, rather than BEFORE the SUT, becasue of the after-SUT’s capacitative load supposedly "reflecting back times the sqaure of the turns ratio" (i.e. the opposite of what happens to load resistance)? I don’t pretend to understand the electrical theory behind this. What’s the theory behind prioritizing the tonearm to be as short as possible? My tonearm cables are all the "standard" 1.2m, but I definitely don’t need all of that length.

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