Tonearm cable recommendations


I originally posted this to "Cables", but I've gotten zero responses. https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/din-to-rca-tonearm-cable-which-one 

Looking for a cable recommendation for my LP12/Ittok/XX2 MkII to JC-3+
marktrav

Showing 1 response by atmasphere

If you are planning to use a LOMC cartridge and also plan to load the cartridge input on the preamp with a low resistance value then the choice of cable isn't going to be very critical. The main thing you will want to do is to look at the capacitance per foot spec on the cable- its best to keep that value down!

The cable capacitance and the inductance of the cartridge work together to form a tuned Radio Frequency circuit. This circuit can resonate, resulting in RFI (RF Interference) being generated and then applied to the input of your preamp. This can mess with some preamps; this the loading resistor, which detunes the RF circuit.

This is also why you hear differences between cables- its due to how it interacts with the inductance of the cartridge and the RFI that is generated.

Do if you don't plan to load the cartridge and your preamp is sensitive to RFI then you might have to shop for the cable that sounds right. If you load the cartridge, much of the 'sound' of the cable will go away...