I'm glad that you were able to help your friend. However, 99% of the improvement in sound quality was because he moved the input from the phono to line level.
The phono input ONLY works with a cartridge. Cables do make a difference, but in this case, it was a smaller factor.
The phono input ONLY works with a cartridge. Cables do make a difference, but in this case, it was a smaller factor.