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Phono cable build question

I’m replacing the phono cables on my Technics 1200 and have decided to use cable that has two conductors and is shielded. My question is what do I do with the shield?

When making regular interconnects with shielded cable, I normally solder the shield to the negative conductor and only on the source side of the cable. Do I do the same with phono cables? I thought maybe I might instead solder the ground wire to the shield, not to negative, and also have a separate traditional ground wire go to the preamp ground terminal.
kommanderkurt
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cleeds
5,711 posts
 
kommanderkurt

When making regular interconnects with shielded cable, I normally solder the shield to the negative conductor and only on the source side of the cable. Do I do the same with phono cables?
It isn't clear what you mean here. Typically, you'd connect the shield at the preamp end, and leave the other end - be it to a source or an amplifier - unconnected. That's all part of the "star ground" concept, and how cable manufacturers mark their shielded cables for directionality.
kommanderkurt OP
14 posts
 
Thanks cleeds- so I connect the shield of the phono cable to the negative at the preamp side, not the phono side?
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sleepwalker65's avatar
sleepwalker65
832 posts
 
Cleeds and Viridian, you are mistaken. The two conductors from each channel connect to the signal carrying twisted pair that is within the cable shield. One cable for right, one cable for left. The shield connects to the black tonearm ground wire at the turntable end and to the phono stage chassis ground at the other end. This gives you a properly shielded connection from cartridge to phono stage. 
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