What makes a better phono cable ?


Silver or copper? My understanding would be silver but finding a low capacitance silver cable has been a challenge.Currently using a Synergistic Tricon Analog.Nice cable but seems to be my weakest link.Any experienced input would be greatly appreciated.
128x128franklapdog
Instead of asking which conductors is the most revealing, why don't you ask which cables are the most revealing?

For most revealing, my recommendation would be the Stealth Audio Hyperphono cable. YMMV.
Really nice equipment you've got there, Frank! Given its quality and price range, and after reading through the writeup John provided on the Stealth Hyperphono cable, although that cable is certainly not inexpensive I think his recommendation is well worth considering and auditioning, perhaps via The Cable Company.

Your cartridge has an inductance of 11 uH, which is helpfully and unusually low for a cartridge having a rated output as high as 0.56 mv. Although the capacitance of the Hyperphono cable isn't specified, I see no reason to doubt the statement in its description that "there are two identical solid core signal wires inside each signal cable, symmetrically woven in a matrix geometry which offers high interference and noise rejection without the capacitance increase typical for simple twisted pairs." I suspect that the combination of its capacitance (for a 1.2 meter length), the 100 pf input capacitance of your phono stage, and the 11 uH inductance of the cartridge will put the resulting resonant frequency in approximately the 3 to 4 MHz (million Hertz) area, which seems very comfortably high, considering also the ca. 300 kHz bandwidth of your phono stage.

I'll say also, FWIW, that I see nothing in the writeup that from a technical standpoint raises my BS meter significantly above zero. I say that as someone whose meter is not uncommonly pegged at max, or close to it, by a lot of cable literature.

Good luck! Regards,
-- Al
Almrg
From a technical standpoint Al,you seem to know quite a bit about proper setup of a front end and I value your input.Now if only could find a Hyperphono at an attractive price that would be great. By the way,there is a Silent Source Extreme Phono for sale at a very good price and according to L.W.the silver version is a good bit better.Any further thoughts?
There is a Silent Source Extreme Phono for sale at a very good price and according to L.W.the silver version is a good bit better.Any further thoughts?
Beyond the usual kinds of proclamations of great sonics and performance well above their price point, there isn't enough info at the Walker site for me to have any particular comments, either positive or negative. Although I recognize that based on the reputation of Mr. Walker and his products those proclamations are likely to be a good deal more credible than in a lot of other cases.

Also, as I alluded to in my comments on the Stealth cable, the low inductance of your cartridge, in combination with the reasonably short length of the cable, would work in the direction of minimizing the possible effects of whatever amount of capacitance per unit length the Silent Source cables may have.

Regards,
-- Al