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Shielded vs. non shielded interconnects...

76.189.202.10
Posted on May 8, 2011 at 12:15:11
wirewizard
Manufacturer

Posts: 836
Location: N.E. Ohio
Joined: July 3, 2009
 How many people out there use unshielded interconnects from their phono preamp to their linestage preamp or integrated amp? I was wondering because my interconnects from phono to integrated are not low capacitance or shielded and sound great.
I do it all in the name of music!!!

 

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Just today, posted on May 8, 2011 at 12:23:37
mt10425
Audiophile

Posts: 2399
Location: 3 hours west of Chicago
Joined: January 23, 2004
 I swapped out Nordot Hiemdahl for MAC Silver unshielded (24 ga) from my TT to th Bellari phono stage. So far, no EMI or RF infiltrating the cable.



"It's all fun and games until someone doesn't pick up on the sarcasm"

 

RE: Shielded vs. non shielded interconnects..., posted on May 8, 2011 at 12:26:21
John Elison
Audiophile

Posts: 24048
Location: Central Kentucky
Joined: December 20, 2000
Contributor
  Since: January 29, 2004
 I use shielded. The capacitance from cartridge clips to the end of a four-foot shielded van den Hul silver interconnect for my SME V is 155-pF. I'm using Monster Cable M-1000i on my Technics SL-1200, which probably has even higher capacitance, but I haven't measured it. Capacitance is of no concern to me because I use low-output moving coils exclusively. My system is hum-free.

If you don't get any hum or noise from non-shielded interconnects, I don't see that you have a problem.

Best regards,
John Elison

 

RE: Shielded vs. non shielded interconnects..., posted on May 8, 2011 at 13:40:06
wirewizard
Manufacturer

Posts: 836
Location: N.E. Ohio
Joined: July 3, 2009
 I don't have any hum problems...just wanted to see if others have problems using non-shielded interconnects. I once used the M1000i interconnects exclusively, and thought they were really good.
I do it all in the name of music!!!

 

RE: Shielded vs. non shielded interconnects..., posted on May 8, 2011 at 14:03:04
amioutaline?
 Back in Moraine-flat Ohio my ICs were unshielded with no hum; here in granite-hilled Asheville I had to go to shielded. Or maybe it's the lack of corn fields or perhaps that NOAA is headquartered here.

 

Kimber makes some non-shielded ICs and they sound great. There are, posted on May 8, 2011 at 14:12:01
Opus 104
 good and not-so-good in both types.

 

RE: Shielded vs. non shielded interconnects..., posted on May 8, 2011 at 14:52:12
Fred J
Audiophile

Posts: 21808
Location: Southern Wisconsin
Joined: April 24, 2002
IME It's entirely dependent upon your system and the environment it's operating in, I routinely use shielded IC as I make my own and while it may or not be necessary in every instance there's no benefit sonic or otherwise that I've been able to detect with IC with unshielded, so why not eliminate the possibility of RFI / Emi down the road.

I also figure it's particularly important with Phono IC as the miniscule signal level involved would seemingly make Phono IC the most vulnerable and sensitive.

 

RE: Shielded vs. non shielded interconnects..., posted on May 8, 2011 at 16:29:13
Lew
Audiophile

Posts: 11012
Location: Bethesda, Maryland
Joined: December 11, 2000
 Between phono stage and integrated amp, just use what you like. The issue arises with cables from tonearm or cartridge to phono stage. There the added capacitance associated with shielding needs to be taken into account when loading an MM or MI cartridge. But like John says, if you use a LOMC cartridge, capacitance is less of an issue.

 

Shielded, posted on May 8, 2011 at 16:41:51
srdavis2000
Audiophile

Posts: 10996
Location: Deep South
Joined: January 11, 2003
Contributor
  Since: December 16, 2004
 Unshielded cables hum in my system as phono ICs. This was not true always. I used a Pioneer PL1000 and a Music Hall MF5 with no problems. When I bought my Scout, I got a nice steady low hum. I tried every set of cables I had on hand to try to quiet it. Some worked better than others, but none got rid of it completely. On the advice of a knowledgeable vinyl guru, I bought a pair of VPI shielded phono cables. The hum magically disappeared and has never returned. The rest of my system uses unshielded cables with no problems.

 

RE: Since no one asked..., posted on May 8, 2011 at 16:51:15
amioutaline?
 ...here are the bestest sounding shielded phono ICs ever: Cardas 4x24 snaked through copper braid shield. Far better sounding than the stock AT cable and on a par with it's White Lighning stablemates, i.e., damn fine.







 

RE: Shielded vs. non shielded interconnects..., posted on May 8, 2011 at 17:56:09
wirewizard
Manufacturer

Posts: 836
Location: N.E. Ohio
Joined: July 3, 2009
 I agree with you...from turntable to phono pre I use shielded cables, but from phono pre to integrated amp I use unshielded cables. The out going signal from the phono pre is supposed to be line level, so the shielding "should" be less of an issue in that application.
I do it all in the name of music!!!

 

My Rega P5 and Kuzma Stogi S have built in cables, the Dual Golden one has a customRCA to balanced for the PH2, posted on May 8, 2011 at 20:15:18
Elizabeth
 So I am not worried about phono cables too much.

 

RE: Shielded vs. non shielded interconnects..., posted on May 9, 2011 at 02:02:28
Fred J
Audiophile

Posts: 21808
Location: Southern Wisconsin
Joined: April 24, 2002
 True, however there are shielded IC with very low capacitance like the
famed dirt cheap Petra IC which are both Copper Braid and foil shielded.


Regards Ferd

 

RE: Wilson Audio watt puppy 7 vs. Avalon Opus Ceramique, posted on May 9, 2011 at 02:41:22
SgreenP@MSN.com
Audiophile

Posts: 3560
Joined: April 23, 2007
 I am using Anti-Cables from my VPI Superscout to my Ayre preamp with built-in phono section. Anti-Cables suggested a double shielded interconnect rather than the lightly shielded regular version. I compared both...they both are DEAD quiet..the doubly shielded one sounds slightly closed in compared to the regular.

 

Many years ago, . ., posted on May 9, 2011 at 04:07:48
Larry I
Audiophile

Posts: 2267
Location: No. Va.
Joined: June 28, 2000
 I had problems with noise. I brought my table to my dealer. At the dealer, the problem could not be duplicated. He guessed that the problem was caused by RFI. My cables were unshielded. He had what was supposedly a shielded version of the same cable, so we made a switch. I got to here an A-B demonstration where noise was not mucking up the result. To me, the unshielded cable sounded better-- more open on top. It turned out that the shielding did the trick, but, I knew that it was a compromise, and I gave up something for reduced noise.+

 

Whatever works best for you, posted on May 9, 2011 at 08:01:33
AbeCollins
Audiophile

Posts: 49244
Location: Maidenhead Grid Square DM79
Joined: June 22, 2001
Contributor
  Since: February 2, 2002
 I've used both shielded and unshielded cables. Like many things audio, there is no definitive answer that one is "better" than the other. It depends a lot on your setup, cable lengths, your setup's sensitivity to hum and RFI, etc. If unshielded cables don't present a problem and they sound fine, go for it.

I ran short unshielded Kimber KCAG with excellent results until my setup changed and I needed a 25-foot interconnect pair from the Phono Pre to the Linestage. I switched to shielded cables then balanced shielded cables and XLR connectors.

 

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