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Re: Thanks for the info...

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In Reply to: Thanks for the info... posted by bboroski on October 4, 2005 at 05:34:56:

I'm confused by all the info in this thread, so I'll just point out what I did with my Thorens TT /SME arm:
The arm has a hardwire termination area for the phono level cables and ground wire (five termination points). The arm's stock cable was hardwired. I decided to build an rca jack interface, instead (so I could swap-out cables).
I used a short pair of Belden 89259 coaxial cables terminated to the TT's hardwire termination area, and a set of Vampire female in-line rca jacks as outputs, just long enough to exit the back of the TT. I use a pair of rca-to-rca analog interconnect cables to connect the TT to my preamplifier (and connect the TT's ground wire to my preamplifier's grounding post).
The in-line rca-jack-terminated Belden 89259 is a stiff cable, but it simply dangles out a hole drilled in the back of the TT without being secured to anything other than the hardwire termination area.
I use a pair of XLO made Geneva analog interconnects (re-terminated with Eichmann Bullet Plugs) which is a star-quad design, with a braided shield connected at both ends (it's not telescopic). This is a somewhat higher capacitance cable than a twisted pair or coaxial, but my Grace cartridge likes a capacitive load (I can use the Geneva cable at a 1 meter length as opposed to my usual need for 1.5 meter length cables). The cable is similar if not the same as an XLO PRO 100 (which does use different rca's) and sounds great for phono level in my system. I think the $110 XLO PRO 100 should sell for $50-$60 in the used market. The similar Geneva cable sold on eBay as discontinued at a very low cost.
To sum it up: It's nice to have an rca jack interface since there are many IC's to choose from when using this method.

Follow Ups:

Duster, what do they mean here by ... - garth 13:14:05 10/05/05 (1)
telescopic?
I've terminated 1000s of cables over the past 15 years and have never heard that term except for right here in Rischland. Does he (Jon) mean connected at only one end? Isn't that normal practice?
Thanks
- Telescopic = Faraday Shield - Duster 14:07:57 10/05/05 (0)
  Yep.
  Telescopic (I don't know it's origination) is another term for Faraday shield (which is only connected at one end, as you know). While a Faraday shield is much more common as used for anything other than a coaxial cable (obviously), not all twisted pair (or star-quad) cables use a Faraday shield method.
  One of the points that Jon mentioned is that a twisted pair (or star-quad) that has it's shield (perhaps a braided shield and not a foil shield with drain wire?) connected at both ends can offer a better inter-chassis ground potential (I'm too lazy to search for the exact explanation) for certain devices, particularly those that use a 2-prong AC cord on source and/or load (I dunno if this is true or not), but it seemed to have been proven "true enough" to my ear for a particular cable as used on a 2-prong device, at least:
  While testing the cable as placed on a 2-prong source component (not as a phono-level cable) I tried terminating the mentioned Geneva cable's shield with both a Faraday shield method (connected to source only) and it's stock configuration (connected at both ends) and prefered it with both ends connected as XLO designed it (I also discussed this matter via email with Roger Skoff). While I did not test the two versions on my TT, I like much what I hear.
  It goes to show that one size does not fit all, at times... Cheers
I contemplated that... - bboroski 12:59:59 10/05/05 (2)
but decided to go CHEAP and just solder the interconnects
onto the terminal strip underneath the tonearm just
like the original was. After DICKING around with this
for a couple days, I decided to try something else.
I had read about the Belden 89259 coaxial cables
being use in the application as well. I had a
set of these lieing around, so last I night
I removed one set of RCAs and put them into
service on the turntable. With limited listening
I did notice that I reduced what little hum I was
getting from the AR cables. And they sounded pretty
good to boot. Since they already had techflex on
them, they even look pretty decent. I guess I killed
2 birds with 1 stone. Now I need to convince myself
to stop tweaking this modest table and just play some
music on it!! I took a SOTA Moombeam(intro level) table
and tweaked it to the level most kids do to their
Honda Civics... ;-)
Maybe I will post some pics one day...
thanks for all your input,

Bill
- Re: I contemplated that... - Duster 13:12:38 10/05/05 (1)
  You might find that using a set of vibration isolation footers and/or an isolation platform will do wonders to improve the TT's performance. There's lots of info about inexpensive tweaks and DIY ideas in AA (do a search in Tweaks/DIY and Vinyl). Cheers
  - Already did it.... - bboroski 14:09:15 10/05/05 (0)
    I frequent vinyl and tweaks quite often.
    I changed the feet on the table to black
    brass cones and it sets on a home-made
    sandbox....I am ate with this tweaking shit...
    ;-) Bill

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