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Can anyone suggest where to get some economical interconnects? I'm replacing some stock phono ones off of an old Dual. Somewhere between Radio Shack and Cardas would be nice, or a website I could investigate.
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bulk mogami 2534 is available at percy audio for $1.15/ft if you are a diy'er this makes a good cable. great for long run between amp and preamp (12ft-15ft) some say it looses on the top end, i find it laid back with a deep sound stage. buy the bulk cable and some decent rca's you will not be disapointed, not you will not be breaking your bank
Do a search in the Cable Asylum on "Music Boy/Petra." They're great ICs and phono cables and cost next to nothing.
regardless of the price, phono interconnects need to be fully shielded.
The alternative is to enclose the turntable and phono section in a Faraday cage, providing one actually has EMI/RFI problems (I live in Manhattan; I certainly have such problems).Another solution is (if one is lucky enough to be able to) to position the lead for minimal RFI gain then either spiral the leads or do a true Litz weave. That may (or may not) work.
To wring the last ounce of suppresion out of such a system there should be no, I repeat no AC in the turntable enclosure. That means DC motors driven by battery (Teres, Galibier, Redpoint) and a battery phono section (QED all the way to Sutherland and Silbatone).
The absense of hash and grain is remarkable and the removal of the shield seems to open up the sound. But this is a royal PITA and requires much expense/DIY ability.
Combat cable voodoo - buy Mogami!
I have DIY Mogami 2534 ICs in both RCA and XLR, with Neutrik, Monster, and Bullet plugs. It is a decent cable, well balanced, a bit soft in the highs with a slight trace of grain, excellent imaging, and solid bass that has some less detail than better cables.There are better cables available, with the Oritek I mentioned in this this thread being a standout example.
As good as this is as a line level IC, I would not recommend it as a cartridge level connection.
nt
Cables are one of the most misunderstood,rife with emotionalism, ego, brilliant creative marketing and pure bullshit subjects imagineable, I think that at a certain point you're basically buying extraordinarily expensive and inherently flawed auxillary tone controls and or expensive audio system jewelry.I find the Jon Risch (Cable Asylum Guru) various Beldon 89259 co-axial DIY IC designs extremely neutral, clean and uncolored, the only real downside is they are stiff, as they have both a Teflon dielectric as well as Teflon outer jackets, but are quite low capacitance well shielded etc. and most importantly wide band as this is a high end wide band video co ax. so if you have external output jacks on your table these are IMHO the ones to beat particularly with MM cartridges as MM is often very capacitance sensitive, MC isn't, so most IC is OK as long as it's well shielded
the Beldon is way too stiff for wire up to the tonearm internal IC for suspended tables, for that I really like the Inexpensive Petra component video IC it's almost as low a capacitance as the Belden it's the real wide band Video stuff as well double shielded and quite supple and if you're not into the DIY thing or for instance need a Din on the tonearm side most of the high value cable outfits other posters have listed are all nice some of these would be very hard to DIY for the $$, I've used Wasatch for the Din applications and I think it's superb and very reasonable as well.I believe the big buck phono cable thing is almost entirely pure unadulterated Voodoo, psuedoscience, outright bullshit and scam, I have tried high end Nordost, MIT etc.and while for some line level applications it's perfectly fine I believe much of it truly sucks for phono IC aside from the getting buffuoed in de butt aspect,most of it seems colored to one degree or another, which in some instances is the very thing that gets folks going "Wow, that really does sound different" ! sometimes the WOW is quickly replaced by fatigue, like intentionally speeding up a table 1 or 2% sounds exciting initially but gets old fast. YMMV.
Regards FredJ
I use Zu Xaus phono and Zu Gede line level, and they sound very good. You can get em on the cheap on ebay ... very cheap. Have a look.I have used Cardas neutral reference and coincident IC's and I prefer the Zu.
I have limited experience in my own system with cables. I know two people with expensive cable, one uses aq dbs and the other uses mit shotgun. My system is better than both for a pile of money less. Not a very sexy choice, but I use mogami cables. If I could find them in a din to rca, I would probably buy them and never look back.
Are you trying to get RCA to RCA's? People have liked ElementCable, SignalCable, BetterCables, Cobaltcable and BlueJeansCable. I also would look at companies like Mr.Cable on audiogon or try the Belden DIY if you're handy. Or just go to Parts-Express.com and check out Dayton and their other IC's, all cheap and work fine. But it depends how nice your setup and desired level is.I am using old AQ Ruby and Live Wire and some DIY litz wires assembled by a high end dealer in the late 80's--sound fine to me and they're well broken in.
See site below.
Hi therefor speaker & interconnect, Kimber is always good & practical. Mapleshade is good but their better stuff is flimsy.
for phono, Zu AUX (or is it Xu?) is well made & decent-sounding
Cardas is ONLY suitable for solid-state. Nordost is wildly overrated.
At the top end, Transparent (new versions) are GREAT!!!! and costly!!! good for both interconnects & speaker cable. but dont
buy Transparent until you have completely settled on ALL your other components.
"Cardas is ONLY suitable for solid-state"That's a ridiculous blanket statement (but don’t feel too bad, I make em all the time!).
I've used my Cardas Golden Cross speaker cables in several very accomplished tube-based systems with fantastic results.
Hi
not a wild statement... but my experience. yours might vary, of course.I bought the cardas golden cross & quadlink (both interconnects & speaker cable) a long time ago.... they have been horribe on every tube system i have tried (tried them on more than 40+ wildly different tube combinations, set, highpowerPP, lowpowerPP, modern, vintage )..however, they were ok ( but not great) on some solid state systems... so i had ( i think) enough data points to make some type of generalized conjecture..
That’s one heck of a lotta amps to go through, even for a veteran reviewer. You must have a serious case of audio nervosa!And what on earth would possess one to try a “horrible” cable on over forty different amps? I can see experimenting with one or two before moving on, but forty?
FWIW, I’ve owned both Cardas Golden Cross and Quadlink 5-C speaker cables, and they sounded excellent with two different Audiomat amps, an Audion Silver Night, and a friend's Fi X; all tube amps.
Why not register and post your system? It helps to put your comments in perspective.
Hello, Fretless
I have spent last 15 years looking for a certain sound
and have tried quite a lot of stuff. I think all components should have
1) honest tonality; 2) good (but not great--which tends to be unnatural) information retrieval; 3) natural musical flow.
dont think i am asking
for too much --- but appararently its not that easy to find. most
of the commercial stuff usually does not provide all (3) of the qualities
i am looking for --- notable exceptions include spendor, atc speakers, schroder tonearms, zyx universe cartridge(with some qualifications). so i have been forced to experiment with custom stuff
to get the sound i want.
so thats the reason i have not reegisterd my systems. sorry if it makes intrerpreting my comments difficult
munna
They (Valkyrja and to an even greater extent Valhalla) are the most system dependent cables I have ever heard. They will probably sound the same in most systems, but are so non-linear sounding that it will take a wildly non-linear system to work well. Given that environment, they could sound pretty good.In other words, if the cables sound good, the system probably needs an overhaul. See review on my non-commercial site below.
Regards,
JerryS
Jerry, a little OTT "In other words, if the cables sound good, the system probably needs an overhaul.".This is incorrect as many people use Nordost cables without their system needing an overhaul (me included :) I will agree that they are quite ruthless in idendifying any weakness in your system, but sound sublime when you get it right - or use more nordost cable.
Valkrya is more obvious sounding than valhalla and both need to be listened to for a little time to understand their full capabilities.Unfortunately all cables are tone controls to a certain extent and depending on your musical taste, ears etc we audiophiles seem to use cables to change tonal qualities quiet often.
Hi Shane,
Not OTT. When I hear a product that is so extremely different from anything else in memory, I have to question its suitability for the application, or if it is broken.But of course YMMV, "depending on your musical taste", room, system, whether you drink your beer warm or cold, etc. A perfect example is your observation that "Valkrya is more obvious sounding than valhalla". I would say that Valkyrja is more neutral sounding than Valhalla. Someone else described Valhalla as "more refined". I would say "darker".
Regardless of semantics, I stand by my statement. If a system is "tuned" with Valhalla (and to a lesser extent Valkyrja) and the owner likes the resulting sound, it will be very difficult, IMO, to replace cables and achieve satisfying sound without replacing one or all of the associated components.
Heh Jerry. That is the great thing about audio, music sounds and means different things to different people. that is why there are soooo many brands out there.I have had valhalla in an out of my system for a couple of years now, and I have heard it sounding very bright to nice and warm, depending on how my system was set up and what components were in the system. To me that is a true measure of the transparency of the cable.
I put in other cables depending on what tonal change I was looking for at the time. All the other cables were consistent with the changes they make to the system. ie you are hearing the cable more than the system.
Heartland cables and Bluejeans cables are my chosen vendors for good but economical cables. Both companies offer well built, low-capacitance, shielded cables that will work well in most vinyl rigs.
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