shield to pin one of xlr


I have an einstein phonostage with only XLR inputs. I am constructing a tonearm cable. Most schematics (ayre, boulder, aquavox) recommend connecting the shield to pin one. Some schematics recommended just leaving pin 1 not connected. The shield is either not connected or connected to ground on the phono stage.

What is the advantage connecting the shield to pin 1? I would assume that it is related to how the phonostage handle the pin 1 connection.

Thanks
128x128glai

Showing 1 response by atmasphere

Glai, Usually you will want pin 1 tied to the tone arm ground. This would then also be the ground connection of the phono section. While there may be no difference in noise that you can hear, this will eliminate loud pops that can show up due to static discharge.

Furthermore, there is no sonic advantage to floating the shield. The phono cartridge and the balanced cable form a low impedance balanced line and so is relatively immune to cable capacitance and cable artifact, as long as the cartridge is loaded with some nominal low resistance (1000 ohms or less). If this is the case what you will find is that the difference between cables is literally gone, and the need for an expensive cable with it.