Is cable capacitance of less consideration when used with a low-impedance MC into low-ish input loads (<1KOhms)?
Phono cable - necessary?
I always thought a phono cable was only necessary if the turntable had a din connector that made use of a regular IC cable impossible so I never really paid much attention to phono cables as my VPI has the typical RCA box for the tonearm. Just recently my dealer told me that phono cables actually use special geometry and construction necessary to conduct the weak signal from the cartridge to the phono preamp properly. I felt flat out embarrassed that I was ignorant of that fact for so long. That said, what is the consensus among audiophiles on this issue? He recommended a Nordost Heimdall 2 phono cable, which at about $650 is certainly not cheap. I am looking to replace my current "phono" cable (Acoustic Zen WOW) as I don't like how thick and rigid it is, even though I really like it sonically. Any advice on the subject?
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Is cable capacitance of less consideration when used with a low-impedance MC into low-ish input loads (<1KOhms)? Yes, it will tend to be less important in that situation than in most others. But it can still be significant because depending on the phono stage reducing the capacitance may allow sound quality to be further improved by increasing the value of the resistive load. For further explanation see the post by JCarr (Lyra cartridge designer) dated 8-14-2010 11:20am in this thread. BTW, I should add to my previous comments that there are a few situations in which minimizing cable capacitance will not be optimal. Those would involve certain moving magnet cartridges that are specified to work best when loaded with high amounts of capacitance, e.g. 400 to 500 pf, especially if the input capacitance of the phono stage (which is often unspecified) is low. Regards, -- Al |
- 15 posts total