Hum with TAK CU phono cable


Bought used TAK CU kimber rca to rca phono cable with its dedicated ground . When I inserted on my Ned Clayton step up transformer output to parasound jc3 plus it started humming, my turntable is a rega planar 2 with fixed rca cables and my understanding Rega grounds its tables through the left channel. Kimber specifies that this cable is shielded, I have not connected its dedicated ground cables as I don’t want to cause other ground loops .Does anyone have experience with this Kimber TAK CU cable , I love the sound I am getting from this cable but not the hum , don’t mind putting my Mogami 2549 cable back in as it has a good sound as well . Any info would be appreciated 

chrisocr

Rega achieves ground thru the shielding of one of its RCA cables. Connect the TAK CU ground cable between your SUT and phono amp and it should take care of the noise.
I had TAK CU and it’s an excellent cable. Was quiet in my system. Loved it. Warm natural sound. 

Took your advice , I connected the cables ground to phono amp and my step up transformer output, it seemed to help , the hum is now present at higher than normal listening levels , I guess that will be the best as it’s going to get , or just remove the Kimber Kable and reinsert my Mogami cable and completely remove the small amount of hum , 

Kimber TAK CU are purpose built low capacitance phono cables. If you are using a MM cartridge that matters. You will experience sound quality degradation with MM cartridge and higher capacitance cables. If you’re using moving coil, capacitance has no effect. 

Honestly, having experience with Mogami and Kimber, they’re not comparable. Kimber is much better. If you hear slight hum at volumes beyond normal listening levels, and it’s only when music isn’t playing, I would leave the kimbers in. But it’s your system. So it’s up to you. 
 

When you compare mogami and TAK CU make sure you pay attention not only to how treble or bass sounds, but to how musically engaging the presentation is. Usually takes about one side of LP. Play a full side with kimber then again with mogami. If absolutely nothing is different or mogami is as good as kimber, return the TAK CU. 

When it comes to phono hum, you just have to experiment. Especially with a SUT in the mix. I have a couple of the Pangea ground cables hanging around because they're good quality, and it's good to experiment with a free ground cable. 

Turn your system on, mute off, put volume to a low-ish reasonable level so you can *just* hear the problem hum (lower than usual listening level - you don't want to cause any nasty high-level pops) and firmly but loosely (just contact-based) connect the ground cable to various contact points to see if you can find the magic quiet configuration. 

With my SOTA table I need to use the DIN phono cables's integrated ground (to arm) PLUS a separate ground cable tied to table chassis/bearing - both then tied to SUT on other end. When I had an RCA / RCA phono cable with separate integrated ground (spades on both ends - probably just like your cable), coming out of SUT, it was always a mixed bag:

  • Sometimes tying both spades (SUT and phono input) was quietest
  • Sometimes tying neither spade worked
  • Sometimes typing ONE end (usually SUT side) worked best. This is generally a "best bet" and replicates the typical shielded RCA cable having its shield tied to ground on SOURCE end only (arrows point AWAY from source end). The SUT chassis becomes the main ground reference in this scheme

Thank you all , I really love the sound of the kimber , it’s something I will have to I I will have to get use to the small amount of hum.