Replacing/Extending Turntable cables

[wilkat1]

I know common sense says keep RCA turntable cables as short as possible, but I have a situation in a really nice cabinet where I could really use 4-5 ft of new cables to replace existing which are really worn out anyway in place of the 3 ft. Cartridge output will probably play a role in this. Current cartridge is AT14sa with shibata. Any recommendations on this including cable brand? (I did this this to an older Dual with Ortofon Cartridge several years ago with success, stereo only not quad like AT14sa)

Thanks, Steve

 

[Frantic]

Great question!!

I am on stand-by with you as I also want to change my cables. (Upgrade)

Let's hope we hear some good advice.

 

[Quadzilla]

As I recall, CD-4 playback required less than 100pF of capacitance in the turntable to demodulator leads. In the "olden days", this was kinda tricky. Nobody paid much attention to cables. Today, lower capacitance cables are pretty common-place.

Any decent cable company will list the specs of its cables (in pF per foot of cable), so if you are going to use a five foot cable, then just do the math. Having said that, I am not as technical as some of the others ... Quadfather and Lou Dorren, so maybe one of them could chime in.

You might want to check these guys out ...

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/audio/index.htm

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/audio/LC1-design-notes.htm

Using their calculator at the bottom of the first link, a 5 foot pair is $36.00 ... not too bad actually, and they get some good press. At 12.2pF per foot, or 61pF for a 5 foot pair, they should work fine. The Design Notes link explains how capacitance can mess with high frequencies (such as CD-4 carrier frequencies), and in language even I can understand. Personally, I use Cardas Neutral Reference for CD-4, but they are quite a bit more expensive.

 

[proufo]

If I had the choice, I'd put the phono preamp close to the TT and use a long cable from there on. Some of them are quite small.

 

[wilkat1]

As I recall, CD-4 playback required less than 100pF of capacitance in the turntable to demodulator leads. In the "olden days", this was kinda tricky. Nobody paid much attention to cables. Today, lower capacitance cables are pretty common-place.

Any decent cable company will list the specs of its cables (in pF per foot of cable), so if you are going to use a five foot cable, then just do the math. Having said that, I am not as technical as some of the others ... Quadfather and Lou Dorren, so maybe one of them could chime in.

You might want to check these guys out ...

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/audio/index.htm

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/audio/LC1-design-notes.htm

Using their calculator at the bottom of the first link, a 5 foot pair is $36.00 ... not too bad actually, and they get some good press. At 12.2pF per foot, or 61pF for a 5 foot pair, they should work fine. The Design Notes link explains how capacitance can mess with high frequencies (such as CD-4 carrier frequencies), and in language even I can understand. Personally, I use Cardas Neutral Reference for CD-4, but they are quite a bit more expensive.

Thanks Quadzilla and everyone for the advice so far on this. I checked out Bluejeans cable and it seems to be a pretty good value and explains a whole lot as well. It reminded me that I did use some kind of double braid on the dual turntable when replacing those cables. Also, I do not use a preamp and am running most of the time my QRX-7500 or 9001, cables going directly into the phono inputs. Thanks everyone and any additional input on this is appreciated.

Steve