What turntable?

Phil_aka_Pip

robgilmo said:

Phil_aka_Pip said:

rico said:

I went to a hifi shop earlier and ordered a Pro-ject Debut III Audiophile and Phono Box, got a bit of a discount and I will collect it on Wednesday. It's 325mm wide so will fit into the proposed hole with a few mm to spare either side. The feet will sit comfortably on the shelf, the only downside is a bit of deck overhang but that isn't so bad. 

Now - what RCA cables? Is it all snake oil?

Not quite, but you don't need to spend Russ Andrews prices. There are some good ones on Amazon - look for Kenable

Surely a cable will depend on the cartridge? Now that's audiophile talk right there.

My LP12 had its output leads captive. You could have changed them but you would have had to take the plinth apart. I was thinking of from the phono stage to the preamp and from the preamp to the power amp. They're all just plug-in/unplug and you can use "string" if you like, or you could spend shitloads on snake oil, but IMO those kenable things are really good for the money.

robgilmo

I just use the cheap black cables these days, the only difference I ever heard with cables was with silver speaker cable, odyssey something or other, cost me a fortune on ebay second hand, sounded bright, brittle, like glass, not very pleasant at all. It took a long time to get used to it and even then it was clinical. My amp is said to be fairly bright anyway but that just sounded harsh. 

TheMarlin

Interconnect cables defffinatly suffer from the law of diminishing returns. But, with good hifi, you can really hear the difference. You hear it more in things like drum cymbals, bass notes, and instrument separation.  A good cable will be a damn site better than the crappy cheap black paired cables you get free with some hifi.  I like Kimber cables, but i prefer to buy them used from eBay, I like a bargain

If everyone is recommending Kensble, then I’d try a pair.  Not heard of them myself, but I’m only getting back into hifi again now after a break. 

TheMarlin

I’ve read through the Amazon reviews, I wouldn’t buy Kenable cables.  

rico

TheMarlin said:

I’ve read through the Amazon reviews, I wouldn’t buy Kenable cables.  

I did the same. I bought a 2m length of QED Profile as the turntable comes with a Connect-IT phono cable that looks half decent. 

Gagaryn

I'm not a cable guy, but the cable between the deck and the preamp does make a considerable difference because the signal that it is carrying is tiny.

Audiophiles will tell you to match the capicitance of the cable to the cartridge. You need to consider the resistive load and the capcitive load that the amp expects to see. Annoyingly my limited playing with this sort of thing showed that it makes a suprisingly big difference - I bought a modreately fancy cable that had particularly low capaciance which made the sound too bright. I then spent way too long making resistive and capacitive load plugs to experiment. I recommend you don't do this - just buy a reasonably well made cable and enjoy the music.

Phil_aka_Pip

rico said:

TheMarlin said:

I’ve read through the Amazon reviews, I wouldn’t buy Kenable cables.  

I did the same. I bought a 2m length of QED Profile as the turntable comes with a Connect-IT phono cable that looks half decent. 

never had any trub with them. way better than the "string" I was using before

Rocker

Why use a turntable as source if not for sound quality!  The sensible thing to do is to borrow a few sets of cables from your local hi-fi dealer and try them in your system.  You only pay for the pair you keep and return the rest.  A good hi-fi dealer that I can recommend is Cloney Audio in Blackrock, Co. Dublin.  Contact them by phone, list your kit and music preference and they will advise on the 'best' cable for your system. 

As has already been said, cables do make a difference.  Sometimes great, other times less so.  Silver cables are very revealing of your system.  If you use silver and your system sounds harsh or brittle, it is not the faulty of the cable.  You need to look elsewhere for the reason!