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Two conductor cable for tonearm rewire

post #1 of 12
11/1/09 at 2:54pm
Thread Starter 
My tonearm's wiring is connected to a terminal strip. From the terminal strip, two bare wire to RCA cables are connected. I'm looking to replace the latter cables. Unfortunately, most of the cables I've seen recommended for interconnect usage are single conductor with a shield.

So I guess I'm looking for a two conductor cable appropriate for interconnect usage. I'd like to keep it under $1.00 a foot. What would you use?
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post #2 of 12
11/1/09 at 3:00pm
I'm confused. Are you looking for a shielded conductor, two parallel leads in a zip-cord configuration, or a twisted pair?
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post #3 of 12
11/1/09 at 3:06pm
Thread Starter 
A twisted pair (at least, I think so).

Something akin to this.
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post #4 of 12
11/1/09 at 3:51pm
Why not just buy the one you linked? It's cheap. Otherwise make a twisted pair out of hookup wire, that'd be even cheaper.
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post #5 of 12
11/1/09 at 4:41pm
Thread Starter 
I'm not sure how finicky I should to be about cable choice. If the Mogami doesn't have any glaring technical/application flaws, awesome.

Has anyone tried something like this?
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post #6 of 12
11/2/09 at 12:16am
Thread Starter 
I guess what I'm asking is if there would be an appreciable (audible) difference between using a twisted pair vs. a coax cable for unbalanced audio over a distance ~6 feet?
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post #7 of 12
11/2/09 at 12:21am
RG59 is pretty heavy/unwieldy stuff for that job.

navships and other ebay vendors sell surplus mil-spec shielded SPC/teflon coax that i use for that sort of thing, but more in headphone amps - I own one TT and about 8 vinyl discs.
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post #8 of 12
11/2/09 at 12:24am
Oh, I've finally realized that you're talking about replacing the captive RCA cable that comes out the back of your TT.

In your shoes, I would pick out a nice stereo RCA cable from monoprice or bluejeans, chop one end off, and use that. But I'm cheap.
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post #9 of 12
11/2/09 at 12:47am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ericj View Post
In your shoes, I would pick out a nice stereo RCA cable from monoprice or bluejeans, chop one end off, and use that. But I'm cheap.
I thought about that, but the idea of chopping off the end of a perfectly good cable doesn't sit well with me.

I'm thinking about using Belden 1505F and some Canare F-10s. Any strenuous objections?
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post #10 of 12
11/2/09 at 2:11am
Mogami is great in my experience, and I've heard good things about Belden. For a 6-foot distance, anything with a shield of some sort should be fine. I'm sure you'll find some who disagree with that (just like everything else in hi-fi).

The Canare's are really good connectors, short of the Eichman Silver Bullets (if you believe in that kind of thing).
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post #11 of 12
11/2/09 at 11:22am
For phono cables, the cable capacitance will be additive to any load capacitance installed at the input of your preamp/phono stage. MM cartridges typically need a fairly specific load capacitance in order to achieve the best high frequency response (without peaking or drooping).

My preference is to use a low capacitance cable for this purpose, and not any longer than necessary (the longer the cable, the more the capacitance, and gives rise to more opportunity for hum/interference because we're dealing with very low signal amplitudes being carried in the cable. I then make sure that the phono stage input load capacitor is the correct value for the cartridge that I'd be using, taking into account any capacitance that the cable adds.

I like Belden 9221 or 8216, or generic RG179/U or RG174/U for this application. They are low capacitance, thin diameter, braid-shielded coaxial cables that are thin and flexible. Just put some decent RCA plugs on the end and you'll have a good and cost-effective phono cable.
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post #12 of 12
11/2/09 at 3:00pm
Thread Starter 
My main concern is the flexibility of the shield, since the non-RCA end of the cable is connected to a screw terminal, so I need to be able to twist the shield to connect it to one of the screws. Are all shields of similar malleability?

The Belden 9221 appears to have a similar capacitance rating to 1505F, which is good I suppose. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find it priced by the foot (and I definitely don't want a 500 foot spool of it).
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