Can good IC's be used instead of dedicated phono's

I would add to the previous comments that I'm not sure if the Signature 2's are shielded. Judging by the photos and description provided at the XLO site for the Signature 3's I don't think the Signature 3's are shielded, which prompts me to raise that point. Lack of shielding could result in noise issues in a phono cable application that would not occur in a line-level application. There's no harm in giving them a try, though.

Optimizing capacitance is particularly important if the cartridge is a moving magnet type, for which manufacturers usually specify a recommended range of total load capacitance ("total" being the total of the capacitances of the cable, the wiring in the turntable and tonearm, and the input capacitance of the phono stage). For low output moving coil cartridges it is less of an issue, but preferably should be kept as low as possible.

Ordinary copper should be fine for the grounding wire.

Regards,
-- Al

By the way, shielding adds capacitance.

Although, as is usually the case in audio, there are a multitude of variables that affect the bottom line of a given parameter. Blue Jeans LC-1, for example, even though it is NOT specifically intended for phono applications, and even though it is heavily shielded, and even though its cost is very low, has an extremely low capacitance of 12.2 pf/ft.

Best regards,
-- Al

Hi Lew,

We're both right, as I see it. But the basic underlying point I wanted to convey in my response is that if low capacitance is required for a particular application, focus should not be placed exclusively or even primarily on unshielded designs.

Blue Jeans LC-1, btw, is a coaxial cable, with the shield (actually a double shield) serving as the return conductor. So comparison with an unshielded cable that is otherwise similar would not be meaningful or possible, as such a cable would not work. On the other hand, I agree that a cable design having both the signal and the return conductors within a shield, when compared with an otherwise identical cable having no shield, would have higher capacitance.

Best regards,
-- Al

Salectric, my guess is that the different grounding wires probably made a difference in the amount and/or frequency characteristics of ultrasonic or RF energy entering the phono stage. Either by making a difference in the effectiveness of the shielding provided by the enclosure, or by differences in antenna effects.

With many and perhaps most phono stages audible differences can be expected to result from significant differences in ultrasonic or RF energy that may be sent into them, as a consequence of intermodulation, demodulation, and similar effects. One evidence of that is the number of threads we've seen here over the years in which people have reported problems hearing radio stations when listening to phono sources.

Were all of the wires you tried approximately the same length, and were they routed and positioned similarly, relative to other cables, power cords, and components (especially those containing digital circuitry) that may have been nearby?

Length differences would affect inductance, which would affect grounding effectiveness at ultrasonic and RF frequencies. Significant length differences might also result in differing antenna effects. Differences in positioning might affect pickup of ultrasonic or RF energy radiating from nearby power cords, cables, or components.

Regards,
-- Al