Are you saying the RCA jacks are not marked for left or right channel? Well the easy thing to do would be to test continuity up to the actual cartridge connections, or the easier thing would be to compare a vinyl that you have also on CD and see if the channels sound reversed between the two sources or not. If you have the CD player connected right! Then mark the dang thing so you don't forget.
Captive turntable interconnects; should I modify??
Hi. I came across a NOS Denon DP47f turntable from the 80's. Purchased new in Japan by a serviceman & never opened until I got it. A lot to like; well-built, rosewood base, mint, never used condition. I installed a new Ortophon Samba low-output MC cartridge, and run it through a Perreaux SXVI phono preamp. I have nothing to compare it to, but it sounds wonderful in my system. One thing I don't like is the cheap-looking captive interconnects with "Radio Shack" style RCA connections. Will I realize a noticible sonic improvement by installing nice RCA connections on the rear plate and using a nice pair of interconnects? Another option is to hard-wire a relatively thin pair of interconnects directly to the turntable. Advice please. Thanks.
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Late post to an old thread, but here goes. This might be a silly question, but if you inherit a good vintage turntable that has been modified with RCA jacks in the plinth back, how do you tell which side is + and which - if the jacks look alike? Can you damage either the turntable or the pre-amp if the cables are are not connected correctly? Or does it matter as long as the ground wire is fastened firmly to the pre-amp? Best wishes. -Choppy |
most normal rca plugs are solid brass that are gold plated. the wbt rcs are thin pure copper tubes that are gold plated. the nextgens have much less skin effect, and lower resistance with low voltage signals than normal rcas, the phase shift is less also, which WILL sound more open ,less harsh, and more transparent . I do not work for wbt by the way nor am I a dealer, good luck, Chris |
I think I am going to hard wire better quality cables to the tonearm leads, as several members have described above. I like Marakanetz' suggestion about the low-mass connectors; it just seems intuitively correct. It may be a few weeks 'til I have the time, but I'll let you know how it turns out. I am really surprised at the excellent sound I get out of the DP47f. May be largely due to the Ortofon Samba MC cartridge & the Perreaux SXVI MC preamp, but its also a testiment to Denon's 1980's tech! |
I removed the captive signal/ground cable on my Denon DP-59L many years ago and have not looked back. I installed a pair of Furutech pure copper RCAs and Vampire ground post. I used pure silver wire between the RCAs and base of the tonearm, where the stock cables were terminated. Pic of the mod: http://i994.photobucket.com/albums/af67/mr_classe/Denon/dp59_mod.jpg |
The rewireing services might worth the same funds as turntable. DIY rewire will save half. There are many options: Stay as-is (probably highest ROI) Incognito wire set (Best value) Transparent wire set (Best performance, but high price) Cardas wire set (Not sure if better than Incognito or even would say that Ingognito wire set has Cardas wires?)... |
Think of this not just in terms of the quality of the cable itself, but also (and probably more importantly) in terms of the number of mechanical connections (crimps/solder joints) that your cartridge's puny signal has to endure on it's way to your preamp. Your tonearm's thin internal wires are inevitably soldered to the captive IC at some point inside it's base via one (probably two) sets of solder joints. If you can access the point at which those thin wires "become" the IC, and then solder a new higher quality IC directly to them, assuming that you dress everything properly you will make gains. If you plan on simply cutting the captive IC just outside the turntable base and then soldering the stubs to a new set of female RCA's with the necessary additional solder joints, sending the signal to an additional set of male RCA's and solder joints on the new IC, then IMO you will be making things worse. Even if you hardwire the new IC directly to the stubs of the original captive IC you are adding one more set of solder joints to the signal path. IMO, what you gain by the higher quality cable will be offset by the additional solder joint. That cheap looking captive cable is probably decent to begin with, and those thin and cheap looking jacks sometimes sound better than the big beefy ones that have all that extra material that the signal has to travel through. If sonics are your only concern, you have not experienced serious problems with RFI, and don't mind the look, I would encourage you to contact the outfit that regularly advertises here as Cardas Tonearm Rewiring Service (or something like that), and order a set of Cardas tonearm wires terminated with cartridge clips at one end and RCA's at the other. Order it long enough to run from your cartridge clips directly to your preamp, allowing an extra six inches or so to create a "loop" over the pillar/pivot of your tonearm. You attach it along the bottom of the tonearm tube with a couple of very thin strips of blue painter's tape (easily removed), you then carefully dress it to create a loop over the pillar/pivot and tape the bottom of the loop to the table somewhere very close to the arm's base/pillar making sure that the arm can move unimpeded by the wire loop, and on to your preamp. You will be eliminating several solder joints for unimpeded signal travel through much higher quality wire. It really is easier than it sounds, your table/tonearm will remain in stock form, and the improvement in sound will amaze you. |