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How will XLR cables vs RCA effect a phono pre

I have an TNT V with SME IV type 6 tonearm with a Sumiko Sho cartridge that is a high output at 47K ohms and the output voltage is 2.3 mV. I have had to move my turntable so the cable going to ARPH3SE is one meter, but the cable going to Krell Pre-Amp needs to be 2m. If I were to upgrade to another phono pre-amp, would I be better off looking for one with XLR connections? I notice that there are not a lot of phono-pre that have XLR. Why is this? Would I be better off with a battery pre that seems to be very quiet or bite the bullet and look at BAT or similar? Can someone explain the difference between using RCA or XLR cables on a turntable and phono pre-amp? Any help greatly appreciated.
adorfman
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rauliruegas
13,016 posts
 
Dear Adorfman: As Atmasphere point out there is no more gain ( you have more gain only when your IC balanced connections goes from preamp to ampliifer ) but less noise/distortion ( between other things ).

Now if you are thinking on a phono stage change IMHO it will be a good time to eliminate those IC ( cables ) that makes a cartridge signal degradation and buy a fully balanced active gain Phonolinepreamp ( integral unit ).

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
curio's avatar
curio
305 posts
 
The XLR will give you 6db of additional gain and is theoretically more quiet..

I confirm .. not theoretically!
I used RCA cables between my Whest Audio 30RDT and the Pass X1 preamp and lately the same cable but Balanced and now I have more audible gain (4db not 6)and more quiet or better less audible blow from the tweeter even if the 30RDT is silent like a fish also by RCA
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,444 posts
 
..I understand the quality of difference between balanced and single ended has lots to do with how the circuit was designed. Some circuits that are designed single ended, probably wouldn't benefit much from a balanced connection. Those circuits that are designed for balanced benefits much more for using xlr cables. I have an all Ayre system, and each of those components sound quite a bit better balanced than in single ended mode.
mordante
511 posts
 
When you use XLR form turntable to phono pre, do you also the need XLR from phono to amp or doesn't that matter. The idea of XLR to phono interests me but my amp doesn't have XLR inputs. And I am not going to change my amp anytime soon.

The only phono pre I can think of that yu can use with XLR inputs and RCA outputs is the CEC PH-53, I don't think that is really a top of the line phono amp. Admittedly I haven't heard it.
hdm
1,061 posts
 
Mordante: The answer is no. You can run balanced from turntable to phono pre and single ended out of the phono preamp. You'll probably realize about 75-80% of the benefits of balanced operation this way-it offers much more performance, for example than running single ended from the table and balanced from the phono stage.

FWIW the Aqvox can be operated with balanced inputs and single ended outputs.
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