Turntable Placement Between Speakers with Short Interconnect?

I can agree that there is a tradeoff between having the table "too close" to speakers and long ICs, but the quality of the phono ICs makes very little difference if they are 8 feet long, as proposed.  Or to put it a better way, quality per se is not going to make up for the extra long length.  And in this case, having the table to one side or the other of a pair of speakers is not necessarily any better in terms of feedback potential than having it in between the speakers.  We would need to know more about the radiation pattern of the speakers.  Also, given the monetary constraints imposed on himself by the OP, it hardly seems likely he would want to pay for very expensive ICs.

I have done a fair amount of experimenting with stuff in the center between speakers. With dynamic speakers (as opposed to ribbon), you do not want a stack of stuff… it screws up the imaging. I had to locate my equipment off to the side… that and the addition of a thick wool wall hanging (see photos under my UserID)… made a huge performance difference. The soundstage now goes deep into the wall.

Also, you do not want to put long interconnect between the TT and Phonostage. Typically, as mentioned above you break between the preamp and amp. So with no choice… you’ll have to go with long speaker cables. This is hard because: 1) quality matters and 2) good long ones cost a lot of money.

If your floor is concrete locate the TT on a stand… or if it is more convenient or you have suspended floors use a wall shelf.

Thanks again All…. Would this be a possible solution:

I take out the easily removable phono card from my Diablo, and instead purchase an external module to go next to my turntable 3 ft to the right of my right speaker. Then the 8 ft interconnect would be a line level interconnect. That said, I should note that the turntable’s position would be approaching the front right corner of my room, if that is a bad thing…. Unfortunately the layout of my room only allows for these two positions.

That said, lewm notes this may not be any better than in the middle and yes I’d prefer not to have to spend thousands on 8ft interconnects…. Unless there is no other choice.

Unfortunately, a corner is also not ideal. Bass tends to collect there. Mine is pretty close to the corner (big room though). I put a Silent Running Audio isolation platform under it and it is a very high quality sprung table, so it works.

I don’t know if you have done much experimentation with your front wall, and imaging. I would do some. Find something around the house to simulate the blockage.

If you don’t mind bending over… if you keep the table really low then that is probably the safest bet. Stuff only screws up imaging as high as it is. I recently pulled my amp further out in the room and put pillows behind it and this improved and deepened imaging. I guess monoblocks are best.. so you can locat next to the speakers… there are alway compromises.

One other thought I had was to first purchase a low end $1k Pro-ject turntable to experiment with the position between my speakers. If I’m lucky, maybe it simply isn’t an issue…. I can always sell the cheaper TT after.

of note, I have all other gear I’d need including some good AQ short interconnects and a Hurricane source for the TT which will go into my AQ 1800 conditioner.

Currently running a 2m pair of Clarus Crimson biwire cables to my speakers which are rather great for the money.

Maybe I should just do a test with an inexpensive TT first? I don’t want to spring for a very fancy VPI TT if it will sound like crap….