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Phono cable - necessary?

I always thought a phono cable was only necessary if the turntable had a din connector that made use of a regular IC cable impossible so I never really paid much attention to phono cables as my VPI has the typical RCA box for the tonearm. Just recently my dealer told me that phono cables actually use special geometry and construction necessary to conduct the weak signal from the cartridge to the phono preamp properly. I felt flat out embarrassed that I was ignorant of that fact for so long. That said, what is the consensus among audiophiles on this issue? He recommended a Nordost Heimdall 2 phono cable, which at about $650 is certainly not cheap. I am looking to replace my current "phono" cable (Acoustic Zen WOW) as I don't like how thick and rigid it is, even though I really like it sonically. Any advice on the subject?
actusreus
actusreus OP
733 posts
 
Al,
Your words of wisdom are greatly appreciated, as always. I actually saw your recommendation for the Blue Jeans cable in a recent phono cable thread started by Pani, and was going to take a look at it. Just curious, what is considered low capacitance for an IC?
almarg's avatar
almarg
9,670 posts
 
... what is considered low capacitance for an IC?

There are no hard and fast thresholds, of course, and the total capacitance of the cable, which is what matters, is directly proportional to its length.  But as a rough rule of thumb, I would consider 20 pf/foot or less to be low, 20 to 40 pf/foot to be medium, and more than 40 pf/foot or so to be highish. 

Blue Jeans LC-1, as you’ve seen, is about 12 pf/foot.

"pf," by the way, is short for picofarads.  1 pf = one trillionth of a farad, a farad being the basic unit of capacitance, although 1 farad represents an **extremely** large amount of capacitance, at least in the context of electronic devices.

Best regards,
-- Al

chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
Almarg "Chakster, there are many "normal interconnects" that will provide excellent shielding, and can be used successfully in phono applications. Although of course there are others that do not."

Yes, not all of them and i've had that issues. It's also depends on the area where you live. When the unshielded cable catch the radio signal and you hear someboby's voice in your speakers it's a strange feeling. Why not use just a phono cable designed for phono signal? 

The construction of Stereolab Master Reference Phono is quite interesting and the sound is spectacular like everything from Chris Sommovigo who desing the cables for a long time. 
mechans
3,048 posts
 

Without the physics or  EE principles of any sort, I went with small diameter silver.  I used Home Grown cable's  Silver Lace (1 M)  for years and generally recommend such cables. I had 2 systems with TTs and used Silver on both, with I thought, great success.

Listen to Al, but if you have some silver cable that would fit, try it you might like it.

actusreus OP
733 posts
 
I have the Nordost Frey 2 on loan for the weekend so that should at least tell me if a designated tonearm cable makes a difference. Especially, based on the price alone it should!
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