Advise on Long Phono Cable run

Dear @jagjag : It does not matters the type of cartridge you can use it, with 5m. cable from the TT to the Halo RCA phono inputs you will have a " severe " cartridge signal degradation especially at high frequency due to the cable resistance and what you say can happens about that the very low signal is way suceptible to be contaminated rfi/emi and the like no matter waht.

Now, my next advise depends on the importance that the LP listening sessions has to you and how often you listen to LP and even how many LP's you own  and if LP is your main listening medium ( I doubt it because your Halo is not precisely for analo but....) then that TT must be nearest to the Halo ( no more than 1.25m. ) and the other electronics/speakers at " long distance " from the Halo because are all high level units including the signal to the speakers and the Halo output impedance is low enough for you have not problem down there other that all the money you need for the overall system cables you have to buy.

The other solution is that you buy a true balanced phono stage and connect it from those 5m. through the Halo balanced input.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

The interconnect cable from my TT uses balanced xlr connectors. It was wired that way at the factory. Almost all cartridges are capable of balanced output. My cartridge has a rated output of .44mV. TT is currently in a temporary location so for a stop gap solution I'm using about 10m of old beat up, cheap, coiled up mic cable. Good strong signal to the pre, (which is fully balanced) no noise and not enough signal degradation to notice unless you were to do an A/B test.

You should be able to have your TT interconnect rewired to balanced easily and economically and be good to go as long as your phono input is also balanced. 

A true balanced signal is the way to go for long runs. Period.

The problem here isn't that the length, so much as it is capacitance! Even with a balanced connection, the physics are a bit different than it is with a microphone; the capacitance of the cable and the inductance of the cartridge make a tuned circuit with a resonance. Over 5(!)meters, the capacitance will be significant regardless of the cable, single-ended or balanced, such that the resonant frequency will be quite low. That will in turn make for problems with many phono sections if the resonance is even outside the audio band. With MM it will be **in** the audio band and make a mess of things.


If you can't find a compact phono section with a balanced output, I would get a single-ended phono section that can otherwise do the job and have it drive a line transformer which can convert from single-ended to balanced to drive the long run. Most high end audio phono sections that have a balanced output don't actually support the balanced standard, and as a result will be unable to drive a length like that.


But if you use a line transformer you can pull it off. This would be best driving a balanced input at the line stage; if that's not available you'll need another line transformer to convert back to single-ended.


If you do it this way the long interconnect will not have to be expensive yet will be sonically neutral.

You can find a mint condition PS Audio GCPH MM/MC Phono Preamplifier under $600.

https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-6naz0isypk/images/stencil/2048x2048/products/27530/190549/2u6BN4o__2...

https://www.hifishark.com/model/ps-audio-gcph