Should people with no turntable or reel to reel be considered audiophiles?

Hey Chakster-should I worry about my 5’ or 1.5 meter interconnect going from my phono stage to my preamp? It’s a Kimber PB&J.

Phono cables are the most critical, especially with low voltage signal coming from a LOMC cartridge, the signal can be 0.15 mV or even less. This is where the Balanced phono cable, especially for a long distance, is better, but you need a phono stage with balanced inputs too.

It’s been said before and explained in details that using balanced phono cable with LOMC cartridge you will get louder signal.

For MM or MI cartriges with much higher output this problem is irrelevant if your unbalanced RCA phono cable is not too long.

Interconnect unbalanced cable for line level signal between components can be even 3 meters, but normally they are 1.2 meters and that’s fine. They can be shorter if your components are close enough to each other.

Moving the boxes around and switching to a shorter Interconnect cable (which I have a .5 meter one of the same brand) would work without any $$ investment. Would you say this is a no brainer and I should definitely do it?

I don’t use XLR myself, my unbalanced cables are less than 1.5 meters, some of them are 60cm. I have many phono stages and a few preamps, but none of them have an XLR inputs. My Gold Note PH-10 have XLR output, but my Pass Aleph L preamp does not have XLR inputs.

Since all my phono cables and interconnects are super high quality the balanced cables will be the last thing for me to think about. But for those who think about it from the start choosing XLR balanced components is a good point.

I wouldn’t change any of my high-end gear (phono stages or preamps) just because they don’t have XLR connection.

So would you swap the 1.5 meter cord out for the .5 meter one? My cartridge output is on the high side for a MC, .65.

So would you swap the 1.5 meter cord out for the .5 meter one? My cartridge output is on the high side for a MC, .65.

In analog playback a CARTRIGE is NUMBER ONE thing. As much as your cartridge must be matched very well with tonearm, your speakers must be matched very well with your amp. If you already have some nice speakers for your analog rig then think about cartridge and try different ones, start with MM or MI. This is where you can notice a huge difference in sound immediately without breaking the bank. Until you will not find "your cartridge" do not bother with cables and stuff if they cost more than a cartridge.

If your 1.5m cable is very well shielded i wouldn’t bother. If you have some hum then you can try a better shielded cable. If your cable is good i don’t think you will notice any difference even if you will cut it in the middle and re-solder the connectors.

But if you will change your cartridge you will be shocked by the difference in sound you can hear immediately without changing anything else in your system. The best cartridges are not the most expensive ones for sure (experience is the key).

looscannon,

"Glupson is the type who will order the Burmester system when he gets his Porsche."

You are correct. That would be a must. Same for S Coupe. The difference is that in S you can actually hear something while driving while in 911 GTS it is a bit of a struggle. You could hear it in the Cayenne, but it is not a Porsche, apparently, so it does not matter.

Luckily for me, a Porsche is not in near future so I do not have to think too much about it.

Speaking of cars and audiophiles, another small thing. A few years ago, you could pay extra $1000-1500 (I forgot details) for Premium Harman-Kardon system in BMW. Once you read through the instructions (close to the last page, if not the last, in an on-screen manual in the car), it warned you it worked for resolutions up to 320kbps and that's it. It also warned you not to attach any storage device/hard drive to the USB port. Basically, you would pay extra for better sound that you were not supposed to use.

In reality, it worked with FLACs (any resolution), and even with MP3s of higher resolutions.

Agree with cart being most important. I’m not looking to do anything there. I have a Van Den Hul one Special that I may need to get serviced within the next year. I got a great deal on it a while back and don’t think I can come close to its sound for the expected $500 service. It’s a $1850 cartridge.

Also I have both .5 meter and 1.5 meter Kimber PBJ interconnects. Question was whether there would be any difference using the shorter one in between the Phono stage and preamp.