Problem with phono stage


Hello Fellow Audiogoners,

I need help with my Phono stage. It is Lehman Audio Black Cube from Germany.  It was recommended from Simao, a very respected Audiogon member who helped me a lot when I was building my stereo. It costs 450$ brand new which I bought used from this site. Michael Fremer considers it one of the best steals in phono stages. I get a little bit better detail and bass extension BUT it also much noisier. I can hear the pops and any other noises  on the records much more then with the phono stage of my Arcam FMJ 28 which turned out to be a surprisingly good one considering it is an integrated one.
I also switched the cables but the noise is still there.
Is this a common problem with added phono stages as opposed to integrated ones or something is wrong with my phono and needs to be checked.

All help will be greatly appreciated.
Emil


emilm
Hi Mike and Ralph,

My cartridge is Nagaoka MP-110.
My cables are AudioQuest regular interconnects. I can't see which model exactly.
Do I need a special cable for the phono stage?

Emil
Hi Millercarbon,

No, the noise is more then the improvement to a point that I don't use the  phono anymore.
Do I need a special cable for the phono stage?
@emilm    Yes! Most regular cables have too much capacitance. This causes a high frequency peak and certainly can emphasize ticks and pops.


A proper phono cable will have a capacitance of about 20pf (picofarads) per foot and you won't be running more than about 1 meter, or else you'll want to find a cable with lower capacitance.
This is the sort of thing you're looking for:
https://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/audio/index.htm
You need a shielded phono cable for a phono stage (from your turntable to a phono stage). Phono cable is not a regular interconnect cable. 

  
But shielded cables per se do not have low capacitance, compared to unshielded wire of the same type and length. So the shielding can be a trade off if you are looking for the lowest capacitance. But let’s hear what Ralph has to say to the OP. My question would be what is the phono  gain of the Lehman black cube?And for that matter, what is the additional gain of the line stage to which it is connected?