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Interconnects priority

Greetings!

I am mulling over my interconnects and one question I have is, which interconnect is the most  important, if any, in the chain.

My setup is a Rega P8 with a Hana SL LOMC cart, into a Moon 310 LP / 320S phono stage, onto a PrimaLuna EVO 400 preamp and finally into a McIntosh MC312 power amp.

I am contemplating which interconnect (using XLR in my case) is the most critical to the sound/signal path, the one from the phono stage to the preamp or from the preamp to the power amp?

Or, looking it from another practical budget perspective, if I have a total of of $1,000 to spend is it clear that I should spend $500 on each XLR pair, or should I “overweight” my spend on one set because it’s the more “important” interconnect from a sound quality perspective.

(Of course assuming the interconnects are of equal length so that’s not a factor.)

Would love to hear this knowledgeable group’s thoughts on this - thanks!

128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xbimmerlover
soix
9,456 posts
 

By George I think he’s got it!

rick_n's avatar
rick_n
199 posts
 

I agree with the source first calls.

mclinnguy's avatar
mclinnguy
444 posts
 

@soix

 These @ links used to autofill and turn blue, but as of recently for some unknown reason that doesn’t happen anymore.

It is a short term glitch I am told. 

mitchagain
441 posts
 

+ 1 @coralkong & phantom_av

I recently had this same discussion with a friend who works in the audio business; and, we came to the same conclusion (# 1 = pre to amp); but, we also agreed that speaker cables would be a close second. 

bimmerlover's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
bimmerlover OP
41 posts
 

A big thanks to everyone for sharing their opinions, which interestingly varied quite a bit.

“The phono stage to the preamp [as closer to the source is most important]” - 2+ votes

”The preamp to the power amp [because everything goes through that ic]” - 2+ votes

”They are both important but start with the speaker cables and work you way up backwards”

Spend, in essence, $970 on one and $30 on the other, with at least minimum quality (eg a Mogami cable from WBC) “so you can upgrade the second one later and thus end up with two great ic’s”

“Have you considered upgrading your cartridge” - this was an interesting one, as it didn’t address the question but, hey, that’s always a possibility at some point

So, I ended up buying three different pairs of ic’s and one pair of speaker cables, to play around with…:

XLR ICs:

Townsend Audio DCT 300

Wireworld Equinox 8

Vogue Audio Silver Strand Ultra

Speaker cable:

Harmonic Technology Pro-9+

(all purchased used from various places - mainly USAM - in very good condition)

So, plenty to play around with in different places in my audio chain…

How much fun, and thanks again for everyone‘s input!

 

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