2. cables
  3. 1349091840

Cable, they drive me nuts.

I just sold my old speakers and want to invest that in a phono amp. But right now I do not have a seperate phono amp. So if I do buy one I will need an extra interlink. Right now I have two interlinks is my system. Both are Cardas one is a Hexlink 5 the other one I am not sure what model. However both are old and the isolation is losing a bit of its flexibility. So in the future I might replace them as well.

But now back to the original problem. If I buy a phono stage what cable should I buy? I own a VPI Scout turntable so I need a RCA-RCA interconnect. Now should I buy a "special" phono interconect like the Harmonic Technology CopperPhono or a simular able by Nordost. Or will any RCA interconnect do.

Then there is the price. All those special phono cables cost so much. I have a hard time justifying spending more the €250 on an interconnect when I buy a a phono amp costing between 1000-1500 (new or second hand).

So what would you do? If I buy a phono stage I will not have the funds to buy an expensive interconnect (more the 200). So what I can do is buy a €10 interconnect for now and later replace it or spend about 100-200 and keep it that way.

My system:
Speaker Master One
Turntable VPI Scout
Cartride Lyra Dorian
Integrated amp Symphonic Line La Musica
CD Transport CEC TL51x
DAC Wadia 12
Speaker cable NBS active IV
power cable DAC NBS Omega 3
power cable CD Transport NBS DragonFly
mordante
pbnaudio's avatar
pbnaudio
1,610 posts
 
In your quest for your phono stage I suggest that you take a look at the Liberty B2B-1. And yes I do make them :-) and I do think I have a decent interconnect to throw in with the package too, should you decide to go this way.

Good Listening

Peter
mordante OP
511 posts
 
@Pbnaudio

Thank you for your offer, but I live in Europe, the Netherlands to be more exact so that might be a problem. Not sure how much it would cost to have it send to Europe plus import tax and VAT.

Sometimes I envy the US a bit, prices for audio seem to be a lot lower in the US compared to Europe
mt10425
1,138 posts
 
They just wrote about reasonable cables in two UK mags, HiFi Choice and What HiFi. Most of the cables in the shoot-out should be available in Europe.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
I have a scout. There is no need for a special phono cable. Just use a regular interconnect. My advice is: Don't, for a second, think of not upgrading your phono preamp just because you don't have an expensive cable to go along with it. Cables do make a nice difference if matched properly. A good phono preamp has the ability to transform the sound of your system in ways a pair of cables just can't. Even if you have to make due with a cheap pair of cables, for now, you will still hear a big improvement (As long as you pick the right phono preamp.)
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