phono cable suggestions..

I wouldn't let audiophile neurosis get you on this point. If any manufacturer actually makes an RCA-RCA "phono" cable which is really different from their regular RCA cables, I'd be very surprised. The manufacturers I have spoken to over the years (Cardas, Purist, NBS in particular) never suggested to me that their phono cables are any different from their regular cables, and Sumiko, the importer of my SME turntable and arm, certainly has never suggested that there was a distinction. They all simply indicated that the phono cables differed from the regular cables because of the DIN connector required for most arms. I tried a Purist Proteus DIN-RCA cable in an AB comparison against the same cable in RCA only format with a Cardas DIN-RCA adaptor, and did the same with two Cardas Golden Reference cables, one DIN-RCA and one RCA-RCA, and couldn't hear any difference. Since then I've used the adaptor to gain more flexibility in choices, and certainly have heard no loss in my system.

Here's an interesting article to help with your choice.

http://www.high-endaudio.com/RC-IC-Phono.html

the only dedicated cable I know of is the silver audio silver breeze. It costs around $500 for this cable so its not cheap, and discounts are not easily found as silver audio doesn't give hardly any margin to dealers. Other cables to consider are the Wasatch phone cable for $130 which I use in both din and RCA terminations, or Coincident. When it comes to the differences between a normal rca cable versus one for cartridge phono, silver audio has this to say:

Modern phono cartridges are the most exquisitely sensitive of all audio components and therefore require nothing less than the highest quality phono cable to preserve and convey the microvolt information they generate.

Designed to be the most accurate phono lead in the world, the signal network of the acclaimed 1999 Silver Breeze uses the same high performance geometry of the Appassionata but with a necessarily different conductor compliment. An air-gapped PE shield spacer greatly reduces field interactions between the shield and inner core while allowing the cable to be strong, lightweight and reasonably flexible.

Much of the noise that plagues high gain phono equipment is actually a result of stray electromagnetic fields (such as from the turntable motor) against which the typical coaxial shield is powerless. For this reason, the Silver Breeze™ uses a proprietary shielding method to shunt Electro-magnetic field interference (EMI) as well capacitively coupled noise i.e. RFI and ESI. This is a crucial feature of the Silver Breeze™, which allows superb preservation of low-level information. For final insurance of sonic purity and lowest possible noise floor, the shielding system is floated at both ends and shunted to chassis ground separately rather than by shorting to the negative returns of the phono pre-amplifier. This allows the flexibility of choosing the optimal ground potential for the cartridge and shield drain.

The aptly named Silver Breeze™ is typified by agile transients, tune-full, consonant bass and natural illumination deep into the soundstage. The Silver Breeze is generally made to order due to the variety of special considerations regarding clearance and terminations. Normal termination is straight 5 pin Gold plated Cardas DIN to Topline WBT RCA. Available RCA to RCA for an additional $75.00 fee and right angle DIN for $30.00 additional.

I should chime in on this one. There are tremendous differences in phono cables and standard interconnects if the manufacturer knows what they are doing. They operate at totally different electrical values. The single most important thing to great analog performance is the loading. If you do not use the proper cable you will not have the load matched to the pickup or the input. I'm glad to offer any advise I can in regard to this. Steve 8007524018

Question for Steve at hififarm

Can you explain what you mean by loading as it relates to tt phono cables? I assume this has something to do with impedences and matching a cartridge and phonostage and the effect that cables have on loading. Is this true? Is it the inductance or capacitance of a cable that impacts the loading? or something else? And lets say you want a cartridge to see a 100 ohm load at the phonostage and using stepup tranformers and resistors a 100 ohm load is present, how does a cable change that? or does it?

And lets say every analog configuration is unique, which is pretty much the truth... if nothing is the same, does a user have to figure what he has and then get a cable that matches what they have? If so, then how does one figure all the numbers out?