Anyone using microphone cable in making their phono cable?

[rich121]

I'm wanting to rewire both my Techics EPA-500 base/tonearms and have read many good articles/threads on many sites about using new/vintage microphone cable for phono cable. Of which, I'm not able to find exactly what was used, so I was hoping someone has some experience here.

I would like to make a direct conection from the last connection point inside the tonearm base, and have the cable/cables go directly to the phone amp input, so they would be soldered directly to the interior of the tonearm base, and be single ended on the other end of the cable.

I would appreciate any and all suggestions in doing this.

Thanks...


Rick

[Jan Dupont]

If it's from tonearm base (and not in the tonearm it self), you can use any good cable you like. I have done this many times for the last 25 years.

If it's inside the tonearm you may want to take the weight of the wires into count, as this could slightly alter the respons on very light tonearms.

[rich121]

I could directly solder the cable to the interior of the base, as it won't effect the tonearm... I probably will have to consider a different cable/wire for inside the arms themselves...

Rick

[stoolpigeon]

Hi Rick,

Nice arm! I have just been reading about it in an old Absolute Sound. It is the one with plug in arm tubes and if this is what you have I would be very hesitant about disturbing the internal wiring.

By all means replace the external wire. I have used (without problems) 2 runs of 2 core shielded cable - 1 run per channel. The 2 cores become the extension of the cartridge leads and the shield connects to the arm ground at the base of the arm which is then connected to the phono ground post. The shields are not connected to the rca plugs.

sp

[SY]

I'd give up a few vital organs to have one of those arms...

If it were me, I'd rewire the whole thing to balanced. I did that with my setup, using some shielded CAT5 for the external wiring and I will never go back. Cartridges are naturally balanced output devices, and the noise rejection advantages are considerable. The real work is converting your phono stage to balanced, but in my case, I have a nice Sowter input transformer so it was a piece of cake.

[johnss]

why use new vintage, when you can use new, new. Use Canare star quad mic cable, you'll have very low noise and great RF rejection even on a Moving Coil cart.

best

[Johnny2Bad]

Critical factor with phono signals is minimal cable capacitance. Choose a low-capacitance cable (and some mic cable will be) and everything should be fine. Try to keep the cable length as low as possible (under 1m, shorter if you can get away with it).

The Canare and (my preference) Mogami star-quads would be a good start.

[Speedskater]

Microphone cable is optimized for flexibility and long life in rough conditions. Far from the first choice for a turntable.

[Pano]

Just the weight, otherwise it's pretty good.