Changing tonearm cables

cstmar01

Soooo just wondering how hard this would be to do on say....a VPI classic TT.

I am curious as
1.what does it all take to do it

2 could you swap it out and use XLR connection and run it as a full balanced signal from top to bottom doing it this way.

3.Also how would you ensure it will be a true balanced design?

I'm just curious as this was a TT I was looking at getting in the future and commonly see tonearm cables to match the rest of the system and was wondering if this is something that can be done on most any TT or just certain ones etc.

Maybe I'm just dumb when it comes to this. I really haven't take apart or explored my TT so not sure how it all would work/go.

cstmar01

anyone?

bikerboy

I have a balanced preamp in the works, so I have been looking into this also. Some tt have the ground connected to the cart and to the table or arm. That cant happen to have a proper balanced phono setup. The wires need to connect to the cart only. Then you're good to go. That and a balanced phono preamp. From what I've read almost all cart will have a floating ground so its easy if you are rewiring the arm to remove the old wire and ground connections to the arm or table. Whatever you do never use a multimeter on the phono cart as it could ruin it. Unclip the wire from the cart and then do continuity tests.

jm1

VPI uses a junction box to connect the tonearm cables to your phono pre. Standard issue is a RCA junction box. You can get a XLR junction box as well. If you ordered the TT, you might be able to select which one to be included with the TT. You can always send Mike an email with any questions you have.

doctorcilantro

bikerboy wrote: »

I have a balanced preamp in the works, so I have been looking into this also. Some tt have the ground connected to the cart and to the table or arm. That cant happen to have a proper balanced phono setup. The wires need to connect to the cart only. Then you're good to go. That and a balanced phono preamp. From what I've read almost all cart will have a floating ground so its easy if you are rewiring the arm to remove the old wire and ground connections to the arm or table. Whatever you do never use a multimeter on the phono cart as it could ruin it. Unclip the wire from the cart and then do continuity tests.

Only if the cart. has a ground attached to signal ground. Soundsmith built me a cart. with the "cage" attached to a dedicated electrical ground; I know what you are getting and that is correct, as it pertains to most carts.

Some argue phono carts. are inherently balanced, but the opposite it true. The signal only travels on the positive leg regardless of how it is wired with regard to signal ground and electrical ground.

From Audio Karma discussion we had a long time ago:

"That is incorrect. It's just the opposite. A phono cartridge is inherently unbalanced. The sound is being produced at the source and sent in a single direction out of the source. There is no signal being carried on the minus or more correctly, ground. You can prove it. Although each channel has its own distinct ground, if they happen to touch it does not affect the sound. I have also conducted an experiment. I made a bunch of cables in different configurations, using the electrical ground for the shield.

Unshielded = hum
Fully shielded = no hum
Positive (signal) shielded = no hum
Negative (ground) shielded = hum

What does this mean? That the sound is carried only on the + side. If the negative carried sound, then there should be hum when only the positive side was grounded, but there was none, because there is nothing to shield. "

Anyway, the bottom line is not to fret to much about the setup, just wire it up....and don't worry so much about any type of dedicated ground as Biker boy stated.

cstmar01

Thanks for the info. The main reason I asked is that I want to move to a BAT pre and phono stage down the line. If so I would like for it to be a true balanced set up all the way down the chain and first have to start at the top.

hearingimpared

Chris are you talking about the "Classic?"