Long run from turntable to amplifier - cable upgrade or external phono stage?

[admin_exported]

Any help/advice welcomed on this query.

I have moved house and am setting up my hi-fi in the new place. I have previously run my Pro-ject 1.2 directly into the phono input on my NAD 314, and have been very happy with the results.

However, in my new flat I would like to set my turntable up some distance away from my amp (probably 10 feet or so). I originally thought I would just get a ten-foot interconnect and barrel joiners/extenders to hook them into the (hardwired) turntable cables. I suddenly had the thought though that sending a phono-level signal down 10 feet of cable is perhaps not a good idea.

So my question is, would I be better off buying an external phono stage (probably Cambridge Audio 540p) then running a line-level signal 10 feet to my amp, or would I be better off spending that cash on a better interconnect.

Total budget about a hundred quid, so it's either (phono stage + fairly ordinary interconnect) vs (slightly whizzier interconnect).

Any thoughts?

Thank you

 

[shooter]

charliefreak:
Any help/advice welcomed on this query.

I have moved house and am setting up my hi-fi in the new place. I have previously run my Pro-ject 1.2 directly into the phono input on my NAD 314, and have been very happy with the results.

However, in my new flat I would like to set my turntable up some distance away from my amp (probably 10 feet or so). I originally thought I would just get a ten-foot interconnect and barrel joiners/extenders to hook them into the (hardwired) turntable cables. I suddenly had the thought though that sending a phono-level signal down 10 feet of cable is perhaps not a good idea.

So my question is, would I be better off buying an external phono stage (probably Cambridge Audio 540p) then running a line-level signal 10 feet to my amp, or would I be better off spending that cash on a better interconnect.

Total budget about a hundred quid, so it's either (phono stage + fairly ordinary interconnect) vs (slightly whizzier interconnect).

Any thoughts?

Thank you

Good question.

As the the signal from the cartridge is very low, for example 4.0mV or 0.004V it would make sense to boost it with a phono stage near the turntable then run cable to the amp.
The phono stage will boost the signal to a respectable level and you'll have no problems using a 10ft RCA.

 

[Anonymous]

i kinda agree with the previous post.

i would run the hard wired leads from the phono to an out board phono stage to as far as it can possibly go, then use another set of interconnects from the phono stage to your NAD. placing the phono stage as far as possible from the TT means you'll need a shorter run from the phono stage to the amp. if not possible to place the phono stage any nearer the amp, then at least the signal out of that is indeed much higher than straight from the tt. i'm not an engineer or anything but i figure that the signal coming from the hard wired cable from the amp are very low as is, and extending them another 2 or 3 meters without anything in between will seriously degrade the already low signal.

 

[Anonymous]

Extending a cable from the tone-arm end will increase capacitance and resistance to the very small signal from the cartridge(a few millivolts if magnetic type)it usually causes loss of treble and hence creates a dull sound. It can also increase the risk of hum pick-up where the cable joins are. Far better to get a separate phono stage and run a long lead from this to your amplifiers spare input.