Phono interconnects.

[Neilsan1553552741]

Been reading here about the importance of the leads from turntable.For years now I've used van den Hul D502 leads, but recently came across a remark that they are now considered c..p.

Any suggestions on what to look out for, please. I realise I can get various from PartsConnexion,but are they any good.

Am using Antipodes Komakos/Katipo in rest of system, which have made an enormous difference.

Thanks.

[kaka]

I don't know what 502s are like

 

I've got some late 80s van den Hul Thunderline interconnects, and they are truly dreadful. The Sony that came bundled with my old 557 CD player was far better, as have been my subsequent Kimber, Antipodes and Livelines ICs.

[bluedog]

 

Neilsan;144343 wrote:

Been reading here about the importance of the leads from turntable.For years now I've used van den Hul D502 leads, but recently came across a remark that they are now considered c..p.

 

Any suggestions on what to look out for, please. I realise I can get various from PartsConnexion,but are they any good.

 

Am using Antipodes Komakos/Katipo in rest of system, which have made an enormous difference.

 

Thanks.

 

Can you take one of the antipodies cables and put it in the phono spot ?mybe you have it on a cd player ?

[Bruise1553552708]

Last week-end I swapped Van den Hul D102 MkIII interconnects from my turntable to phono and phono to pre amp with Antipodes Komako.

 

I'd had the VdH since day one so was perfectly happy with the sound. The D102 had received great reviews and won a bunch of awards when I bought them a decade ago.

 

The Komakos I put in are the "old" variety with the bigger connectors and had been used as demo cables and sent back from dealers offshore who are now retailing the newer version with the smaller connectors. I'm not sure about the degree to which the cables I received have been burned in. So I'm not sure if I'm listening to them at optimum rating or there is still development to go in the sound.

 

Anyway, the first thing I noticed when I plugged them in (struggling a bit because the connectors are slightly too big to sit happily above one another in my phono) was an immediate increase in background noise ... hum/buzz. I am totally ignorant on the technical side of this game, but I guessed this was caused by a difference in the sheilding of the cables. After farting around a bit I discovered that if I shifted the phono further away from all the other components the noise reduced.

 

So, currently, I have a lump of tanilised pine cantilevered out the side of my rack with the phono perched on it. I haven't quite got the hum/buzz eliminated (but it is certainly better).

 

There will be two projects this week-end. 1) find a longer and more presentable lump of wood and; 2) convince SWMBO that it is a good idea to have a "T" shaped installation for a hi-fi rack. Any other suggestions welcomed.

 

Does it sound better? ... oh yeah.

[bluedog]

 

Bruise;144382 wrote:

Last week-end I swapped Van den Hul D102 MkIII interconnects from my turntable to phono and phono to pre amp with Antipodes Komako.

 

 

 

I'd had the VdH since day one so was perfectly happy with the sound. The D102 had received great reviews and won a bunch of awards when I bought them a decade ago.

 

 

 

The Komakos I put in are the "old" variety with the bigger connectors and had been used as demo cables and sent back from dealers offshore who are now retailing the newer version with the smaller connectors. I'm not sure about the degree to which the cables I received have been burned in. So I'm not sure if I'm listening to them at optimum rating or there is still development to go in the sound.

 

 

 

Anyway, the first thing I noticed when I plugged them in (struggling a bit because the connectors are slightly too big to sit happily above one another in my phono) was an immediate increase in background noise ... hum/buzz. I am totally ignorant on the technical side of this game, but I guessed this was caused by a difference in the sheilding of the cables. After farting around a bit I discovered that if I shifted the phono further away from all the other components the noise reduced.

 

 

 

So, currently, I have a lump of tanilised pine cantilevered out the side of my rack with the phono perched on it. I haven't quite got the hum/buzz eliminated (but it is certainly better).

 

 

 

There will be two projects this week-end. 1) find a longer and more presentable lump of wood and; 2) convince SWMBO that it is a good idea to have a "T" shaped installation for a hi-fi rack. Any other suggestions welcomed.

 

 

 

Does it sound better? ... oh yeah.

 

Are you shure the plugs are pushed home enough if they not getting a good earth can cause a hum or buzz ?

[Bruise1553552708]

yep .. in as far as they will go

[KevinO]

 

Neilsan;144343 wrote:

For years now I've used van den Hul D502 leads, but recently came across a remark that they are now considered c..p.

 

 

Just curious what you thought of them before someone else told you they're crap?Some years use should have left you with an idea of their flavour.

[Antipodes1553552706]

Just a couple of comments in the hope it might clarify things a bit. The cables you have will improve a lot over the next (up to) 3 months. They take 3 weeks to achieve some balance but then the top end and bottom end develop over the following four weeks and then there is just a gradual improvement after that. Crazy, I know. WHile they were used as demos, they were only used for a few hours at a time with big gaps in between, so they are not broken in.

 

Our cables are not shielded as we use a completely different method for reducing noise. One that reduces noise more than shielding can, and one that sounds better - shielding is quite negative to phase coherence. But there is a big but. If there is an earth problem anywhere the method we use will likely not work and noise will be higher than with other cables. This creates problems with sources like cartridges and guitars quite regularly with our cables, as the relationship of the signal earth and electrical ground are not similar to say a CDP, preamp or power amp.

 

There are two solutions to this - play around with the earthing till it works, or return it to us for a refund.

 

If I was to approach the earth issue in a more conventional way then I would have to do a me-too design, which I don't have any interest in doing. To make it on the world stage I have to have something that is noticeably better. Or I could invent a way to do it that maintained the phase coherence advantages our cables have over conventional cables. I would only consider doing the latter, but that can take a while to do. Our interconnect, digital cable and speaker cable designs are very unique and took me several years each to develop.

[Citroen]

 

Bruise;144382 wrote:

Last week-end I swapped Van den Hul D102 MkIII interconnects from my turntable to phono and phono to pre amp with Antipodes Komako.

 

 

 

I'd had the VdH since day one so was perfectly happy with the sound. The D102 had received great reviews and won a bunch of awards when I bought them a decade ago.

 

 

 

The Komakos I put in are the "old" variety with the bigger connectors and had been used as demo cables and sent back from dealers offshore who are now retailing the newer version with the smaller connectors. I'm not sure about the degree to which the cables I received have been burned in. So I'm not sure if I'm listening to them at optimum rating or there is still development to go in the sound.

 

 

 

Anyway, the first thing I noticed when I plugged them in (struggling a bit because the connectors are slightly too big to sit happily above one another in my phono) was an immediate increase in background noise ... hum/buzz. I am totally ignorant on the technical side of this game, but I guessed this was caused by a difference in the sheilding of the cables. After farting around a bit I discovered that if I shifted the phono further away from all the other components the noise reduced.

 

 

 

So, currently, I have a lump of tanilised pine cantilevered out the side of my rack with the phono perched on it. I haven't quite got the hum/buzz eliminated (but it is certainly better).

 

 

 

There will be two projects this week-end. 1) find a longer and more presentable lump of wood and; 2) convince SWMBO that it is a good idea to have a "T" shaped installation for a hi-fi rack. Any other suggestions welcomed.

 

 

 

Does it sound better? ... oh yeah.

 

This sounds all too familiar with me!

 

I absolutely love the Antipodes cables I have, but can't quite tame the hum/buzz to acceptable levels IN MY system.

 

I've managed to reduce the noise by moving cables away from power cables, amps, motors etc. Tried various configurations in earthing TT, phono amp etc but still not quite right with the Antipodes cables between TT and phono.

A pair now sits between phono and amp quite deliciously but I do wish that i could get them to work closer to the source! (see Interconnects: Order of importance).

[Neilsan1553552741]

Thanks for your interest.These interconnects are the ones from the bottom of the arm itself,to the amp/phono stage.So they have the special 5 pin connector that plugs into the arm on one end, then goes to normal RCA's.

 

So there's no way I'd get Antipode's cable into the small arm plug without cutting one up!!

 

I have vdh D102/2&3's also and left them a few years ago for Kimber Silver Streak,which the Katipo and Komako now leave for dead.

 

Bruise,does your phono stage need earthing to the preamp/amp? I have a Dynavector P75/2 and in the guff it says it shouldn't normally need earthing. But I have the arm earth wire connected, with a wire from the passive preamp, to the earth terminal on the P75. No noise at all now. Then Komako's from P75 to preamp, then to amp.

 

KevinO. I have been happy with them for years,but with recent massive changes to my system using new interconnects, and the thread on the importance of which is the most important interconnect I thought I'd sound out this forum to get some upgrade suggestions.

I didn't want to annoy Antipodes with any more emails, but if you have any suggestions on cable to try or if you're going to make one soon,I'd like to have your opinion.

Thanks all.

[little blue penguin]

If you are picking up mains hum due to proximity of mains cables rather than an earth loop issue then might I suggest shielding your power cables.

 

If your components have IEC (jug plug) inlets then there are aftermarket shielded cables available.

 

A DIY approach would be to wrap aluminium foil around the power cables and attach the foil to an earth point on your system.

 

I have a client who uses my unshielded RCA interconnects on his turntable (and the rest of his system) along with shielded power cables and there's not a trace of mains hum on that.

[Bruise1553552708]

 

Antipodes;144410 wrote:

Just a couple of comments in the hope it might clarify things a bit. The cables you have will improve a lot over the next (up to) 3 months. They take 3 weeks to achieve some balance but then the top end and bottom end develop over the following four weeks and then there is just a gradual improvement after that. Crazy, I know. WHile they were used as demos, they were only used for a few hours at a time with big gaps in between, so they are not broken in.

 

 

 

Our cables are not shielded as we use a completely different method for reducing noise. One that reduces noise more than shielding can, and one that sounds better - shielding is quite negative to phase coherence. But there is a big but. If there is an earth problem anywhere the method we use will likely not work and noise will be higher than with other cables. This creates problems with sources like cartridges and guitars quite regularly with our cables, as the relationship of the signal earth and electrical ground are not similar to say a CDP, preamp or power amp.

 

 

 

There are two solutions to this - play around with the earthing till it works, or return it to us for a refund.

 

 

 

If I was to approach the earth issue in a more conventional way then I would have to do a me-too design, which I don't have any interest in doing. To make it on the world stage I have to have something that is noticeably better. Or I could invent a way to do it that maintained the phase coherence advantages our cables have over conventional cables. I would only consider doing the latter, but that can take a while to do. Our interconnect, digital cable and speaker cable designs are very unique and took me several years each to develop.

 

Thanks Antipodes. If I get 3 months steady improvement on what I'm hearing now I am a very happy bunny.. as I implied earlier, I'm already in a better place than I was with the VdH cables.. 3 months improvement sounds like a potential sonic nirvana to my battered old ears. I have no intention of returning the cables for a refund. I'll be playing around with the earthing. I've currently got an earthing wire from my turntable to the phono. I don't know how or where else to go with "earthing" .. all suggestions welcomed.

[Bruise1553552708]

 

cloth_ears;144424 wrote:

If you are picking up mains hum due to proximity of mains cables rather than an earth loop issue then might I suggest shielding your power cables.

 

 

 

If your components have IEC (jug plug) inlets then there are aftermarket shielded cables available.

 

 

 

A DIY approach would be to wrap aluminium foil around the power cables and attach the foil to an earth point on your system.

 

 

 

I have a client who uses my unshielded RCA interconnects on his turntable (and the rest of his system) along with shielded power cables and there's not a trace of mains hum on that.

 

I don't think it can be a mains cable. The only mains cable in close proximity (used in the phono power supply) is one supplied by your good self. My pre amp is passive, my speakers are active, their power cables are about 10 feet away from the rack housing the rest of the equipment.

[Guest]

 

KevinO;144405 wrote:

Just curious what you thought of them before someone else told you they're crap?Some years use should have left you with an idea of their flavour.

 

KO beat me to it, I was about to ask the same Q...

[Gainz]

....and phase coherence aside, you may very well like the sound of some shielded interconnects from your turntable to your pre. I love my unshielded papakaio's on my digital bits, but I have also had great success with certain shielded interconnects in the analogue chain. With my current setup there is no noise other than the amplifier's noise floor at high volumes, and my cart is about as low output as it gets.