VPI Tonearm Cable Question

Posted by AudioDwebe (A) on August 28, 2019 at 08:58:33

So I just picked up the Aries that's listed in another thread and have a question about the tonearm cable, in general.

I've had a few nice tables over the years (Gyrodec, P25 and Nott Space) but this is the first table that didn't come with an attached tonearm cable.

In preparation for the table arriving, and not wanting to spend much money on a cable, I picked up the Pangea tonearm cable with the built in ground. I had it plugged i to the phono pre and laid out awaiting the table's arrival.

After I set the table up and plugged everything in, I noticed a buzz/hum coming out of my headphones (my main rig is currently headphone only). To say I was disappointed is an understatement. I checked to make sure all the cartridge cables, RCAs and ground were connected, but still the buzz/hum.

I had never tried the Pangea cables so thought maybe it was defective.

I swapped in a pair of Nordost Red Dawn and a generic wire for the ground and the tt was pretty much dead quiet.

I wanted to see if there were any tonearm cable reviews on youtube and one of the first ones I saw had the guy saying that regular RCA cables and tonearm cables were different since they are made to handle different signal strengths (2-3 volts for the RCA and milivolts for the tonearm cable).

This got me to thinking: Is the Pangea really defective or is it just showing what the table was putting out? If I were to get another tonearm cable, will it return to the buzz/hum? And if it does buzz/hum, am I missing out on some of the details the cartridge can bring if I have to use a regular cable vs a tonearm cable?

BTW, the cartridge 2.8 mV (Dynavector 20x2h).

Thoughts.
"Man, that mouse is Awesome." - Kaemon (referring to Jerry, of Tom and Jerry fame)

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Topic - VPI Tonearm Cable Question - AudioDwebe 08:58:33 08/28/19 (11)

RE: VPI Tonearm Cable Question - flood2 14:13:29 09/5/19 (0)

Why do some rca connectors not fit well? - AudioDwebe 06:29:11 09/5/19 (0)

Silver Resolution Reference Phono/Tonearm Interconnects - AudioDwebe 09:55:37 09/2/19 (0)

I had the same problem with this cable, and solved it - M3Man 08:57:43 08/29/19 (0)

RE: VPI Tonearm Cable Question - Mel 07:23:27 08/29/19 (0)

RE: VPI Tonearm Cable Question - weedeewop 20:37:57 08/28/19 (0)

RE: VPI Tonearm Cable Question - Frank_Locke 18:46:05 08/28/19 (0)

RE: VPI Tonearm Cable Question - John Elison 13:49:36 08/28/19 (2)

RE: VPI Tonearm Cable Question - AudioDwebe 20:10:38 08/28/19 (0)

2nd the VPI cable. - Opus 33 1/3 14:25:30 08/28/19 (0)

RE: VPI Tonearm Cable Question - bare 13:13:40 08/28/19 (0)

VPI Tonearm Cable Question

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