Balanced Phono Stage & Cable

[watchnerd]

The last remaining kink in my goal to have a fully balanced system is my turntable rig.

There are a handful of balanced In/Out phono stages on the market (the Pro-Ject Phono Box RS probably being the most featureful and reasonably priced...even Michael Fremer liked it ).

However, I don't see much information about the tonearm cable and cartridge.

My cartridge is a Nagaoka MP-500 and the tonearm is a Jelco SA-750D, which uses a DIN connector on the bottom for the phono out cable.

Is it simply enough to get a DIN to left / right XLR cable made to get fully balanced?

Or does something need to be done to the internal tonearm wiring itself?

 

[DonH56]

Cartridges are usually balanced by themselves so you just need access to the four wires from the cartridge to run to your XLR, adding the shield/chassis connection to the cable. IIRC the DIN maintains the balanced outputs (one of the reasons it was preferred instead of connecting straight to RCAs) so all you should need is the adapter. An ohmmeter will allow you to verify the wiring, including any "hidden" ground connections.

 

[watchnerd]

Cartridges are usually balanced by themselves so you just need access to the four wires from the cartridge to run to your XLR, adding the shield/chassis connection to the cable. IIRC the DIN maintains the balanced outputs (one of the reasons it was preferred instead of connecting straight to RCAs) so all you should need is the adapter. An ohmmeter will allow you to verify the wiring, including any "hidden" ground connections.

Thanks, @DonH56 that's what I though / hoped.