Extension cable and ground wire for my turntable

[ohmrun]

Good morning all

I've recently purchased a turntable that has built in rca and ground wire cable outs of 1.2 meters. At this stage, I'm not able to have the phono pre-amp close enough to the turntable for this to be long enough. I'm just wondering is ok to get a good pair of 3 meter male to female RCA extension cables and run them that way? If so, is there anything I should be looking for in a cable? It's not forever, but wanted to make sure there wouldn't be a major issue in doing this. Also, regarding the ground wire, is there a safe way to extend this also? I don't think there's anything within 1 meter or so to ground it too.

I'm in Australia for reference and also for reference turntable is a Linn Majik LP12 and will be going into Yamaha C5000 preamp.

Thank you very much for your time.

 

[Brian Hall]

The ground wire needs to connect to the ground connector on the phono preamp. Just get any wire of the length you need for that. Lamp cord is fine. As for running extra RCA wires for 3 meters, you should be ok. It can't hurt to try it and see.

 

[ohmrun]

The ground wire needs to connect to the ground connector on the phono preamp. Just get any wire of the length you need for that. Lamp cord is fine. As for running extra RCA wires for 3 meters, you should be ok. It can't hurt to try it and see.

Thank you Brian, I assumed as much, but wanted to get some feedback before I attempted it. I guess worse case I reconfigure the whole lounge room to work around the turntable. haha.

 

[akamatsu]

The ground wire doesn't matter. You can just connect any old piece of wire. The signal from the phono cartridge is of extremely low voltage, and is very delicate. It should be protected. It is generally not recommended to extend this cable. Losses in the all important signal from the source could happen, and as you know, would be lost forever.

 

[restorer-john]

A metre or two is perfectly OK. Bear in mind, if it's a MM (moving magnet) cartridge, use a quality low capacitance fully shielded RCA extension, not a cheap Amazon basics or Aliexpress job. That same cable will be fine for MC carts too.

And the earth lead extension can be anything.

 

[ohmrun]

A metre or two is perfectly OK. Bear in mind, if it's a MM (moving magnet) cartridge, use a quality low capacitance fully shielded RCA extension, not a cheap Amazon basics or Aliexpress job. That same cable will be fine for MC carts too.

And the earth lead extension can be anything.

Oh yes, I should have mentioned it will be an MM cartridge. OK, thanks very much for the advice. I'll do some investigations on RCA cable types before I purchase. Thank you.

 

[Brian Hall]

The ground wire doesn't matter. You can just connect any old piece of wire. The signal from the phono cartridge is of extremely low voltage, and is very delicate. It should be protected. It is generally not recommended to extend this cable. Losses in the all important signal from the source could happen, and as you know, would be lost forever.

I just checked my setup and have a 10 foot Amazon Basics RCA cable going from my phono preamp to my amplifier with a short no name RCA cable going from the turntable to the preamp. No issues at all.

 

[Brian Hall]

Oh yes, I should have mentioned it will be an MM cartridge. OK, thanks very much for the advice. I'll do some investigations on RCA cable types before I purchase. Thank you.

You do not need to spend a ton on RCA cables. It isn't like they are going to leak all the signal out of the pipe. If the wire passes the signal and has decent connectors that don't fall off, you will be fine.

 

[akamatsu]

I just checked my setup and have a 10 foot Amazon Basics RCA cable going from my phono preamp to my amplifier with a short no name RCA cable going from the turntable to the preamp. No issues at all.

Phono preamp to amplifier is amplified. So it shouldn't be a problem. I have similar length RCAs in my surround system. No issue.

 

[Speedskater]

a] Connect a TT motor ground wire to the Safety Ground/Protective Earth
b] Connect a tonearm to the pre-amp chassis or RCA shield.

 

[JP]

As John noted, if you’re running MM, the added capacitance could be a real issue for some cartridges, like almost anything Audio Technica. Won’t hurt anything to try.

 

[MaxwellsEq]

I'm just wondering is ok to get a good pair of 3 meter male to female RCA extension cables and run them that way?

Unlike line-level connections such as CD and tuner, the sound from a cartridge is affected by the capacitance and also the resistance of the cable between the tonearm and the RIAA/phono amplifier. The signals are also low level (MM) or very low level (MC), so noise and hum can be introduced through longer lengths (depends on background noise where you live and how cables are laid out). In general good quality shielding is essential.

So, this is one area where cables really do matter. There is a reason why cables from turntables are frequently short. If you can move the phono/RIAA box close to the turntable and extend the line or loudspeaker cables, this would be an option.

The earth wire can be any piece of wire.

 

[Frank Dernie]

You do not need to spend a ton on RCA cables. It isn't like they are going to leak all the signal out of the pipe. If the wire passes the signal and has decent connectors that don't fall off, you will be fine.

With a MM cartridge the cable capacitance may change the frequency response, but yes no signal will leak out!

 

[Brian Hall]

With a MM cartridge the cable capacitance may change the frequency response, but yes no signal will leak out!

Not like it will matter. It is a turntable playing a vinyl record.

 

[Balle Clorin]

Cable capaticance/length from a MM to RIAA matters A LOT.

 

[Speedskater]

Cable capaticance/length from a MM to RIAA matters A LOT.

For reasonable cable constructions and lengths:
It matters a LITTLE.
mostly in response above 18 kHz.

 

[Balle Clorin]

Not true,when poster discuss 10 feet of cable.

This -top plot -is what capacitance from 175 to 225 does, lift at 10k ( starts to increase from 3k) and drop at high end
1m or 1.2m does not matter, but 3m does

 

[egellings]

Good morning all

I've recently purchased a turntable that has built in rca and ground wire cable outs of 1.2 meters. At this stage, I'm not able to have the phono pre-amp close enough to the turntable for this to be long enough. I'm just wondering is ok to get a good pair of 3 meter male to female RCA extension cables and run them that way? If so, is there anything I should be looking for in a cable? It's not forever, but wanted to make sure there wouldn't be a major issue in doing this. Also, regarding the ground wire, is there a safe way to extend this also? I don't think there's anything within 1 meter or so to ground it too.

I'm in Australia for reference and also for reference turntable is a Linn Majik LP12 and will be going into Yamaha C5000 preamp.

Thank you very much for your time.

Just add an additional length of wire as needed to allow the TT ground to reach the amplifier. The wire carries no current (or microscopic stray amounts), so lengthening it causes no problem. Connecting this wire to the amplifier near the TT jacks is the best practice, and most preamps have a terminal just for that purpose. Grounding the wire elsewhere could cause a ground loop, which could lead to hum pickup. Getting that right will let your amplifier know the words, so it doesn't have to hum along with the music.

 

[Speedskater]

In the above response curves;
47 k Ohm load and 345 pF cable
vs.
27.5 k Ohm lad and 833 pF cable

Those are two very different setups.

 

[Balle Clorin]

It is to make a response flat, and affecte range 6k-16k, it shows a that effects are not isolated to 18k+. I have tested large number of possible combinations , and the responses on capacitance. are mainly in 8k-16k range , .. very few cartridges are linear above 16k , many have a peak at 10-15k