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Thoughts on quarter inch TRS to 2x RCA vs 2x RCA Male/Male cable.

R

Roumelio

Active Member
My preamp for my turntable has both a quarter inch TRS and a 2xRCA, its fed into a receiver which has RCA inputs. I'm wondering whether it would be better to go from a TRS to RCA cable, or whether I should just use RCAs in this case or whether this would really make any difference at all. The simple answer is just to use an RCA type cable, but whatever. I'm just wondering now whether there will be any difference.

Basically this:

stereojack-2xRCA.gif
 
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Using the phono/RCA connections allows, IMO, a wider range of off the shelf options if playing with cables is your thing.
 
performance wise I can't really see where it would be any different. It would give you a more solid connection than RCA though if there is risk of the cables being pulled out.
 
The problem is my receiver doesn't have a phono stage. At this point I can hassle the family members that be to loan me one of their amplifiers but I'm just getting this thing going as it is right now. I also believe that this cable configuration wont make any particular difference I was just wondering as it came to my head that it might be interesting to ask. I will get a proper stereo receiver with a phono stage at some point in the near future. At this point I'm just in the process of hooking this up to my AVR I already have here and I thought I'd play with making one of these cables up.
 
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As eluded to earlier, I'd expect one could get lower capacitance cables in separate RCAs, but how much it really matters is another deal. TT enthusiasts seem to consider low capacitance a dssirable trait in their cables.
 
I didn't mean it to seem like I rejected them I'm sorry. I know what I need to do in the long run is get rid of this AVR. I realise its not the best route. It's just getting things done for now. Sorry if you feel like I'm rejecting your input. In the long run actually probably an RCA cable will be more useful for being reused for some other purpose. It may also make a trivial difference. I will probably just use a standard stereo RCA cable.
 
I wasn't asking for an apology, but it's cool that you offered. :beerchug:

Personally, despite that the RCA connector is often maligned, I think it's better than 1/4" phone plug for (largely) static connections. I think I've heard more noisy/scratchy phone plug connections than with RCAs.
 
You can lay your hands on an external phono stage. That would let you run your current setup, and allows you to run anything that has either no or a crappy phono stage.

As for the scratchy thing, probably because of the contact area. If you look at how 1/4" connectors actually work, its a pretty small patch where the plug mates with the "finger" that it connects to. RCA plugs have more surface area, so imperfectly clean connectors are less of a problem.
 
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