Cables - one of the most taboo subjects in audio

You need one of these conditioners. Machined aluminum, Brazilian rosewood, audiophile capacitors...
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This looks quite nice. I just wish they had more details about what is going on inside the box.
 
Interesting note: the put-put-put sound I heard before is gone, and the buzz gets louder when I touch my head shell.
 
Interesting note: the put-put-put sound I heard before is gone, and the buzz gets louder when I touch my head shell.
That putputput is probably RFI and is likely caused by wifi signals, especially if your modem is close to your stage. Glad it got rid of that. The buzzing when touching the headshell sounds like it could be a grounding issue. I assume your table is grounded to your stage? If so can you try switching that grounding to the amp and vice versa?
 
Glad the motorboating is gone. Have you checked the leads to your cart? Any loose? Do you have a spare headshell you can use to rule that out?
All good on the leads. And the MoFi doesn’t have a swappable head shell :/.
That putputput is probably RFI and is likely caused by wifi signals, especially if your modem is close to your stage. Glad it got rid of that. The buzzing when touching the headshell sounds like it could be a grounding issue. I assume your table is grounded to your stage? If so can you try switching that grounding to the amp and vice versa?
Table is grounded to the amp, but I’ve tried to the left phono as well. Possible I need to ground the phono to something as well?

I went ahead and swapped the components position on my console and plugged everything in one by one, making sure to keep cords as organized as possible, I even had to tape the Belden cables to the back of the console because the further away they were, the louder the hiss by a large amount.

Doing that has pushed the hiss up past my normal listening level and now is only present about 3/4 way to max volume which I never hit. So I’d say this was a successful upgrade.

I experimented by pulling the turntable as far away from the other components as possible and was standing a couple feet away from the console and the hiss was gone, so this just seems to be an imposed limitation until I can completely isolate the turntable on its own stand, which won’t happen for a while.
 
All good on the leads. And the MoFi doesn’t have a swappable head shell :/.

Table is grounded to the amp, but I’ve tried to the left phono as well. Possible I need to ground the phono to something as well?

I went ahead and swapped the components position on my console and plugged everything in one by one, making sure to keep cords as organized as possible, I even had to tape the Belden cables to the back of the console because the further away they were, the louder the hiss by a large amount.

Doing that has pushed the hiss up past my normal listening level and now is only present about 3/4 way to max volume which I never hit. So I’d say this was a successful upgrade.

I experimented by pulling the turntable as far away from the other components as possible and was standing a couple feet away from the console and the hiss was gone, so this just seems to be an imposed limitation until I can completely isolate the turntable on its own stand, which won’t happen for a while.
You don’t have a cell phone in your pocket when at the table do you?
 
That putputput is probably RFI and is likely caused by wifi signals, especially if your modem is close to your stage. Glad it got rid of that. The buzzing when touching the headshell sounds like it could be a grounding issue. I assume your table is grounded to your stage? If so can you try switching that grounding to the amp and vice versa?
Agree that you are probably dealing with both grounding and RFI issues, where the foil shielded cables probably reduced RFI, but now the grounding issue may be more apparent with a grounded shield that is of low resistance.

The paper below is fairly exhaustive review of grounding issues. Take a look to see if there are tips that help.

 
All good on the leads. And the MoFi doesn’t have a swappable head shell :/.

Table is grounded to the amp, but I’ve tried to the left phono as well. Possible I need to ground the phono to something as well?

I went ahead and swapped the components position on my console and plugged everything in one by one, making sure to keep cords as organized as possible, I even had to tape the Belden cables to the back of the console because the further away they were, the louder the hiss by a large amount.

Doing that has pushed the hiss up past my normal listening level and now is only present about 3/4 way to max volume which I never hit. So I’d say this was a successful upgrade.

I experimented by pulling the turntable as far away from the other components as possible and was standing a couple feet away from the console and the hiss was gone, so this just seems to be an imposed limitation until I can completely isolate the turntable on its own stand, which won’t happen for a while.
Do you have another phono preamp to test with? I had a Project Tube Box S2 a while back that was buzzing and very sensitive to placement. I didn’t have this problem with other phono stages and determined it was a grounding problem and returned the device.

i got a power supply upgrade for my Project Phono Box S2 instead and have been very happy with that setup. That said, I am waiting for delivery of a DL MP7B I’m the next couple of weeks.
 
You don’t have a cell phone in your pocket when at the table do you?
I did not at the time no!
Agree that you are probably dealing with both grounding and RFI issues, where the foil shielded cables probably reduced RFI, but now the grounding issue may be more apparent with a grounded shield that is of low resistance.

The paper below is fairly exhaustive review of grounding issues. Take a look to see if there are tips that help.

Do you have another phono preamp to test with? I had a Project Tube Box S2 a while back that was buzzing and very sensitive to placement. I didn’t have this problem with other phono stages and determined it was a grounding problem and returned the device.

i got a power supply upgrade for my Project Phono Box S2 instead and have been very happy with that setup. That said, I am waiting for delivery of a DL MP7B I’m the next couple of weeks.
y’all are helpful resources, but I’m happy to report that I was able to push the hiss far out of my listening range, so now I’ve been enjoying some great tunes with a pretty inky background.

Things are sounding great, at my listening levels I’m not hearing anything pre-spin or in between tracks!
 
I did not at the time no!


y’all are helpful resources, but I’m happy to report that I was able to push the hiss far out of my listening range, so now I’ve been enjoying some great tunes with a pretty inky background.

Things are sounding great, at my listening levels I’m not hearing anything pre-spin or in between tracks!
Happy to hear that, with the changes you’ve made, you are enjoying your system more.
 
Hello gang,

After making my first cable upgrade with WBCs and being pleased with their build quality and performance, I’m looking at grabbing some of their speaker wires. Here’s the question, is it worth paying double for 9 awg (fine strand ofc) vs 14 awg mogami 3082?

Edit: short runs under 10’.
 
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Hello gang,

After making my first cable upgrade with WBCs and being pleased with their build quality and performance, I’m looking at grabbing some of their speaker wires. Here’s the question, is it worth paying double for 9 awg (fine strand ofc) vs 14 awg mogami 3082?

Edit: short runs under 10’.
Nope. Not unless you’re running 1 ohm speakers.

 
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