Naim Lavender as a phono cable, capacity value?

Assuming the TT has RCA output, Best to leave the cable alone and instead just look for a secondhand set of late Chord Chrysalis RCA to RCA phono leads. Should be plenty out there. You’ll also probably need a separate earth wire.

If you're capable of changing the plugs to adapt a cable then you're capable of making a cable from scratch.  There are a number of good stereo microphone cables out there that will do that job really well.  Almost all professional microphone cables have low or very low capacitance, and all are designed to handle very low level signals really well.

I've done that on a Thorens TT using Mogami W3106 (but there are several other suitable cables).

yes but has the lavender low capacitance or not?

I've never seen a specification for it.

It’s low capacitance but I don’t have the actual figure to hand. The main point though is that you’re better off going for something made for purpose rather than butchering a couple of Naim I/Cs. Probably quite a bit cheaper too... 

Hmm, although looking at cable capacitance is of some importance, I would argue the impedance matching between cartridge and phono preamp input is of more importance, and if set correctly the effect of the cable, in my opinion, should be reduced.

Richard Dane posted:

It’s low capacitance but I don’t have the actual figure to hand. The main point though is that you’re better off going for something made for purpose rather than butchering a couple of Naim I/Cs. Probably quite a bit cheaper too... 

can get a lavender second hand for about 40 euro and the neutrik rca plugs don't cost much. 

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

Hmm, although looking at cable capacitance is of some importance, I would argue the impedance matching between cartridge and phono preamp input is of more importance, and if set correctly the effect of the cable, in my opinion, should be reduced.

capacitance is most important with mm cart. I now use a premiere low capacitance 50 cm cable from flashback sales, but i was wondering if a lavender is better or not.

The Neutrik RCA plugs are made from brass and not ideal (in general, copper RCA plugs are better).

Robiwan posted:

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

Hmm, although looking at cable capacitance is of some importance, I would argue the impedance matching between cartridge and phono preamp input is of more importance, and if set correctly the effect of the cable, in my opinion, should be reduced.

capacitance is most important with mm cart. I now use a premiere low capacitance 50 cm cable from flashback sales, but i was wondering if a lavender is better or not.

I was going to ask MM or MC.

The Rega Phono stage is I believe 47k/100pF, the arm will typically be 40-60pF.  With a short / low capacitance cable you may have too little capacitance for the cartridge.  Many cartridges perform best with a load around 250pF, and some can be optimal at 300pF (and very exceptionally more).

The lowest possible capacitance isn't always optimal.

Simon,
MM carts are most definitely not designed for impedance matched loads.
MC cartridges on the other hand are designed for something much closer to a matched impedance.
All respectable cartridges indicate the preferred load conditions in their specifications.

Huge posted:

Robiwan posted:

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

Hmm, although looking at cable capacitance is of some importance, I would argue the impedance matching between cartridge and phono preamp input is of more importance, and if set correctly the effect of the cable, in my opinion, should be reduced.

capacitance is most important with mm cart. I now use a premiere low capacitance 50 cm cable from flashback sales, but i was wondering if a lavender is better or not.

I was going to ask MM or MC.

The Rega Phono stage is I believe 47k/100pF, the arm will typically be 40-60pF.  With a short / low capacitance cable you may have too little capacitance for the cartridge.  Many cartridges perform best with a load around 250pF, and some can be optimal at 300pF (and very exceptionally more).

The lowest possible capacitance isn't always optimal.

Simon,
MM carts are most definitely not designed for impedance matched loads.
MC cartridges on the other hand are designed for something much closer to a matched impedance.
All respectable cartridges indicate the preferred load conditions in their specifications.

technics tonearm has only 10 pF in total!!! The flashback cable has 35 pF and the Rega 100, with a total off about 150 pF which is great for the AT95E (recommend 100-200 pF). AT carts perform better with low capacitance. 

Huge posted:

Simon,
MM carts are most definitely not designed for impedance matched loads.
MC cartridges on the other hand are designed for something much closer to a matched impedance.
All respectable cartridges indicate the preferred load conditions in their specifications.

I absolutely beg to differ, impedance matching is crucial  for optimum power transfer, signal integrity  and reducing other inefficiencies, which becomes even more essential for MM ... most quality phono preamps I know have configurable input impedance for exactly this. On my TT max SQ was reached with correct cartridge loading by matching the phono preamp to the optimum cartridge load impedance.

The fact that respectable cartridge manufactures state preferred impedance loading is exactly because of this... we are not talking transmission line theory here.

Robiwan posted:

Simon-in-Suffolimited

 

capacitance is most important with mm cart. I now use a premiere low capacitance 50 cm cable from flashback sales, but i was wondering if a lavender is better or not.

The source impedance on a cartridge will have complex capacitive and inductive elements... the cartridge will be designed to drive a real and complex load... yes the cable will represent part of the load, but a significant proportion of the complex and real load will be the input impedance of the phono input stage.

Get the load impedance wrong you also increase the chance of radio breakthrough...

The AT95e the OP uses has the following specs:

400mH inductance (this is it's main source impedance component, reactance = 2.5kΩ @ 1kHz)
The recommended load is 47K + 100pF - 200pF.

These are not matched impedances.

Yes the input impedance of the high end MM phono amps is configurable, but to get the recommended electrical load for the cartridge, not to achieve a matched impedance.

Huge, I said we are not talking transmission lines, so matching the load impedance to suit the cartridge does not mean ensuring a consistent transmission line impedance...

BTW, I am sure you realise, you can’t really state an impedance as 47k + 100pF - 200pF .. as the impedance of the capacitance changes with frequency.... and the 47k impedance will consist of varying complex elements of capacitance and inductance.

OK we're actually in agreement here, just using the word matching in different ways! 

(And I referred to 47K + 100pF - 200pF as the recommended load - yes we're still saying the same thing!)