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Cable capacitance for phono cable


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uF/ MFD nF pF/ MMFD uF/ MFD nF pF/ MMFD
1uF / MFD 1000nF 1000000pF(MMFD) 0.001uF / MFD 1nF 1000pF(MMFD)


If someone claims their phono (rca>rca) cable has 1nF of capacitance per meter....isn't this rather high (1000/3 = 333pF/foot)?

I know Blue Jeans Cable sells a 30$ interconnect that has 12pF/foot.

Am I getting this right?

DC

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This is simular to the speaker wire discussions in the sense that many designer speaker wire is designed to change the characteristics of the sound through the manipulation of capacitance, inductance, resistance. In the case of phono lead wire, using cable that has high capacitnce, just saves the trouble off adding capacitors soldered on to the cartrage leads as many cartriges suggest doing. The leads with higher capacitacne are designed that way thru the skin effect created by using insulation types and thichness thicker than usual. So if your performance is too bright, you can add capacitors, or use high capacitance leads.

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I agree about the saltiness. And .1nF is probablywhat they mean; then it's about 33.33pF (about the same as my current cable).

pico-farad
(pF)
nano-farad
(nF)
micro-farad
(mF,uF or mfd)
capacitance
code
10 0.01 0.00001 100
15 0.015 0.000015 150
22 0.022 0.000022 220
33 0.033 0.000033 330
47 0.047 0.000047 470
100 0.1 0.0001 101

dc

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Mike Morrow reports that "after re-measuring, they are .01nF per meter - so a claimed 3.3pF/foot.

My question is, does one really need cap. that low?

I happen to be using a low ouput Grado and wonder is there really any sonic benefit (with an already short cable run) given the acceptable ranges of capacitance above, say 30pF/foot.

DC

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IIRC, the weaker the signal, the more suceptible it is to the affect of high capacitance. A real shot in the dark here, could we say that the higher the capacitance, the greater becomes the wire's ability to impede and reduce the signal (bigger the battery the bigger the charge it can "hold").

I wondering if you start with 3pF and go up to say 75pF on one particular system, before real detrimental effects (coloration? distortion?) kick in, are we simply going to observe a change in gain; and would that be rather minimal or substantial given a low output .3-.5mv signal?

dc

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