[saab_oteur]

Can anyone recommend a shop that can solder xlr/balanced cables on a Rega tonearm? I'm in Minnesota, but I'd ship my turntable anywhere.

[Miney]

http://www.britaudio.com/contact.html

 

Give Michael a call… rewired my Kuzma Stogi… was great to work with.

[saab_oteur]

I spoke to Michael and he confused me: he said that both his single-ended and xlr tonearm leads are balanced.

Question for you: is one of the pins on your Stogi a ground?

[Miney]

Michael installed a “one piece from Cardas cartridge tags to RCA plugs Incognito rewire kit” including a separate ground wire terminated with a spade. His work looks and sounds fabulous to me.

No XLR connectors involved, so by my understanding, not balanced.

Wonder what Michael meant… maybe contact him once more, and let us know?

Paul

[HAL]

A phono cartridge is a balanced output device.  Typical turntable RCA cables have them wired as each connection going to the two RCA connections and the turntable ground wire only to the chassis.

You can wire an RCA hot pin to XLR pin 2 and RCA ground to XLR pin 3.  The turntable ground goes to XLR pin 1 for both channels.

Most of the RCA to XLR adapters for inputs have a different wiring scheme with the RCA ground to the XLR ground which is not a balanced connection. 

I made a simple adapter box for mine.

[saab_oteur]

Michael installed a “one piece from Cardas cartridge tags to RCA plugs Incognito rewire kit” including a separate ground wire terminated with a spade. His work looks and sounds fabulous to me.

No XLR connectors involved, so by my understanding, not balanced.

Wonder what Michael meant… maybe contact him once more, and let us know?

Paul

I think I’m going to send my tonearm to Stephen (talking dog transducers, inc) because he understands “true” balanced wiring. I already have the incognito kit, which is great as a single-ended connection.

[saab_oteur]

A phono cartridge is a balanced output device.  Typical turntable RCA cables have them wired as each connection going to the two RCA connections and the turntable ground wire only to the chassis.

You can wire an RCA hot pin to XLR pin 2 and RCA ground to XLR pin 3.  The turntable ground goes to XLR pin 1 for both channels.

Most of the RCA to XLR adapters for inputs have a different wiring scheme with the RCA ground to the XLR ground which is not a balanced connection. 

I made a simple adapter box for mine.

Looks good. I’m inept at soldering, which is why I’m going to pay someone else to do it.

[djbnh]

A phono cartridge is a balanced output device.  Typical turntable RCA cables have them wired as each connection going to the two RCA connections and the turntable ground wire only to the chassis.

You can wire an RCA hot pin to XLR pin 2 and RCA ground to XLR pin 3.  The turntable ground goes to XLR pin 1 for both channels.

Most of the RCA to XLR adapters for inputs have a different wiring scheme with the RCA ground to the XLR ground which is not a balanced connection. 

I made a simple adapter box for mine.

In another thread, I've been asking how to convert my single ended / RCA captive tonearm cable to balanced cables. Your adaptor box looks to be ideal. Is this something that you make for others, and if not, is there someone that you can recommend to do that work? Thanks in advance for your consideration, much appreciated.

[HAL]

In another thread, I've been asking how to convert my single ended / RCA captive tonearm cable to balanced cables. Your adaptor box looks to be ideal. Is this something that you make for others, and if not, is there someone that you can recommend to do that work? Thanks in advance for your consideration, much appreciated.

djbnh,

I made this from parts on Amazon.  Simple to build from a plastic box, two Cardas RCA female chassis connectors. a 5-way binding post, two Rean style stereo 1/4in jacks and two XLR to TRS cables.

Just wire each of the RCA center connections to the + to pin 2 and ground connections to the - pin 3 to the Rean connector tip and ring terminals and pin 1 to the 5-way binding post and the two Rean connector ground (sleeve) terminals for the turntable ground. 

This floats the RCA connector outputs for balanced operation with the cartridge coils, not grounding pin 3 to 1 like most adapters do for unbalanced to balanced connections.

Make sure to connect the tonearm/turntable ground to the 5-way binding posts to minimize hum problems.

[toocool4]

A phono cartridge is a balanced output device. 

This is not true, not sure where you are getting your info from?

[HAL]

Both sides of a stereo phono cartridge float like a dynamic microphone.  That is why they have 4 wire connections.

You can use an ohm meter to check it for a MM cartridge.  Do not do it for a MC cartridge.

Some tonearms tie both the ground sides together, but that is not how it is built.


 

[toocool4]

Balanced is Positive, negative + ground, please show me how a cartridge has these 3 signals? A cartridge is Left positive, right positive, Left ground and Right ground, I don’t see how that is in your quote “A phono cartridge is a balanced output device." It's not.

[HAL]

From the Shure SM57 balanced output manual mic wiring diagram.

There is no ground at either the capsule or a center tap on the transformer.

The wiring of a MM is the same.  It is balance output as there is no ground.  It floats.

[djbnh]

djbnh,

I made this from parts on Amazon.  Simple to build from a plastic box, two Cardas RCA female chassis connectors. a 5-way binding post, two Rean style stereo 1/4in jacks and two XLR to TRS cables.

Just wire each of the RCA center connections to the + to pin 2 and ground connections to the - pin 3 to the Rean connector tip and ring terminals and pin 1 to the 5-way binding post and the two Rean connector ground (sleeve) terminals for the turntable ground. 

This floats the RCA connector outputs for balanced operation with the cartridge coils, not grounding pin 3 to 1 like most adapters do for unbalanced to balanced connections.

Make sure to connect the tonearm/turntable ground to the 5-way binding posts to minimize hum problems.

Thanks for your kind and very detailed reply, much appreciated. To be frank, in my 68+ years that skill set simply hasn't taken residence in my wheelhouse  (making sourdough bread, that I can do haha). Again, I appreciate your kindness in explaining how you successfully made your piece of kit, nice skills. 

[I.Greyhound Fan]

Can anyone recommend a shop that can solder xlr/balanced cables on a Rega tonearm? I'm in Minnesota, but I'd ship my turntable anywhere.

HiFi sound in Minneapolis has a repair tech that should be able to do that for you.  Give them a call.  Also try Stereoland here in town.

If you have trouble finding someone to do it, I have a friend in town that is a retired EE.  He repairs stereo gear for a fee.  I could put you in touch with him.  He lives in Burnsville.

Where in MN do you live?  I live in Woodbury.