Linn T-Kable worth the upgrade

[HernyB]

Hello!
I am a bit confused about the T-Kable discussions that i spotted on this forum. My question is: Would a new current T-Kable be worth the upgrade from a 2018 Majik LP 12 tonearm cable? The dealer who sold me an Ekos 2 tonearm told me it would be worth it. Or is it better to stick with the Project 9cc tonearm cable that came with the LP12? Or even get a used grey T-Kable that is preferred over the mogami cable by many users here in the forum? Thank you for your help!
Regards
Hubertus

[Matteo]

Grey T-Kable (standard with the Akito) without a shadow of doubt

M

[ThomasOK]

I am not a big fan of the newer Mogami T.Kable and find its predecessor more musical. You can still buy the grey T.Kable as the Akito arm cable, it also comes with the newer Linn aluminum DIN plug for the bottom of the arm. I would say it would be more musical than the Majik cable, although I haven't done a direct comparison since Linn switched that to Linn Black interconnect cabling.

[HernyB]

Thank you for you replies! Is the grey Akito arm cable the same as the Linn silver interconnect cable?
Thank you

[ThomasOK]

My understanding is that the grey Akito cable, and the original T.Kable, use the same internal construction but with a softer outer jacket that works better with the LP12 suspension.

[HernyB]

thank you!

[hcl]

I am not a big fan of the newer Mogami T.Kable and find its predecessor more musical. You can still buy the grey T.Kable as the Akito arm cable, it also comes with the newer Linn aluminum DIN plug for the bottom of the arm. I would say it would be more musical than the Majik cable, although I haven't done a direct comparison since Linn switched that to Linn Black interconnect cabling.

Is it official what brand/type the old T.Kable cable is? Any thoughts?

[HernyB]

Hello!
Is that the Akito cable? It is marked with "LINN the only sound" and "ANALOGUE INTERCONNECT"
Thank you!

[lejonklou]

Yes, that's the one.

The only thing about the one in your picture is that the conductors (left. ground and right) have been separated all the way to where they exit the turntable. I find that this separation sounds a little worse than if they're left attached to one another.

Possibly this can be fixed with some thin pieces of tape attached at suitable distances.

[HernyB]

Thank you!

[lejonklou]

By the way, I believe I have found the reason why separating the conductors sounds worse - and also why it was/is a common "tweak" and believed to be an improvement:

Left and right channels are OK to separate. It sounds bigger and more spacious when they are. The effect is more on sound than on musicality.

But when the ground wire is moved away from left and right, there's a loss of musicality. This can be heard even by dressing the ground wire where it attaches to the phono stage input; if it runs close to left and/or right conductors, it sounds better than if it runs in a loop away from left/right.

So it appears that the ideal layout is to have the ground in the middle and left and right on each side of it. Just like the original cable from back in the day when attention to detail was the principle work ethic.

[beck]

Thank you Lejonklou. Once again we get a reminder that care and attention to detail is Important.

I have already tried it getting the ground wire to follow as closely as possible all the way to the binding post.

It works. More music.

[HernyB]

Thank you for your detailed explanations! I am going to buy that cable (if it is offered to me for a reasonable price) and tape the ground cable to the middle of the cable.

[paristhea]

does anyone know the difference between the Linn current T-Kable, and the Silver cable, for the tone arm?

[Matteo]

does anyone know the difference between the Linn current T-Kable, and the Silver cable, for the tone arm?

The silver t-kable (now standard with the Akito) is a lot better than the current black t-kable

M

[paristhea]

is this one the one you have in mind?
I added the image, I am not sure if it shows or not.

[Matteo]

is this one the one you have in mind?
I added the image, I am not sure if it shows or not.

No, it doesn't.

Grey T-Kable (standard on new Akito arms):

https://www.canuckaudiomart.com/details ... s/1858864/

Current black T-Kable:

https://www.linn.co.uk/speakers-and-amp ... able-phono

M.

[paristhea]

unfortunately when I try to add a file (only 80kb) I get the below message:
"Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached"

How much should the Silver cable be in money terms, if you know?

[Matteo]

unfortunately when I try to add a file (only 80kb) I get the below message:
"Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached"

How much should the Silver cable be in money terms, if you know?

New (replacement part) should be around 300 €.

M

[Albert Hunt]

Hey Folks,

I have a Linn LP12 with an Ittok LVII that came with an older Ekos tonearm cable (not the Mogami version that comes with the Ekos SE). Just the other day I had a Grey T-Kable installed and It sounds harsh and two dimensional compared to the old Ekos cable. The grey T-Kable was unused so it may just need to be burned in. Does anyone have experience with the older Ekos cable compared to the grey T-Kable?

[beck]

Hi Albert. Welcome. :-)

I have no experience with the grey t-cable other than from mighty fine sounding clips on this forum but I know that things can change over time. Hold on to the old cable while letting the new one settle.

I use an old Linn cable from the late 80’s still.

[Hermann]

Because of the discussion here I exchanged the Mogami for a new grey T-cable about 3/4 year ago. As I remember, it played really well immediately and only got marginally better after a while. Anyway, the decision to replace the cable was right.

Definitely was it not as described above. But it is also an EKOS/SE and Kandid.

Are you sure the earth connected correctly?

[Defender]

Hey Folks,

I have a Linn LP12 with an Ittok LVII that came with an older Ekos tonearm cable (not the Mogami version that comes with the Ekos SE). Just the other day I had a Grey T-Kable installed and It sounds harsh and two dimensional compared to the old Ekos cable. The grey T-Kable was unused so it may just need to be burned in. Does anyone have experience with the older Ekos cable compared to the grey T-Kable?

not sure what you mean with older Ekos tonarm cable vs grey t-cable.

Both are grey. The difference is the

newer one: has the new silver metal plug at the arm side and the newer slotted RCA plugs at the phono pre amp side (like in the picture a few posts above).

older one: has the black plastic plug at the arm side and the older non slotted RCA plugs at the phono pre amp side

If you change cables and as well turn the phono pre amp off that also makes things sound strange for the first 24hours in my system so I can understand that at first impression it might sound worst. I also realize some people are more affected to harsh sound (I am like that too).
So what I recommend is use the new grey t-kable for more than 24hours playtime at least before you judge it (maybe even longer).

[Albert Hunt]

Yeah, I'm going to let it run in for a bit and hold on to the older cable in the meantime. When I say that the cable sounds harsh, it's relative. It sounds like people generally feel that the grey T-Kable is an improvement over the older cable (as opposed to the Mogami version which seems to elicit mixed feelings).

[Albert Hunt]

I have a question regarding the burning in of the tonearm cable that may seem rather foolish (coming from the world of professional recording, I am not used to thinking about cable burn in).

Do I have to play a record for the tonearm cable to burn in? Is it enough for the cable to be simply connected to a powered up phono stage?

Common sense would dictate that the cable would need a signal from the stylus to burn in, but I thought I'd ask since I could save a lot of time just leaving the turntable and an inexpensive integrated phono preamp unit on for a few nights straight if that will do the trick.