Capacitance tester for tonearm leads, cables for audio etc?

[tyreman1]

Can anybody recommend a capacitance tester for measuring tone arm leads capacitance, RCA audio cable capacitance and speaker cable capacitance etc
I see a B&K one(810c) that looks like it might do the trick?


Thank you in advance

[floobydust]

The B&K looks fine and not too expensive. Popular here is the DER EE DE-5000 but I do not own one. I think you'd be measuring at least 100pF or so per foot.

Multimeters can also measure capacitance, but you need some known accurate capacitors to verify, as they are not always accurate at the low end, and you need a REL or NULL button. Aneng AN8008 will read low range "0.108nF" so 1pF resolution and around 10pF stray but accuracy can be a few % out. It's good enough for the price.

I have a Thorens TD-165 and measured the original tonearm shielded cable, it's tiny red or yellow. Found one colour has much greater capacitance, different plastic it seems. The factory coax is similar construction as far as the weave but one center conductor is thicker. Probably caused a lop-sided image.

[tyreman1]

Yes multimeters can but my Fluke 28 II doesn't seem to go that low   pf
Thank you much

[David Hess]

Some multimeters can measure cable capacitance, but an LCR meter or impedance bridge would be ideal.

For my own edification, I just measured the capacitance of a 42 inch RG400 patch cable using my DE-5000, and it was 105 picofarads so within an inch.  My old Tektronix DMM916 multimeter measured 105 picofarads also which I consider pretty impressive for a handheld multimeter.

Update: If you get a multimeter to measure cable capacitance, make sure it has picofarad resolution and a relative measurement function to zero the lead capacitance, although I guess you could subtract it yourself.