My SME III rewired with pure silver Van del Hul MCS-300 by a professional in 1992. Uninterrupted wiring from headshell to preamp input. This simple yet demanding tweak takes the already fine, especially in mids & highs, performance of this vintage classic SME to much higher level ;) Terrific "update".
Experience with rewiring SME arm?
Can anyone share their experience?
I did some online search last week, there seems to be many supporters of the Kondo silver wire. From what I can tell, this will provide more details in the sound. And that is what I would like to do. I was only able to find one outfit in U.K. that would install this wire - Audio Origami. But they are hesitant to recommend this cable. They mentioned that since this wire is only coated with some varnish, it would rub against the inside of the armtube and eventaully cause some issues. He's had to fix many tubes that used this wire. They suggest to go with the Cardas 33ga OFC wire.
I found many posts indicating that SME would install this wire upon request. I contacted SME, and they told me that they use a silver litz wire, but not Kondo, and the person would not tell me what they are using.
I found several other outfits that would install the Cardas wire, the prices are all over the map, and each does something different.
- Audio Origami just replaces the wire inside existing arm tube. (Still need to use leads and phono cables.)
- BritAudio (www.britaudio.com), also in UK, offers two versions. One version would remove the existing connector near the cartridge, instead extending the internal wire to connect directly to the cartridge. The other version would also remove the DIN connector, and provide RCA connectors to connect the cartridge to the phonestage with one uninterrupted cable.
- SME Tonearms (www.smetonearms.com), up in Canada, offers a straight wire from the cartridge connector to the phonostage, but do provide a set of the leads made of the same Cardas wires.
Anyone with experience with any of these outfits? Any other recommendations? Any thoughts between the Kondo Silver vs. the Cardas copper? Any other options out there? I had tried the Cardas Golden Reference phono cable before, and thought it was too soft for my taste. Currently using Graham IC-70, and it has more detail and top end which suits my taste better. So I am hesitant to go with the Cardas copper wire.
FrankC
I did some online search last week, there seems to be many supporters of the Kondo silver wire. From what I can tell, this will provide more details in the sound. And that is what I would like to do. I was only able to find one outfit in U.K. that would install this wire - Audio Origami. But they are hesitant to recommend this cable. They mentioned that since this wire is only coated with some varnish, it would rub against the inside of the armtube and eventaully cause some issues. He's had to fix many tubes that used this wire. They suggest to go with the Cardas 33ga OFC wire.
I found many posts indicating that SME would install this wire upon request. I contacted SME, and they told me that they use a silver litz wire, but not Kondo, and the person would not tell me what they are using.
I found several other outfits that would install the Cardas wire, the prices are all over the map, and each does something different.
- Audio Origami just replaces the wire inside existing arm tube. (Still need to use leads and phono cables.)
- BritAudio (www.britaudio.com), also in UK, offers two versions. One version would remove the existing connector near the cartridge, instead extending the internal wire to connect directly to the cartridge. The other version would also remove the DIN connector, and provide RCA connectors to connect the cartridge to the phonestage with one uninterrupted cable.
- SME Tonearms (www.smetonearms.com), up in Canada, offers a straight wire from the cartridge connector to the phonostage, but do provide a set of the leads made of the same Cardas wires.
Anyone with experience with any of these outfits? Any other recommendations? Any thoughts between the Kondo Silver vs. the Cardas copper? Any other options out there? I had tried the Cardas Golden Reference phono cable before, and thought it was too soft for my taste. Currently using Graham IC-70, and it has more detail and top end which suits my taste better. So I am hesitant to go with the Cardas copper wire.
FrankC
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