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Male DIN plug on cable cooker phono adapter

I have encountered a problem using the adapter for cooking the tonearm cable and phono cable on the Audiodharma cable cooker 2.5. The pins on the male DIN plug are of much smaller diameter than those on the cartridge. In order to create a solid contact, I have to squeeze down the diameter of the cartridge leads to fit onto and make solid contact with the pins on the DIN plug. Then I have to open them up again to reattach them to the cartridge pins (a difficult task I've found). It occurred to me that after I do that several times or less, the cartridge leads will break and have to be replaced -- a huge pain, especially for someone like me who is decided unhandy with a soldering iron.

Has anyone with a cable cooker encountered this problem and found a solution? Does anyone know whether anyone makes or would custom make a male DIN plug with pins the size of the pins on a phono cartridge?

Thanks, for any suggestions.

Ed
cipherjuris

Showing 3 responses by nsgarch

nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
Ed, no my connector is just like the ones Cardas and van den Hul offer (except it's straight, not rt angle.) It's for making a DIY tonearm cable.

Why doesn't Audiodharma just make an adaptor that has four colored wire pigtails that the cartridge clips attach to instead of a cartridge. Seems easy enough and a lot of people probably want to do the whole shebang at one time like you and Rgordon. Ask them.
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
When you say "The pins on the male DIN plug are of much smaller diameter than those on the cartridge." I don't know what exactly you're trying to do, but you shouldn't be bending the pins on your cartridge, yikes!!! And besides, there's no standard pin spacing for cartidges as far as I know (except for the P-mount ones that are made to plug into a P-mount tonearm.)

In addition, according to Jonathan Carr, the "DIN" plugs (both male and female) used on tonearms and tonearm cables are NOT really DIN at all but something the Japanese came up with some years ago and it bacame a standard AND everyone calls them DIN but they're NOT. So you need to talk to the manufacturer and explain all that to them. If what you need is a "real" DIN plug (and I'm not sure you do) they should be able to supply you with one.
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
Ed, now I understand what you're up to: You want to burn in the internal tonearm wires AND the tonearm cable all at the same time, yes? Now, bear in mind that cartridge pins come in (mainly) two different diameters (and so do cartridge clips) I know the van den Hul website has info on this subject, may be others.

So you need something that will go (easily) between the pins on the Audiodharma adaptor and the cartridge clips on the end of the tonearm, right? Okey, dokey, here's what I'd do: First get a female "DIN" tonearm plug. Vampire (and others) make these fittings (I have one I'll sell you cheap ;--) Solder a working length of R, G, B, W colored hookup wire to the correct sockets of the female plug. To the other end(s) of the wire(s) solder a 1/2" length of brass wire the same dia. as your cartridge pins, available (for sure) at model railroad shops, and you're in biz!
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