Replacing cable from tonearm to phono stage

Cp, I can tell you that the cable routing of the tonearm cable through the P-Clip in the base of the TT is paramount to the proper operation of the suspension of the Linn TT. The correct amount of slack under the tonearm, and tight clamping in the P-Clip is required. If these requirements are not met, the TT will sound like poo-poo. The stock Linn cable is not the greatest cable on Earth, but it will at least let the TT be set up like it is supposed to be. A pair of huge cables draping out of a hole cut in the bottom of the plinth is not an acceptable solution. That kind of arrangement will wreck more than it solves. If you must do this, then see the website of Extremephono.com, and look at his Linn tonearm cable substitutes. I don't know how they sound, but he is a Linn tweaker, and they can be routed correctly through the P-Clip. Personally, I would leave it alone. If there is a problem with the sound of your TT, I would suspect set-up problems, or need for adjustment. Your audio dealer obviously knows nothing about a Linn, and you would be well advised to steer well clear of him on these matters. This is a job for someone that knows what he is doing.

My thoughts exactly, TWL. It's good to have my intuitive impression validated! Thanks for the link, though, to extremephono; I will certainly check it out.

Yes, this audio dealer is not completely up on the tt world, although his repair technician does seem to be very good with tables.

Christopher

I had my Linn dealer replace the stock Linn tonearm/preamp cable for me with a Cardas balanced cable that Ayre sold for use with the phono stage of its K3 preamp. After a lot of struggle, he got that Cardas cable properly mounted and threaded through my LP-12. Unbelievably, I felt I liked the old cable better, and had him change it back! But if the dealer knows what he's doing, it can be done.

What about rewiring the arm with cardas or discovery wire to a termination on the tt bnase rather thabn the plinth? or better yet, a single run to the phono amp, provided you can park it close to the table.
I just throw these out for consideration. It would depend on what arm and phono stage and how much effort you were willing to put into this in order for these to be worthwhile.

Sc53: well, that's interesting!! Goes along with Twl's feelings.

Basement: I don't know about rewiring the arm. I assume that the Ittock is already pretty good, but the notion of going directly to the phono amp is one that I've heard about, but not considered. Any opinions out there about this idea?

The arm is the Ittock LVII. Currently, I'm using the EAR834P phono stage (going into an NAD amp) and have a Blue Circle BC23 coming soon.

Cp -- with all due respect (& between us) the wiring on the Ittok is not very good. I don't mean it's worse than others, just the above.
I happen to have had one rewired with Discovery as per Basement above (Archiv cartridge). The termination went ALL the WAY to phono. The notorious P clip problem was licked as follows: dielectric on the part going through the clip.

It took about 1 month for the sound to become better -- as in, more resolution -- than the stock Linn. By then, it was MUCH better.

A final note regarding Twl's final note; I had acquaintances at Linn UK do the job. It ain't very easy!

Gregm:
Thanks for the advice and for sharing your experience. I will certainly take all this into account. I won't do anything immediately (or rashly, for that matter!). Should I decide to rewire, I would need to find a qualifed Linn person in the Chicago area to do the work. I definitely won't let my local audio dealer do it, nice as he is!