Tonearm Rewire - Discovery vs VDH

Pani, from an earlier discussion; you may find it helpful:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1292035437&openusid&zzFrogman&4&5#Frogman

Hi Bydlo, IMO you are on the right track. I also put twisted pairs of the AN
in Teflon tubing, EACH covered with a copper braid shield, then covered
with polyester braid in order to insulate the copper braid and for aesthetics.
I suppose you could use a single copper braid tube for both pairs of wires
(in Teflon). If you use the copper braid, you should make provisions for
connecting it at the preamp end to the grounding lug of your EAR. I
soldered wire pigtails with spades to the braid.

Please keep in mind that I am not familiar with the construction of the SME;
but I have done this to a Syrinx PU3. For strain relief at the base of the
tonearm what you suggest would work, but foam tape tends to deteriorate
over time and can be messy even when new. I would be inclined to (after
completing the construction of your "phono interconnect") use
pieces of increasingly wider diameter shrink tubing around the first, say,
1.5-2 inches of the portion of wire in Teflon tube/braid, until you can get a
fairly tight fit inside the portion of the arm (pillar) where the wire exits arm;
leaving about one inch, or so, outside the arm.Then, use heat shrink tubing
to secure this exposed portion to the arm pillar itself. Once you terminate
the wire at the other end with RCA's and use appropriate strain relief there,
the entire length of AN should be well protected from strain.

A couple of other thoughts: I soldered the AN wire directly to the circuit
board of my EAR, also bypassing the SUT's since I have been using MM's
almost exclusively lately. Also, if your set-up and particular environment is
clean of EMI/RFI, I suggest you don't shield the wires. Mine, as I said, are
shielded, but that is because I have issues with EMI/RFI in the urban area
that I live in. I have found that the wires sound best un-shielded if you can
get away with it. Lastly, if you have not worked with AN before, I found that
the best way to solder the wires is to first tin the ends by running the wire
through a bead of molten solder on the tip of the iron; not too hot as it can
actually melt the thin wires along with the insulation.

Good luck and I think you will be very pleased with the sonic results.