TONEARM REWIREE - DUMB QUESTION

Wow @ketchup ketchup that’s thin…

I see Cardas do a new ‘Clear’ wire which is supposed to be very flexible.

out of interest does one run ground via the shielding or just a separate wire?

 

Kabusa uses Silicone Sheath, and is very flexible for this reason. 

This is in use in my Tonearm at present, but I am due to have this exchanged to a bespoke produced wire in the not too distant future. 

I am advised that the Kabusa wire is without doubt the most flexible.

That stuff looks pretty good in terms of flexibility, but check out Audio Note AN-WIRE-300. It’s made from three strands of 0.0019" thick silver wire (half the thickness of the average human hair) and has 6 coats of polyurethane as insulation. It’s incredibly hard to work with, but I can’t imagine anything thinner or more flexible. I ran mine straight from the cartridge clips to phonostage RCAs.

https://www.hificollective.co.uk/wire/audio-note-silver-internal-tone-arm-wire.html

Here’s my wire next to a typical Bic ball point pen:

 

I am advised that the Kabusa wire is without doubt the most flexible. It's copper. i am not pro-copper/pro-silver - I am wondering if the gauge is too small to run to the RCA plugs.

hi @blackdoghifi 

Well - it's a few arms:

Sony PUA-7 (as lifted from a pSX 70) - the wires were left bare without a plug (it's how I bought it

JVC UA 7045

Possibly a WT Classic

I wish that there was a similar kit to the Inccognito that would take out the wiring guesswork and soldering. 

 

You don't say what tonearm you are re-wiring. This will impact what kind of wire you use and how to go about shielding it.

 SME's for example take to the Cardas wire exceedingly well. I've done over a hundred of them and the stiffness (which is greatly exaggerated) has never been a problem, and using the shielded wire eliminates a lot of messing around.

If you can find a Wire of approx' 0.3mm OD, that is of interest, that has a Silicone Sheath, the suppleness of these wire types, will offer further reassurance the Tonearm is not being impeded mechanically, by having the minimum subjection to resistance being met from the wire whilst functioning.   

You don't have to, but it probably depends.  I just made a 2.9' long pair from cartridge clips to phono pre RCAs out of Audio Note AN-WIRE-300.  The pairs were not twisted and I did not use any shielding and I only have the slightest hum if I crank the volume with no music playing. 

VAS re-wired mine, used a VPI junction box like this

 

Solder a small connector on your tonearm wires to go into the socket on top.

out: either Balanced or RCA as shown

.............................

here’s a used one

 

you need the small fitting for the end of your wires

.. shown on the end of this VPI arm https://www.ebay.com/itm/265582538423?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=265582538423&targetid=1262749490862&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=9003512&poi=&campaignid=14859008593&mkgroupid=130497710760&rlsatarget=pla-1262749490862&abcId=9300678&merchantid=6296724&gclid=CjwKCAjwp7eUBhBeEiwAZbHwkdtsF4vi2W0T-xAMgVkR1GOQ0Qq90-sU6cpjR4NRNAJTRE0Q4WVKKhoCXrIQAvD_BwE

here’s one with phono cable hard wired. *** NOTICE the optional adapter for an arm with standard DIN5 to the small connector https://www.ebay.com/itm/394039176137?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&campid=5338381866&toolid=10001&customid=9c216b30-dc9a-11ec-8784-643530373966

I moved the phono equalizer close to the TT so I could use a two foot cable pair I made.  The signal wire is 24 AWG solid copper and the shield is 3/8" braided for low capacitance of 15 pf/foot.  The dielectric between signal and shield is cotton yarn, big stuff about 2mm diameter, 25 strands.