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Unexpected tweak

This blew me away. I bought a VPI HW19jr TT here a few months ago. It came with a Audioquest tonearm cable. Problem was it was a straight DIN design, and the TT could have used a 90 degree angled DIN. Well, I was moving cables around and fiddling the way we do. And I broke a solder joint on my tonearm cable. It was obvious because of the hum and loss of signal to my right channel. I got out my tools and tore apart the cable. At the solder joint, the manufacture was using what could only be described as a plastic honeycomb to insulate the terminations. I re-soldered the joint and decided that since I could not reuse the plastic honeycomb, I would instead use some RTV silicone to insulate the connection.
WOW, Huge difference. Every note sounds cleaner and clearer. I have to believe that the OEM insulator was not quite correct. There must have been leakage of the signal transfer and the RTV took care of all of that mess.
Has anyone here built cables and found this to ring a bell?
scottht

Showing 1 response by sean

sean
6,231 posts
 
As Herman pointed out, the "stinky" stuff releases an acid as it cures. If it smells strongly, it is typically not recommended for use with electronic connections. The corrosive properties of the silicone can also migrate into cable jacketing, causing it to change dielectric properties and become lossier. While i'm not certain, i think that "aquarium grade" silicone is safe for electrical connections.

Other than that, i would agree with Viridian. That is, the clean connections are probably what made the biggest difference. Most solder deteriorates with age and becomes brittle, making a poorer connection. Simply cleaning and re-flowing an old circuit board can many times make a very measurable ( and i mean that literally ) difference. Sean
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