AR XA tonearm wiring cap

[archiek]

I am doing my first AR Restoration with initial help from John Williams and now from Marc Morin whose in depth wisdom and kind guidance made me feel brave enough to replace the tonearm wires. Unfortunately, I apparently suck at soldering and managed to melt the plastic cup with the pins in it. It is irretrievably destroyed.
Has anyone simply NOT used the cup, but put connectors on the ends of the wires and clipped them onto the cartridge shell pins?
Does ANYONE have a plastic wiring harness cap for an AR XA tone arm tube?

OR, a bigger question, which I am sure has been asked many times before, is what would be a suitable replacement tonearm replacement? I once had an AR XA with a Vestigial tonearm...I loved it!

Again, let me cite and praise the true kindness and help both from John and especially Marc. They have answered questions I'm sure they have been asked a bazillion times. Thank You both.

 

[beatcomber]

I OR, a bigger question, which I am sure has been asked many times before, is what would be a suitable replacement tonearm replacement?

Why butcher it? The stock arm is superb.

I'm sure you can find another cup on eBay soon enough... an entire arm assembly with collet recently sold for just $38. Patience will be rewarded.

 

[marcmorin]

answered this in email. changing the arm requires modification to the top plate, to the subchassis, to the suspension. The price of doing all of that, including the cost of the arm, one could probably buy a plug-n-play (sec gen) EB101, TheTurntable, or ES-1

 

[archiek]

I'm sending the arm to Marc to rewire and mod. Beat, you are right why butcher it!