I think it's 20 dollars well spent, as long as you feel confident tackling the job.
I don't buy into a lot of the cable hype out there, but when you are talking about the miniscule signal produced by a cartridge and how it is ultimately amplified, it makes good sense to me to maximize the strength and clarity of that signal by replacing 30 year old (not so high quality) Thorens leads with new ones.
Dave
I'll go along with what David said, and agree, in that in this part of the chain, I do firmly believe that enhancements-improvements can be made by high quality Cabling-Wiring, and Connections.
Many go to the extent to do total Arm Re-Wiring for increased performance.
The AQ, or Sumiko Litz OFC Copper are good, and moving up from there, one has Cardas, and thier top of the Line Copper version, with Spring Rhodium Clips, and sells for $116 for four. Next step down in Cardas, is the ones selling for about $72, and these are said by many to actually have better connectors-clips, rather than the Spring Style. Better contact is made with the Tonearm, and Cartridge, with thier round Pin Connectors, and if you've ever noticed on some cheaper pin connectors, they appear to be diamond shaped.
Still, said to be even above the TOTL Cardas, are the Van Den Hul Pure Silver Cartridge Leads, and claimed by many to be the very best available. I have no idea of thier price, and in fact was inquiring not long ago about these, with no answers from dealers.
Another area of importance is good firm fit, and as I mentioned earlier, full circmference contact of the Pins. Some go to the extent of having 1mm Connectors on one end, and 1.2mm on the other for proper fit.
In some ways, I'll agree with others, that if you're using a $40 Table, and a $44 Shure Cartridge, it hardly makes much sense to throw a set of $70 Cartridge Leads onto the Tonearm, but if you have expensive gear, and of course the money, I can understand wishing to squeeze every last bit of performance from your available gear. Mark
