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Looking for Tonearm Wire Suggestions

Update: I just tried using the earbud wire, but it will not take solder at all. Spent 30 mins trying to tin one wire, will not hold it.
 
Did you view the Cardas video and follow the directions about using superglue?
 
Here's how I did it.....put a few drops of superglue on the wire about 1/2 inch from the end. Let it dry a few minutes. Take your soldering iron and put it at the end of the wire until the nylon stuff melts away. Then dip that end in some flux, followed by flowing solder on it. Worked for me. I provided the video as that is the "professional" way I suppose to do it. I found what I did to be much quicker and just as effective.
 
Fishead said:
Bimasta, interesting that you were able to run all the way from your headshell to your phonostage.....I had read that somewhere here before, perhaps your post in another thread, but found that in my case those tiny, very sparsely insulated wires tended to pick up more interference from other wires nearby and I was better off soldering them to the RCA cable that came with my tonearm which, of course, is very well shielded so once it leaves the base of the tonearm I had no more issues of the sort.
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You're right. So I did one arm with the wires very short, about 10 inches — the preamp was under the table so short wires reached it and hum was inaudible.

For longer lengths I do shield it. Wire braid is available in many sizes, and two layers usually does it. I have a roll of aluminum tape (non-porous, so a 100% shield) but have not needed to use it. The wire braid is usually plated-copper; it need not be anything fancy, the cheapest conducts the ground-path just fine.

I then cover the braid with tech-flex, or whatever it's called (the black braid) so it looks finished and professional.
 
Fishead said:
Here's how I did it.....put a few drops of superglue on the wire about 1/2 inch from the end. Let it dry a few minutes. Take your soldering iron and put it at the end of the wire until the nylon stuff melts away. Then dip that end in some flux, followed by flowing solder on it. Worked for me. I provided the video as that is the "professional" way I suppose to do it. I found what I did to be much quicker and just as effective.
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I couldn't do it like in the video. This wire is different, the little strands are wrapped around a string core, whereas the Cardas the core is copper and the outside is nylon. I guess I will be ordering some tonearm wire then.
 
Fishead said:
PS - I made a wiring "loom" from this stuff for my Nottingham Analogue Studios Spacearm that needed re-wiring. I cannot tell the difference in sound between this and the original silver Litz wiring that was used from the factory.)
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Slightly off-topic here but do you have a thread about that somewhere? Mine could really use it, the wires are beginning to fray at the tags and one is too short, from a previous owner's repair.
 
Isaac C. said:
Update: I just tried using the earbud wire, but it will not take solder at all. Spent 30 mins trying to tin one wire, will not hold it.
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Isaac, I know how frustrating this thing can be, and I too had considerable difficulty at first getting the ends tinned but after working with it for a while I was finally able to get to an "aha" moment and things progressed much better from there. The flux is really an important part of the equation so hope you paid attention to that. The end result was very rewarding, both from a quality of sound perspective and cost....which was next to nothing!
 
Is 30awg to big? Im looking at this where I run it straight from the cart to the DIN connector.
Link is way too long to post, so I just put that.
 
I don't know about that with your arm, but on my Nottingham arm, which is a unipivot, the tonearm wires are quite fine (34AWG) so as not to interfere with the travel of the arm. Can you perhaps get the manufacturers specs for the wiring you are replacing?
 
https://www.kabusa.com/frameset.htm?/

I used this guy, he’s local to me. When we met he explained the benefits of the wire he sold me, in particular how flexible, so as not to restrict the motion of the tone arm. I think apple headphone wiring is much too stiff and you considered that so perhaps you need to experience what good tonearm wires feel like in terms of flexibility.

I think I paid like $50 for a set with clips installed, long enough to go direct to the outputs. I used on Project Debut Carbon, very happy with performance of them. Improved sound over factory leads which got damaged during a cartridge swap.
 
It was a while ago. I don’t think I needed to. I want to say it was cut to length and maybe stripped in advance. It’s a one man business, all custom order, so I’m sure you can ask him to strip it for you.
 
PianotunerNJ said:
I think apple headphone wiring is much too stiff
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Are you speaking from having taken apart a set of earbuds and actually examined the wire? If so, I'm surprised you might think that because I believed it to be extremely supple and very fine, just as much so as the original silver Litz wire that my tonearm came with from the factory. Maybe Apple used different sorts of wiring over the years? I don't know, but the stuff I found in the set I had was perfect for the job. Again, it took a bit to get the ends tinned properly but that was just because I'm not an experienced technician in this regard. It did, however, challenge me to become better at it so that was an unexpected side-benefit of the exercise/adventure.

tabarddn51 said:
The wire is Van den Hul MCS 150M Cable.
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I have heard this is excellent wire.

bang4buck said:
Slightly off-topic here but do you have a thread about that somewhere? Mine could really use it, the wires are beginning to fray at the tags and one is too short, from a previous owner's repair.
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Sorry it has taken a while to address this, b4b, but no I have not done a thread on it.

This is a tedious job and it requires getting to know that arm really well and how it goes together. If you have that knowledge, or choose to develop it, you can take it apart to the extent needed and remove the old wiring, pull through the new stuff, and do the necessary removing/soldering of the old and new wiring. It gets pretty interesting once you get into the arm base, pull out the rubber plug and realize you now have to carefully disassemble/dissect the old wiring from where it meets the heavier wiring with the RCA plugs at the far end. I used some dental picks as well as an exacto knife to do this job and worked very slowly.....in the end, had a pretty good understanding of the nature of it.

Otherwise, there's Larry at Hollywood Sound who is the resident expert (and Nottingham rep here in the USA) who does a great job and will rewire your arm, inspect it and restore to factory specs for around $150 last time I checked. Before I did my rewire of the Spacearm, I just ordered a new Ace Space 10" arm from him, put it on the table and then proceeded with the rewire of the old arm thinking it would be a nice second arm if I wanted one. Well, after getting the new arm with the silver Litz and listening to that, then rewiring the old arm, I put the old arm back on with the Apple earbuds wiring and that is how I conclude there is no difference in the sound between the silver Litz wiring and this earbud stuff......

I am confident there are those (whom I both envy and have great sympathy for) who will be able to tell the difference, far surpassing my hearing ability. I hope I have shed some light on the matter.
 
Kevin at KAB is a real fine gentleman. He is a great resource as well and will help you get what you need...might try calling him and talking about it.
 
Fishead said:
Are you speaking from having taken apart a set of earbuds and actually examined the wire? If so, I'm surprised you might think that because I believed it to be extremely supple and very fine, just as much so as the original silver Litz wire that my tonearm came with from the factory. Maybe Apple used different sorts of wiring over the years? I don't know, but the stuff I found in the set I had was perfect for the job. Again, it took a bit to get the ends tinned properly but that was just because I'm not an experienced technician in this regard. It did, however, challenge me to become better at it so that was an unexpected side-benefit of the exercise/adventure.


I have some apple earbuds, and I don’t consider the wire to be nearly as flexible as the litz wire I got from KAB, but that’s with jacket on. I never stripped down the outer casing to check the wires inside. It’s possible that the internal wire inside is appropriate. With the outer casing on, I would think the wire could create resistance on the motion of the tonearm. Just a bit of resistance there could be a problem.

the litz wire I got from KAB is not only super limp, but the shielding is silicone and super slick so there’s practically 0 chance of any resistance during the movement of the tonearm. That’s what sold me when I was at KAB (Kevin’s house).

I have been pleased with the results and I’m pretty finicky.
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