Hi Steve.
I've been rather quiet for the last few weeks as I now have a set of kits maybe more than half ready, and yes you could use them with any home-made arm tube. No photos of the "production" ones yet, but the arm I'm using now (finished, polished and laquered) is at
http://www.william-reed.net/audio/newpics/
and I'm really, really pleased with the result.
You're right about the wiring. 1/2 metre of silver Van den Hul comes to not much more that £20. The very best wire I've found is the Audio Note stuff, which is expensive at maybe £40 but really worth it.
I found a trick to soldering Audio Note wire: i was told you have to burn off the insulation with the iron, a terrible job. I now use a tiny drop of "Nitromors" paint stripper and dip the wire end in that for a moment or two, then wipe. Result, perfectly clean silver. I've also started using the Michell cartridge tags. Horribly expensive, but so much better than any others.
regards, Jeff
I've been rather quiet for the last few weeks as I now have a set of kits maybe more than half ready, and yes you could use them with any home-made arm tube. No photos of the "production" ones yet, but the arm I'm using now (finished, polished and laquered) is at
http://www.william-reed.net/audio/newpics/
and I'm really, really pleased with the result.
You're right about the wiring. 1/2 metre of silver Van den Hul comes to not much more that £20. The very best wire I've found is the Audio Note stuff, which is expensive at maybe £40 but really worth it.
I found a trick to soldering Audio Note wire: i was told you have to burn off the insulation with the iron, a terrible job. I now use a tiny drop of "Nitromors" paint stripper and dip the wire end in that for a moment or two, then wipe. Result, perfectly clean silver. I've also started using the Michell cartridge tags. Horribly expensive, but so much better than any others.
regards, Jeff
Hi all,
I've rewired a RB300 with cardas 33awg. Its been a labour of love but its done now.
My question is to do with anti-skate. When I balance out the arm with the cart on, arm floating, the arm swings back towards the arm rest - obviously the tension of the wires in the arm post is causing this. If I fiddle with the block in the arm post I can adjust where the arm comes to rest, but I can't seem to stop this tendancy to swing.
Anyone have any tips to stop this happening?
BTW: the rubber grommits are still in, I have an extra bit of wire left in the arm post to try and lessen the "swing".
Fran
I've rewired a RB300 with cardas 33awg. Its been a labour of love but its done now.
My question is to do with anti-skate. When I balance out the arm with the cart on, arm floating, the arm swings back towards the arm rest - obviously the tension of the wires in the arm post is causing this. If I fiddle with the block in the arm post I can adjust where the arm comes to rest, but I can't seem to stop this tendancy to swing.
Anyone have any tips to stop this happening?
BTW: the rubber grommits are still in, I have an extra bit of wire left in the arm post to try and lessen the "swing".
Fran
Many thanks for that tip J7.
(actually you don't know how long I agonised over whether to send the arm to you or do it myself. In the end I did it myself but am constantaly doubting it! Moral of the story - shouldn't be a cheapskate/pigheaded - send it to j7))
When the arm floats, it swings back fairly gently, but the strength of the swing is higher towards the centre. As a result I have my antiskate set fairly low - <1 for a 2g VTA. It just passes the 3rd track on the HFNRR test record at that. One channel is a bit louder than the other, but I think that might be azimuth.
Thanks again,
Fran
(actually you don't know how long I agonised over whether to send the arm to you or do it myself. In the end I did it myself but am constantaly doubting it! Moral of the story - shouldn't be a cheapskate/pigheaded - send it to j7))
When the arm floats, it swings back fairly gently, but the strength of the swing is higher towards the centre. As a result I have my antiskate set fairly low - <1 for a 2g VTA. It just passes the 3rd track on the HFNRR test record at that. One channel is a bit louder than the other, but I think that might be azimuth.
Thanks again,
Fran
Ceramic bearings.
Now I see where my unused ceramic flanged bearings will not improve my RB-250. That is 100.00 down the drain.
Also, I have some very good quality "sticky tape" to damp the arm tube. A pain to apply, but works great. It is a high temp, high strength material. HTis does make a large improvement.
George
Now I see where my unused ceramic flanged bearings will not improve my RB-250. That is 100.00 down the drain.
Also, I have some very good quality "sticky tape" to damp the arm tube. A pain to apply, but works great. It is a high temp, high strength material. HTis does make a large improvement.
George
Counterweights.... Mods, tricks
Seeing as this is turning in to a bit of an RB300/250 general mod thread......
I have been fitting RB300 stubs and weights to RB250 arms for people for a while now and for a lot less then the OL mod it is a big step up.
Anyways, reading the gumph on OL, Expressimo, Clearaudio Turbo weight, Michel Techno etc etc there is some conflicting stuff or perhaps there is more then one aspect that improves things that differnt weights may address differently.
The OL and Expressimo make a big deal out of tightly coupling the stub. The expressimo does this by just providing a hex cut out for a hex key. Nothing a set of pliers and massking tape on the stub (just to avoid scratches) could not achieve. (ALWAYS REMOVE ARM FROM MOUNTING BOARD/DECK WHEN TORQUEING UP A STUB AND ONLY HOLD THE ARM TUBE, NOT THE ARM PILLAR AS YOU COULD DAMAGE BEARINGS)
The thread in the arms is very coarse, certainly not precision machined.... So this evening I removed the stub from one of my RB300 arms fitted with tungsten weight and wrapped some PTFE plumbing tape on to the stub thread and put it back. It all felt a lot more snug going in and the sound definately appears to have better flow and be less ragged.
While the stub was off I had another look at the actual end of the tube and is not very precisely cut or machined, the paint covers this partly.
On most of these arms if one looks at the seam between stub and arm tube there always seems to be some gaping due to the "rough" tube end.
I am considering to take the stub out and use very fine grit sand paper placed on a flat surface to rub the arm tube end on. The idea is to get rid of the paint and burs/rough edges where the stub flange mates with the arm tube.
Perhaps a fibre/paper washer could help there as well.
A paper doughnut works wonders between sub platter and outer platter on a Linn.....
Any thoughts anyone?
Seeing as this is turning in to a bit of an RB300/250 general mod thread......
I have been fitting RB300 stubs and weights to RB250 arms for people for a while now and for a lot less then the OL mod it is a big step up.
Anyways, reading the gumph on OL, Expressimo, Clearaudio Turbo weight, Michel Techno etc etc there is some conflicting stuff or perhaps there is more then one aspect that improves things that differnt weights may address differently.
The OL and Expressimo make a big deal out of tightly coupling the stub. The expressimo does this by just providing a hex cut out for a hex key. Nothing a set of pliers and massking tape on the stub (just to avoid scratches) could not achieve. (ALWAYS REMOVE ARM FROM MOUNTING BOARD/DECK WHEN TORQUEING UP A STUB AND ONLY HOLD THE ARM TUBE, NOT THE ARM PILLAR AS YOU COULD DAMAGE BEARINGS)
The thread in the arms is very coarse, certainly not precision machined.... So this evening I removed the stub from one of my RB300 arms fitted with tungsten weight and wrapped some PTFE plumbing tape on to the stub thread and put it back. It all felt a lot more snug going in and the sound definately appears to have better flow and be less ragged.
While the stub was off I had another look at the actual end of the tube and is not very precisely cut or machined, the paint covers this partly.
On most of these arms if one looks at the seam between stub and arm tube there always seems to be some gaping due to the "rough" tube end.
I am considering to take the stub out and use very fine grit sand paper placed on a flat surface to rub the arm tube end on. The idea is to get rid of the paint and burs/rough edges where the stub flange mates with the arm tube.
Perhaps a fibre/paper washer could help there as well.
A paper doughnut works wonders between sub platter and outer platter on a Linn.....
Any thoughts anyone?
Re: Counterweights.... Mods, tricks
That's always driven me nuts; "for every expert there's an equal and opposite expert"
I have a Expressimo '2-xtreme' which uses an insert and through-bolt like the OL - this arrangement definitely allows much more pressure to be applied at the stub/arm tube interface.
Which is another reason for using the insert and through-bolt a la OL, I reckon.
I did exactly what you're suggesting - flattened off the end of the arm tube with some emery wrapped around a small piece of glass - you need to take lot of care to keep it absolutely square..
Using PTFE tape on a standard RB300 stub sounds like a good idea - it might allow more torque to be applied without risking damage to the alloy thread, and conversely might also make it easier to loosen again if needed.
tubenut said:
That's always driven me nuts; "for every expert there's an equal and opposite expert"
tubenut said:
I have a Expressimo '2-xtreme' which uses an insert and through-bolt like the OL - this arrangement definitely allows much more pressure to be applied at the stub/arm tube interface.
tubenut said:
Which is another reason for using the insert and through-bolt a la OL, I reckon.
tubenut said:
I did exactly what you're suggesting - flattened off the end of the arm tube with some emery wrapped around a small piece of glass - you need to take lot of care to keep it absolutely square..
Using PTFE tape on a standard RB300 stub sounds like a good idea - it might allow more torque to be applied without risking damage to the alloy thread, and conversely might also make it easier to loosen again if needed.
Re: Counterweights.... Mods, tricks
Another observation about the insert and through-bolt stub (OL);
in tightening the bolt, you only need to hold the stub itself, which being made of steel is a lot less hassle to clamp adequately than the arm-tube, and there is also no risk at all of damaging the bearings.
Still needs to be done with the arm off the TT, of course.
As an aside, I can't understand why the OL stub doesn't use the same 1/2" diameter as the standard one, hence (I assume) you can't use a Rega weight with it (although obviously this would be moot with the RB250).
Given that the price of the OL (nearly £80 all-in) is major dis-incentive for many people, it would have been nice if the stub had been designed to compatible with Rega weights and sold on it's own .
tubenut said:
Another observation about the insert and through-bolt stub (OL);
in tightening the bolt, you only need to hold the stub itself, which being made of steel is a lot less hassle to clamp adequately than the arm-tube, and there is also no risk at all of damaging the bearings.
Still needs to be done with the arm off the TT, of course.
As an aside, I can't understand why the OL stub doesn't use the same 1/2" diameter as the standard one, hence (I assume) you can't use a Rega weight with it (although obviously this would be moot with the RB250).
Given that the price of the OL (nearly £80 all-in) is major dis-incentive for many people, it would have been nice if the stub had been designed to compatible with Rega weights and sold on it's own .
Hi.
My mother language isn't english so I ask 'cos reading all takes so much time. :-(
I have Rega Planar 2 and RB250. (Denon DL110 cart)
Is there DIN-plug inside pivot/tone arm? Can I change ext cabling just with 5-pin DIN -> 2xRCA-cable? Or is wiring unbroken from cart to rca-plugs?
I' using additional extension RCA-cable with my Planar RCA-cable so that it reaches to my RIAA (RIAA is Creek phono card inside Creek amplifier, so I can not move RIAA). I would like to get rid of extension cable, it certainly would not do good for sound?
Is it possible to re-wire internal wire of RB250 or should I just cut original cable underneath to plinth and solder better cable in right length and better plugs. If there's not DIN plug?
What would be good cable? Cardas has AWG33 tonearm cable for ext re-wire. LINK
Would ordinary Tasker C850/C208 etc be good if I change just external cable by cutting original cable?
So for so many questions!
-Ali
My mother language isn't english so I ask 'cos reading all takes so much time. :-(
I have Rega Planar 2 and RB250. (Denon DL110 cart)
Is there DIN-plug inside pivot/tone arm? Can I change ext cabling just with 5-pin DIN -> 2xRCA-cable? Or is wiring unbroken from cart to rca-plugs?
I' using additional extension RCA-cable with my Planar RCA-cable so that it reaches to my RIAA (RIAA is Creek phono card inside Creek amplifier, so I can not move RIAA). I would like to get rid of extension cable, it certainly would not do good for sound?
Is it possible to re-wire internal wire of RB250 or should I just cut original cable underneath to plinth and solder better cable in right length and better plugs. If there's not DIN plug?
What would be good cable? Cardas has AWG33 tonearm cable for ext re-wire. LINK
Would ordinary Tasker C850/C208 etc be good if I change just external cable by cutting original cable?
So for so many questions!
-Ali
Hi, inside the base of the arm the tonearm wires and the external interconnect are soldered to contacts on the inside of the black plastic plug that fits in the base.
If you undo the M3 screw in the bottom of the base then it is possible to pull the plug out just enough to get to the solder contacts. You can then unsolder the plug to change the wiring. If you just cut the interconnect wires coming out of the base you introduce yet another solder joint.
IMO The weakest part of the Rega wiring is the internal wires:
The cartridge tags are soldered to a short length of wire which is then soldered to the tonearm wire at the headshell end. The other end of the tonearm wire is then soldered to the contacts of the plug with the interconnect wire.
The earth (ground) wire is soldered to one of the signal earths (returns) inside the plug. Not good. The first thing to do if changing the wiring is to separate the grounding wire from the signal by providing a separate earth wire.
If you do start taking the arm apart to change the wire, it is very important that the tonearm wire inside the base is dressed properly or it can upset the tracking of the arm. It is much harder than you think to do this properly, especially first time and the performance of the arm depends on those wires sitting nicely inside the base.
The easiest alternative is to use a ready-prepared kit like the Incognito one. Most of the work is already done for you, but they are expensive.
My own choice is to get rid of the plug all together, rewire the arm with good quality tags and internal wire and then terminate that to a block fixed to the underside of the armboard or plinth with phono/DIN sockets, like this:
http://www.audiomods.co.uk/images/kondo2.jpg
The arm needs careful handling when it's not mounted on the turntable, but the performance is much improved.
If you undo the M3 screw in the bottom of the base then it is possible to pull the plug out just enough to get to the solder contacts. You can then unsolder the plug to change the wiring. If you just cut the interconnect wires coming out of the base you introduce yet another solder joint.
IMO The weakest part of the Rega wiring is the internal wires:
The cartridge tags are soldered to a short length of wire which is then soldered to the tonearm wire at the headshell end. The other end of the tonearm wire is then soldered to the contacts of the plug with the interconnect wire.
The earth (ground) wire is soldered to one of the signal earths (returns) inside the plug. Not good. The first thing to do if changing the wiring is to separate the grounding wire from the signal by providing a separate earth wire.
If you do start taking the arm apart to change the wire, it is very important that the tonearm wire inside the base is dressed properly or it can upset the tracking of the arm. It is much harder than you think to do this properly, especially first time and the performance of the arm depends on those wires sitting nicely inside the base.
The easiest alternative is to use a ready-prepared kit like the Incognito one. Most of the work is already done for you, but they are expensive.
My own choice is to get rid of the plug all together, rewire the arm with good quality tags and internal wire and then terminate that to a block fixed to the underside of the armboard or plinth with phono/DIN sockets, like this:
http://www.audiomods.co.uk/images/kondo2.jpg
The arm needs careful handling when it's not mounted on the turntable, but the performance is much improved.
jeff spall said:
Thanks for advice.
I will look for it and consider if I get to work. I think Incognito is too expensive, preferably I put that amount money to change whole turntable for better one.
There's couple solder joints so I think that even if I just cut external wire outside plinth and solder nice piece of good screened cables, it can't be worse situation than now. Because now there's original cable and extension of like same cable. Like two of these together.
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