Directwire mod, help

[RollE2k]

Hey.

I bought a Clearaudio Evolution turntable with L3S tonearm cheap newly..
One problem with the tonearm is that it seems it have been badly rewired (probably the last owner broke the wire and did a bad and ugly solderjob on it).
So i have been thinking about re-wiring it, and to put direct wire on it. So now to my question.

I have been thinking about putting Cardas 33awg from the pickup down to the end of the base under the deck. and from there i solder it to an RCA-cable. Now my question, what kind of RCA (that ain't to damn expensive) would you people recommend me to go from there to riia?
Also, when doing the solder work there, should i go with plus from the pickup to the signal, and the minus from the pickup to the "shielding" of the rca-cable, the same on both channels, and than the tone-arm ground on a separate ground cable?

Haven't soldered cables from vinyl before, when you have five leads. But i guess its just plus and ground from each channel of the pickup and the the ground to the tonearm itself. Is this correct?

Thanks in advice peeps!

Ps, for you peeps who wonder how the turntable looks, its like this: http://www.savantaudio.com/CAEVOLU2.JPG
but mine does have black base instead.

[Nanook]

buy yourself something like 5 ft of tone arm wire. It is often sold in either coloured lengths or a group of five wires. salvage your cartridge "tags" from tour existing wire. order a pair of decent quality male RCA ends.

• solder the ends of the new wires to the ends of the old ones
• gently pull the wires through the tone arm and out the bottom of the tonearm base
• while leaving plenty of slack, solder the new or salvaged cartridge tags onto the end of the new cables
• join the ground wire to the arm near the headshell/carttridge or the base of the tonearm
• solder the RCAs to the new wire following the correct colour convention
• pull the slack out of the cable so the ends nearest the cartridge has no or very little slack (some is good to allow easy cartridge installation).

that's it. If the wiring cannot easily be pulled without damaging them then the arm will have to be taken apart somewhat to aid in the rewire.


stew

[RollE2k]

Well, not to sound rude or so, i'm glad for your answer - but the question was about the RCA bit, also check the picture i do have a linear tracking tonearm, not a pivoted, so there won't be any trouble that bit.

[Nanook]

but I suggested a single piece from your pickup to the phono preamp. put tags on the cartridge end, and male RCA phono plugs on the other with no breaks in between. One less junction, 2 less solder joints, so the fewest possible to have. Many problems are with the RCA junctions.

In this case no need for an RCA cable to be soldered.

Now if asking about RCA interconnects or RCA phono plugs or RCA phono jacks please clarify.

I think by the time you're done, my first suggestion would still be the best based on cost, and performance.

[RollE2k]

hey thanks for the replay.

I actually mailed a Incognito rewire kit reseller and asked, it is possible to order the incognito set without base plug and with longer internal connections, so i will probably go for that one. ANd That way i won't need any solder joints in between.

[Nanook]

and a really bad one at that.

[RollE2k]

Yeah, i understand that.. but i really want RCA the last bit, since they would be so easily damaged if only using the small internal wires, so i will probably go for the incognito kit now as it will work fine for me.

[KP11520]

Hi Roll,

What Stew is suggesting is as pure as you can get!

Cardas has 4 conductor and 5 conductor 33ga Tonearm wire. It is stranded wire and they are braided and that makes it a little stronger. This will sound the most neutral. If you don't move the TT, it will be fine.

If you want to be safer, there are some ways to terminate the tonearm wire and then convert to cables with RCAs. There are boxes (example http://www.kabusa.com/gif/pc1200a.jpg ) that let you solder the tonearm wire to them and has 2 RCA female recepticles. Then you use Interconnects. However, all Interconnects are not the same. Some have low capacitance and that is what you want if you are using a MM cartridge. It matters less with a MC.

Here are some cheap ones that I bought. Go to the hyperlink and on the Right side is "ART Cables", click on that. "ART Blues": http://www.kabusa.com/frameset.htm?/index.htm The "ART Jazz" and "Classical" are good for MC Cartridges but not MM.

My turntable is a Technics and has a small PCB for soldering the Tonearm wire to the ART Blues Cable that I bought. I just had to cut one end and solder it to the PCB.

KABUSA also makes an inexpensive termination plate for exactly this. just make sure you clamp the RCA Cables so they don't stress the termination point. Look at this page, scroll down and click on Master 1200 Page. When you get to that page scroll down to the Turret Terminal Board: http://www.kabusa.com/frameset.htm?/index.htm

I used KABUSA's site because he has all the items so you could see what I was talking about! There are many other places to get similar items. Do some research and get what suits you most!
But don't discount Stew's recommendation! My addition to his idea is Eichmann Bullet Plugs (RCAs).

Good luck!

Regards//Keith

[RollE2k]

Hey Keith!

Thanks for a very informative post.. although terminating the cable won't be an alternative to me.. this as i want to be able to remove the tonearm if i want. Also why i don't want to have the small cardas the whole way (even with the extra cover) is due to that i have alot of clumsy friends, and i also want to be able to move the TT easily, so that also goes away.. this is why i want to have either soldered rca to internal wire, or just something like the rega rewire kits.

I've been thinking about just fitting the rcas in the bottom of the tonearm, and the solder on the cardas internal wire on them, and put something to protect the whole thing, some special glue or so. or the other thing is just the rewire kit.

So why are you people against the Incognito kit? bad rca piece or what?

Regards,
Robert

[tubenut]

I can only assume the Incognito is considered dear in comparison to just buying the wire.
The incognito is in fact Cardas wire from cartridge clips to its final RCA but with a far spaced shield. Also a doodle to fit for the less experienced DIYer....