Experienced people opinion needed about tonearm wiring, which one to choose?

Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.
Disabled Account
Joined 2011
I see tons and tons of information, but I can only trust people who have used different tonearm wires (diy and commercial). Their is so much contradiction over the subject that it's getting a bit out of control.

I have experience the "difference" in cables, so no need to tell me their is no difference, their is for me.

I know the really pricey options like van den hull, but want to know if people have tried different cheap wires for their tonearm and TT cables as well and can confirm to pick this brand over the other...

thanks
 
Administrator
Joined 2004
Paid Member
Hi murphythecat8,
You're probably a lot further ahead to not touch the wiring in your tonearm if it's a good arm. If it's a cheap arm, why bother?

Honestly, setting up your cartridge properly is way more important than worrying about what wire is used to connect the cartridge to the terminal PCB. The most important things are that it's flexible and run properly. No defects are a given here.

Before people freak out, consider what the wiring eventually connects to. Copper on PCB, or copper in the leads from the jacks. Look at the big picture people.

-Chris
 
Hi murphythecat8,
You're probably a lot further ahead to not touch the wiring in your tonearm if it's a good arm. If it's a cheap arm, why bother?

Honestly, setting up your cartridge properly is way more important than worrying about what wire is used to connect the cartridge to the terminal PCB. The most important things are that it's flexible and run properly. No defects are a given here.

Before people freak out, consider what the wiring eventually connects to. Copper on PCB, or copper in the leads from the jacks. Look at the big picture people.

-Chris

Words of wisdom. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Silver wire in tone arms only works great if suspended on blocks of myrthle wood anyways.
 
I was also critical about the sound difference of cables.

The most simple way to find out is to try it. about then year ago I made a preamp and active two way backloaded horn.

preamp internal wire silver and silver solder. silver carbon interlink to the active loudspeaker there also silver to the speaker.

The sound was very bright and transparent only on the other side the low frequency was poor to my taste no warmth. There is a huge influence of the way you wire equipment and with what kind of material/parts you use.

So I am aware that the puzzle is complex, not only circuit is leading every capacitor wire and resistor and coil has its own sound. Because there are no ideal wires coils resistors and capacitors.

The people how make fun of this are at the first step of the ladder to wards knowledge about building equipment.:D Every one have to start somewhere.
 
^^^^+10 ... not all listen , hence the ignorance Helmuth ....:)


I have friends who swear by silver , they use it everywhere and i'm in agreement with you , sound is bright and hard sounding with no soul. Instead i use copper, if running silver for tweeter section only, it pulls up the bass IMO and at it's worst with SS, less so with Tubes. The Op did not state what type of cartridge , this will be crititcal here too, MC or MM ..?

Regards,
 
Last edited:
Administrator
Joined 2004
Paid Member
Wow. :rolleyes:

Strangely enough, many years of listening closely have uncovered many things that make a difference in sound quality, but never something so minor as silver vs copper wire. I can see where silver could give a coil a higher "Q", but nothing in the audio range of frequencies and impedances.

I think it's very important to understand that a wire material operates on all frequencies equally across the audio range for one. For two, some resistance in wire will damp any inherent inductance (again, at RF frequencies folks!). That means that copper wire is reducing the effect of one of the parasitics that make up wire and most components. Very low ESR caps can cause trouble, which is why resistance is often added in series.

-Chris
 
Wow. :rolleyes:

Strangely enough, many years of listening closely have uncovered many things that make a difference in sound quality, but never something so minor as silver vs copper wire. I can see where silver could give a coil a higher "Q", but nothing in the audio range of frequencies and impedances.

I think it's very important to understand that a wire material operates on all frequencies equally across the audio range for one. For two, some resistance in wire will damp any inherent inductance (again, at RF frequencies folks!). That means that copper wire is reducing the effect of one of the parasitics that make up wire and most components. Very low ESR caps can cause trouble, which is why resistance is often added in series.

-Chris

Wow..:rolleyes:

Chris i know you are a very knowledgable person, so i will go out on a limb and say you have never done the comparision, most times the difference can be night and day, switching from copper to pure silver is very obvious the change in sound.

:note:
 
Last edited:
Yes, imo, there is a silver vs copper audible difference.

In general, silver tends to be a little "thinner" in the lower end, and copper tends to be a bit "fatter" but has some "splash" and/or "sibilance" (especially at MC levels) that silver does not have.

The problems with silver can be overcome, but I ain't sayin' how... :D

Otoh, the wire FROM the tonearm to the preamp is often more important with a TT setup than anything else. So get that right first, and of course get the VTA and overhang dialed in before dorking with anything else.

_-_-bear
 
Hi,

I see tons and tons of information, but I can only trust people who have used different tonearm wires (diy and commercial). Their is so much contradiction over the subject that it's getting a bit out of control.

This goes for anything wire.

Some insist "wire makes no difference" while others insist it makes a big difference. I will not claim that I have firm evidence of these diferences, but I have preferences.

My personal preference for tone-arms is AN UK tonearm wire, followed by using one line of Nebraska Surplus 12/36 served Litzwire, with the individual strands (they are individually isolated, 12 of them) pinged out to make 4 * 3 groupings for the 4 connections needed.

Actually, that served Nebraska Surplus wire is some of the best wire I know, I do use goldplated silver in all my cables and internal wires for my personal system nowadays (except speakers, these are Tempflex SCSI III premium grade ribbon cables), but I used to use this Nebraska Surplus wire for a long time almost everywhere...

Note that re-wiring a tonearm internally is nothing for the fainthearted and it is easy to trash the arm. It may be worth to head down to goodwill or a similar store and buy a few cheap old tables to gain experience. Also, use high quality cartridge tags, or better (for the brave) solder the wire directly to the pickup pins.

Ciao T
 
Great, thanks guys. I didnt know that about silver wiring, I'll look for copper wires. However, is there any "better" wires for tonearm

Flexibility of the internal wire can be more important than wire's "high specs".

Impeding the smooth arm bearing operation can have more drawbacks than improvements.Even anti-skating will change...and despite the low cost of the at13 its elliptical tip will "feel" that.
 
Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.