Hi,
I went into a hifi repair shop to buy a small diam coax to replace the big stuff coming out of my suspended deck.
They didn't sell any but the very kind gent gave me a metre length of scrap coax. Very soft and pliable.
The diameter of the coax was about 1.2mm but the length from cartridge to pre-pre-amp was only 500mm or so.
BTW the very small diameter probably means high capacitance and as a result do not hang long lengths on the cartridge for fear of upsetting the designed in peak that exists in MM types.
The stuff exists but finding a source might be the problem.
I went into a hifi repair shop to buy a small diam coax to replace the big stuff coming out of my suspended deck.
They didn't sell any but the very kind gent gave me a metre length of scrap coax. Very soft and pliable.
The diameter of the coax was about 1.2mm but the length from cartridge to pre-pre-amp was only 500mm or so.
BTW the very small diameter probably means high capacitance and as a result do not hang long lengths on the cartridge for fear of upsetting the designed in peak that exists in MM types.
The stuff exists but finding a source might be the problem.
Hi all - one of the best, and certainly cheap, is mouse cable. No, this is not some exotic barnd - the cable used for the vast majority of corded computer mice.
Every mouse cable has 4 very fine strand 4 9s copper conductors, each coated in its own, usually teflon, wrap.
Gram a mouse from the junk bin at your local thrift store, cut the cable end and mouse off, split the cable for a couple of inches with a razor knife and peel the outer coating off, leaving you with four colored wires. This is one of the finest quality copper wire available and it is light enough for almost any tonearm.
I have rewired a Rega RB250, a couple of who-knows japanese S-types and a Grace 714. In all cases the mouse wire has worked fine.
PS: Logitech or Microsoft mice have the best wire.
Jess
Lo-mass arm it works fine - I have a delicate little unipivot I built myself (just playing around). Ths total mass of this arm, without cartridge, is 11gm. Mouse wire has worked very well in it and, because the wire is so flexible, does not interfere in tracking at all.
I have used it with a medium-optput MC - 1.5mV - not yet with a true low oputput (<.5mV) unit. I have no doubt it will work as well as any conductor and better than most. I would probably twist the pairs for use with a lo-output MC.
The teflon coating is as good a diaelectric as can be found, so capacitance is minimum with this wire.
I agree, and tried headphone coax when I did the Grace rewire, however 2 strands was just too large in diameter. I also found that it was a bit too stiff for a unipivot arm like the grace, which is why I went looking for another alternative.
As for how it sounds, I'd say it is pretty neutral. I fancy that I am getting more detail and "micro-dynamics" from my vinyl now, but haven't noticed any coloration or tonal shift with any of the rewire projects I have done.
And, in the end, it is kind of a "try it - you'll like" thing - the materials are so cheap and the rewire so simple that you can do this in an hour to see if it works for you.
BTW: I have found a neat trick for threading the wire without taking the arm apart:
1) strip the cart clips from the ends of your old wires and solder all 4 wires together.
2) Cut your new mouse wire about 3" (70cm) longer than you will need.
3) Then strip about 1/2in (13mm) of all 4 of the new wire, twist them all together and tin well - then solder this to the old wires
4) begin pulling the old wire out from the bottom end of the arm, pulling the new in behind it. Provided that the old wire does not twist around any parts in the arm gimbal, the new wire will slide in when the old is being pulled out (remember, our new wire is teflon coated, so very slippery) and voila! your new wire is in place.
Now just dress the ends and attach the cart clips and your'e done. This has worked for me in three out of the 4 arms I have rewired (the fourth I had to disassemble the old-fasioned way).
Good Luck
Jess
greetings fellas, I found that of all the 8 mice I tore apart all of them the wires seemed to stiff for a unipivvot and yet the first pair of walkman headphones I demolished contained incredibly thin and pliable enamelled twisted copper (6wires per side) which is litz wire by that descriptioon. I know which one I'll be using. It may not be cardas but at that price(free) its badas(s) cheers fergs
The best bang for buck you get by using copper lack wire 0,05mm (normally to wind your own coils has a polyurethan lack coating) this cst about $ 4,-- for 1500 meter and the best way to use it is to pull 4 single strands without any soldered joints from headshell to pre-amp.
I tried this first in my rega 250 (a huge imporvement over stock wire) and later changed it for silver lack wire but that was no improvement, had I known I would have sitcked to the copper version.
Conrad Kupferlackdraht
I tried this first in my rega 250 (a huge imporvement over stock wire) and later changed it for silver lack wire but that was no improvement, had I known I would have sitcked to the copper version.
Conrad Kupferlackdraht
Exactly my feeling. When you find the right one...
I rewired my Grace 714 - a true unipivot (tho not lo-mass) and a very lo-mass DIY design - tracking has been flawless on both.
I guess I just got lucky
Now, this sound's interesting - where do you get this stuff?
I've heard about this approach before - this sounds like the right approach to me too. The fewer connections, the better those little electrons can scurry along to the first gain stage.
Do you need to shield the 4 strands once they exit the tonearm?
Did you twist them into pairs?
Gee, this stuff is fun
Jess
JesseG said:
- Go to www.conrad.com
- Click international or on your country's flag
type : ENAMELLED COPPER WIRE
Press the search icon.
I've twisted them slichtly after exiting the arm but I've put a separate shield around it wich was connected to ground.
ericpeters said:
0.05mm is AWG44, 0.002in for you Stateside folks. I have some AWG42, probably close enough. Really easy to break the strands, perhaps use two strands per circuit and sort them out by ohm check after rewire?
Note that insulation can't be removed by soldering iron with these small wire gauges, I've scraped them with a small knife, any better suggestions?
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