Hello. I just snapped one of my tone arm wires on a Rega RB600. Can anyone recomend a reasonable priced wire to use to re wire with please? I`ve seen the comercial cables and they seem a bit expensive for a DIY`er like myself.
Thanks
Chris
Thanks
Chris
If you pre-colour-code the ends you can use fine(*) ECW (magnet wire), couldn't be cheaper. Downside is the insulation is very thin and might abrade over time. So perhaps too cheap...
Avoid the shielded stuff or teflon coated, an overall shield is orders of magnitude too stiff for a tonearm as stiffness goes up with the 4th power of diameter, teflon insulation is also super-stiff (and also microphonic). Separate litz wires are probably optimal and not super expensive.
(*) Such as 36AWG, 40SWG, 0.12mm diam.
Avoid the shielded stuff or teflon coated, an overall shield is orders of magnitude too stiff for a tonearm as stiffness goes up with the 4th power of diameter, teflon insulation is also super-stiff (and also microphonic). Separate litz wires are probably optimal and not super expensive.
(*) Such as 36AWG, 40SWG, 0.12mm diam.
Yes, also good suggestions. I second the recommendation to stay away from Teflon coating. The stuff Kevin sells is silicone insulated and extremely flexible. I have used with great success in some very expensive tonearms. Personally I stay away from silver also. Very expensive, in litz versions, and often more INflexible (speaking from experience) More expensive isn't always better. Main characteristics for good arm wire are ultraflexibility and good conductivity in a litz wire to mitigate the skin effect on small signal.
I assume you'll replace all wires in the Rega arm. Rega wires are a bit of a weak spot on an otherwise superb arm. If you need a guide for rewiring a Rega arm, drop me a note and I'll send you one.
I`m probably going to go with the KAB super flex. It may not be silver or have fancy marketing but it looks like the easiest one to use for a beginner!!
Hi, I have used this wire with some success, It should also give you an upgrade in S/Q as Rega internal wire is not very good.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/254174798518?hash=item3b2dffa2b6:g:-AYAAOSwCqZclngj
Cheers
https://www.ebay.com/itm/254174798518?hash=item3b2dffa2b6:g:-AYAAOSwCqZclngj
Cheers
The skin effect is completely irrelevant here, its the flexibility of litz that's valuable. At 20kHz the skin depth of copper is about 0.5mm, far thicker than any tonearm wire. Litz strands' insulation provides a low friction separation between them, making it more flexible than standard multistrand wire. Coupled with avoiding the need for any other insulation layer this is a big benefit in flexibility.
I'd be curious to understand why skin effect isn't relevant in this application. Not disagreeing, just wanting to understand. thanks.
If I needed tonearm wire, the KAB 40 strands # 50 ga seems a good deal....It's optimized for max flexibility construction.....Not for optimum audiophile skin effect loss issues.....Lowest loss audiophile skin effect optimized Litz wire would be much larger gauge & unacceptably stiff....