rega arm rewire

[Hamish119]

Question, if I disconnect the ground from the left channel and don't reconnect the black wire 9just because I'm lazy) what happens?

I've no idea... Your guess is as valid as mine. Try it.

Don't forget, there may also be an issue with your chosen (but unknown) cartridge.

Both SIGNAL leads (+ & -) from each channel should ideally be an unadulterated (i.e. the SIGNAL leads should NOT be used to provide any other function) twisted pair from the cartridge pins to the amplifier inputs and as short as is practical!

Good Luck!

 

[hazard500]

I've no idea... Your guess is as valid as mine. Try it.

Don't forget, there may also be an issue with your chosen (but unknown) cartridge.

Both SIGNAL leads (+ & -) from each channel should ideally be an unadulterated (i.e. the SIGNAL leads should NOT be used to provide any other function) twisted pair from the cartridge pins to the amplifier inputs and as short as is practical!

Good Luck!

Thanks Hamish. fyi, the catridge mounted in Rega is a ZYX R100. Once I get everything working I will replace it with my ZYX Universe. Neither cartridge has any issues.

Regarding your soapbox comment - I agree 100%. Tonearm wire in MG-1 air bearing arm (mounted on my Lenco) consists of 2 pairs of twisted solid core wire - each conductor is 0.125mm enamelled winding wire (approx 3 feet length). One end of the wire terminates in cartridge clips, the other end of the wire terminates in 3.5mm TRS plugs which plug into the phono stage. When i first installed this straight-through wire in my previous Souther tone arm it made a huge difference. The Souther is a pretty cool arm, but the factory wiring was diabolical, and the RCA jacks on the back of the arm invited all sorts nasty interconnect.

THanks again,
hazard

 

[AndrewT]

The unconnected screen is your 5th wire. Connect your screen to the enclosure at the point of entry.
The screen can connect to the tone arm tube. That electrical connection continues the screen all the way to within an inch of the cartridge. It works best if the 4signal wires are exactly in the middle of the tube.
A 5th wire bundled with the 4 signal wires offers no advantages that I know of.

 

[hazard500]

You most definitely need to modify the 'standard' REGA for balanced operation - see this from here.

WARNING: The following link shows a disturbing image of manufacturer mis-wiring of a tone-arm.
The deliberate connection between the BLUE & BLACK leads is horrific!
The BLACK lead should be extended to the headshell (the missing' 5th wire).

However, the horror doesn't end with the tone-arm wiring.
Many cartridge manufacturers are also guilty of using a SIGNAL pin (usually a - pin) to connect the cartridge body casing to an imaginary ground instead of using the 'missing' 5th wire in the tone-arm.

The 'smarter' manufacturers make it easy to identify and correct their wiring error.

Example - see the source of imbalance on the GREEN signal pin, which should be disconnected from the GREEN pin and connected to the 'missing' 5th wire in the tone-arm.

Good Luck!

EDIT: Every tone-arm should present a minimum of 5 x wires at the headshell (4 x SIGNAL leads + GROUND lead).

Ha ha, as expected, when I eased the plug out of the bottom of the arm pillar, the internal wires snapped off at the solder joint. Oh well, it was a good excuse to re-wire the complete arm. Two twisted pairs, continuous piece of wire from the cartridge pins to TRS jack (pre-amp input). I manged to save the earth wire, I have soldered an extension onto it but at the moment it is just floating around behind the turntable. my pre-amp is battery powered so not connected to earth at all.

Good news - everything works perfectly. There is wonderful music coming out of my balanced pre-amp, my cartridge is only 0.2mV - and no hum to speak of. So the floating eath wire is not causing any problems.

Thanks Hamish, I've got music again and I'm happy.

 

[Hamish119]

Ha ha, as expected, when I eased the plug out of the bottom of the arm pillar, the internal wires snapped off at the solder joint.

When I attempted to remove the 'shorting' copper strap from the BLUE terminal, both the BLACK & BLUE tone-arm leads flew off, but the strap remained...

Anyhoo, I removed the strap and re-orientated it so that the 'tail' was perfectly centred on the flat section of the plastic plug and it's now in perfect alignment with the grub screw. I re-attached the BLUE lead to its terminal and connected the BLACK lead to the (perfectly aligned) copper strap.

Incidentally, the other end of the BLACK lead is connected to a 'boat anchor' between the counter-weight and bearing. It can (normally) be seen if the counter-weight spigot is removed.

...it was a good excuse to re-wire the complete arm. Two twisted pairs, continuous piece of wire from the cartridge pins to TRS jack (pre-amp input).

It's 'a bummer' that a reasonably competent tone-arm is compromised by sub-standard wiring practice.

Enjoy!