What cable for connecting a tonearm with.

Love it or hate it, it just won't stop
vinylnvalves
Old Hand
Posts: 1074
Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2013 12:08 pm

#1 What cable for connecting a tonearm with.

Post by vinylnvalves »

I have in a moment of self indulgence- acquired a Nottingham Analogue “Anna” tone arm. Unfortunately the previous owner shortened the phono cable, so it’s not long enough for me. Before I contact Penny at NA, I thought I would see what other cables, are used to connect upto your phonostage. The current one is a single core, soldered onto the live and the screen onto the ground. Looks easy enough to replace.

As I use MM cartridges as well as MC’s - I need to watch the capacitance. I was looking at Mogami 2549, or blue jeans LC1. Any hidden gems that I should be aware of.

Steve
Ant
Shed dweller
Posts: 2332
Joined: Mon Jul 31, 2017 6:45 pm
Location: Yorkshire

#2 Re: What cable for connecting a tonearm with.

Post by Ant »

I just use what came with the arm apart from the arm i made which didnt come with one....
I bought a vinyl adventure (i think) cable for that because i couldnt be arsed to make one. That one uses van damm xke cable, sounds fine. The air bearing arm uses some cables i made up using van damm xke, the same type of cable as the bought one. Sounds fine.
The 3009 has some nondescript cables plugged into a phono conversion i did to it, sounds fine
But i am a cheap sod who wont buy cables

I did want some mogami cable to make a cable up because of the relatively low pf but never got round to it

The airprodigy has an at33sa in it, the rest have moving magnets in them, i havent noticed any issues with too much pf, not to say i wouldn't with less though
Also starring Rex Hamilton as Abraham Lincoln

www.bte-designs.weebly.com
User avatar
IslandPink
Amstrad Tower of Power
Posts: 10041
Joined: Tue May 29, 2007 7:01 pm
Location: Denbigh, N.Wales

#3 Re: What cable for connecting a tonearm with.

Post by IslandPink »

I can't offer anything definitive, I think it's a very good question.
I had a pair of 'better' cables made up for the Mayware, with a nice gold plated DIN connector, to replace the short, tatty SME ones that were on there, but they weren't quite as good. I'm still using the old ones but with some better RCAs.
I remember asking Colin Wonfor but he didn't have anything made up for that job - shame.
So I'll be interested to hear what people say. The signal levels are really small , so I think it's really sensitive to construction.
"Once you find out ... the Circumstances ; then you can go out"
vinylnvalves
Old Hand
Posts: 1074
Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2013 12:08 pm

#4 Re: What cable for connecting a tonearm with.

Post by vinylnvalves »

Thanks - Looked at the van damm xke cable, slightly higher pf/m than those I was looking at. The blue jeans LC 1 is the lowest I have seen at 57 pf/m. Strangely I can buy it off Amazon in a 4m pair... It needs to be a smallish diameter so it will fit into the clamp in the base of the tonearm.
What other than low capacitance matters, insulator, FEP/PTFE or PVC? Maybe I will see what the exotic cables claim and if there is any common trends.
Ant
Shed dweller
Posts: 2332
Joined: Mon Jul 31, 2017 6:45 pm
Location: Yorkshire

#5 Re: What cable for connecting a tonearm with.

Post by Ant »

I did use some bandridge 4 core mic cable for that modded rb251 i had which was quite nice, that fit nicely into a din plug. Each core to a pin and the screen braid to the ground pin in the plug and a flying lead off the braid at the other end with a croc clip to clip to the earth post on the phono stage
That was reasonably low capacitance cable but i was abit leery of the cores being so close together
Also starring Rex Hamilton as Abraham Lincoln

www.bte-designs.weebly.com
User avatar
IslandPink
Amstrad Tower of Power
Posts: 10041
Joined: Tue May 29, 2007 7:01 pm
Location: Denbigh, N.Wales

#6 Re: What cable for connecting a tonearm with.

Post by IslandPink »

Yes. I suspect litz wire matters, as it seems to in both interconnects and speaker wires - but not all phono cable is litz.
There are trade-offs between what you can use in the armtube and what's best for the external cable, just in term of robustness.

Stop press ( Ant ) - what Johnny made up for me was some sort of Mic cable, but it wasn't quite as good as the old stuff that was on there.
"Once you find out ... the Circumstances ; then you can go out"
Daniel Quinn
Old Hand
Posts: 859
Joined: Thu Jan 05, 2017 9:19 am

#7 Re: What cable for connecting a tonearm with.

Post by Daniel Quinn »

i used to use a roksan tabiizi .from cartridge clip to rca there are four joins in the cable. i swapped this for a diy one with no joins between cartridge clip and rca.

i was convinced it sounded superior. im still not sure, but i now use the one rega provide.

im more sceptical that an external cable can make a difference , on ebay there are some good ones for about £50 and a siver wire for about £150. if rega made the cable interchangeable i would get one of those
vinylnvalves
Old Hand
Posts: 1074
Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2013 12:08 pm

#8 Re: What cable for connecting a tonearm with.

Post by vinylnvalves »

Yes the arm has 3joints in the signal path, with the middle one being a soldered joint. I will replicate this, I don't see a properly soldered joint has the same level of degradation as din or sme connector. So I will be just soldering on a longer cable. Isn't the Rega cable just a plug with the tonearm wires soldered to the cable? I did a long time ago make a one piece cable, where I removed strands where it went into the arm
and then lacquered the remaining few strands to insulate them. Did it make a difference - not to my ears at the time.
Ant
Shed dweller
Posts: 2332
Joined: Mon Jul 31, 2017 6:45 pm
Location: Yorkshire

#9 Re: What cable for connecting a tonearm with.

Post by Ant »

A stock rega has a its external cabling moulded into a plastic 'plug' that fits into the arm pillar base and is retained by a grub screw. That plug has some metal pins set in it that the arm tube wiring is then soldered to. The cheaper regas then have another set of joints where the cart pins are. The wiring with the cart pins on that comes out of the end of the tube is about 30mm long and is soldered to the thin 'proper' arm tube wiring inside the tube behind a little rubber plug that sits in the end of the arm tube

The early tabriz i have has the cart pins soldered to the internal wiring as normal, then the din socket, the exterior cable has the din plug molded on and the plugs molded on.
It looks identical to the cable that came with my audio technica at1100, roksan probably bought an off the shelf cable in and offered their own cable as an upgrade
Also starring Rex Hamilton as Abraham Lincoln

www.bte-designs.weebly.com
User avatar
Ali Tait
Eternally single
Posts: 4374
Joined: Fri Jun 08, 2007 8:10 pm
Location: Galashiels

#10 Re: What cable for connecting a tonearm with.

Post by Ali Tait »

Jonny rewired my 774 with Ikeda silver wire, that made an obvious improvement to my ears. Might say more about the existing cable than anything else though.
User avatar
IslandPink
Amstrad Tower of Power
Posts: 10041
Joined: Tue May 29, 2007 7:01 pm
Location: Denbigh, N.Wales

#11 Re: What cable for connecting a tonearm with.

Post by IslandPink »

OK, but did that include the outer cables ?
"Once you find out ... the Circumstances ; then you can go out"
User avatar
Ali Tait
Eternally single
Posts: 4374
Joined: Fri Jun 08, 2007 8:10 pm
Location: Galashiels

#12 Re: What cable for connecting a tonearm with.

Post by Ali Tait »

No, went with a Yannis from the block.
vinylnvalves
Old Hand
Posts: 1074
Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2013 12:08 pm

#13 Re: What cable for connecting a tonearm with.

Post by vinylnvalves »

The Yannis Tome cables look interesting.. not badly priced. Will have to see if he would supply one without the din connector. The silver core isn’t a bad price, considering the cost of starline connectors. I am surprised Mark didn’t mention him, must be the other Audiophile in Wales :D
User avatar
Ali Tait
Eternally single
Posts: 4374
Joined: Fri Jun 08, 2007 8:10 pm
Location: Galashiels

#14 Re: What cable for connecting a tonearm with.

Post by Ali Tait »

He will do specials, he made mine up with the Molex connector the 774 uses that I sent to him.
User avatar
Toppsy
Shed dweller
Posts: 2400
Joined: Mon Jul 23, 2007 12:10 pm
Location: red rose country

#15 Re: What cable for connecting a tonearm with.

Post by Toppsy »

Many moons ago I got very good improved sound quality when I rewired a SME 3009mkII are with some of this https://www.hificollective.co.uk/wire/a ... -wire.html In fact I posted the review that is linked to on the web page.

The only downside I found was it's a right bugger to use being so thin and seems to be rather expensive today compared to other noted and recommended brands.
Post Reply