Mission 774 arm rewire

[Bigman80]

Hi,

Had a few spare hours this evening so I thought I'd have a go at rewiring my spare wand.

Never done it before so it's a maiden voyage into the unknown

I'll keep it short but sweet



Popped the sticker off with a sharp Stanley blade
M

Removed old wiring and fished an on guitar string through.

Made a hook at the end then soldered the new wires together at on end

Pulled the new wire through



Colour coded them with felt pens. 99.9999% silver in silk.

Added some Cardas cartridge clips



Fished the earth wire to the headshell

Terminated the other ends into the 4 pin connector



I connected the ground to the r- wire as the original wiring diagram shows. Didn't have enough wire to go to the base plate which is a shame

Still need to connect the earth/ground at the headshell and put the sticker back on.

If this works it'll be a miracle lol



Enjoyed trying though.

[Bigman80]

Should mention, I flat braided the wire because I had no ability to litz braid.

[walpurgis]

There are arguments that any cable/wiring weave should be pretty random and somewhat loose and that anything looking like a tidy braid is not the way to go. Check it out.

[Oldpinkman]

If this thread had existed 2 years ago life could have been so different. I took mine to a friend to do and ended up with a funk f5 instead because he had no time, and found aos googling for information about the f5.

Actually, having written that, I'm being daft. Without failing to rewire a 774 I would never have discovered hifi forums

[Bigman80]

There are arguments that any cable/wiring weave should be pretty random and somewhat loose and that anything looking like a tidy braid is not the way to go. Check it out.

I've seen a few pages worth of info on braids. One says don't flat braid, one says dont litz braid and others say it should or shouldn't be braided at all. The braid is only from the tube exit to plug so if it isn't right or sounds poor it can all be undone or redone or shielded etc. Very much a suck-it-and-see type of situation.

[Bigman80]

If this thread had existed 2 years ago life could have been so different. I took mine to a friend to do and ended up with a funk f5 instead because he had no time, and found aos googling for information about the f5.

Actually, having written that, I'm being daft. Without failing to rewire a 774 I would never have discovered hifi forums

F5, from what I've read, is a fantastic arm but I've taken what dowser did on pink fish forum. I only attempted this because of the thread he put on there.

It's all about sharing !!!

[Oldpinkman]

Oh don't get me wrong - I was very happy with the F5 and even more so the opportunity to upgrade to FXR. If not I would have insisted on getting my 774 back and finding someone else to rewire it. Might even have found your thread and given it a go (things moved slowly back then)

But the 774 is a class act, well worth rewiring and keeping if you don't have a lazy (busy) mate with F5's to give away .

I used mine for around 15 years, and it has no faults in my view. Just a few things can be done a bit better by more costly arms.

[Bigman80]

I love it so far. A very solid, tight and full of good tone. Not getting the best out of it yet but hopefully the new cartridges will be here soon !!!!! Looking forward to trying the rewired wand out too, providing I can finish it today......

[Bigman80]

So the arm is done, on and sounding ridiculously good. I may have soldered R+ and L+ onto the wrong pin but that's an easy fix

I have to say the Shure M75ej now sounds rather good

Shimmering cymbals and the bass in now kicking the speakers off the wall. Can't believe the difference in clarity and space.

It's a massive difference compared to the stock wiring. Need to do the other one now !

[walpurgis]

All coming along famously then Oli. Looks good!

Here's a tip. Look out for a genuine NOS Shure M75ED II stylus (if you can find one) or the Jico equivalent. I can't speak for the Jico item, as I've not used one, but the reports on these are very favourable. With the M75ED II stylus there'll be a noticeable step up in sound quality, with more detail depth and clarity and likely better tracking. The tracking downforce is lower too. It's a straight swap for the EJ item.