Quick question about tonearm rewiring: is it better to go direct from headshell connector to RCA plug, or is it OK to have an intermediate plug like an arm stem DIN or RCA jacks mounted to the rear of the deck? It seems each may have their advantages and disadvantages. With a direct wire there are no intermediate solder connections and plugs/jacks to degrade the very weak signal, but then one is stuck with one cable of a certain capacitance and sound quality, which may be limiting in the long run. OTOH, having an intermediate connection point allows for ready cable swapping and upgrading if need be, but at the (possible?) expense of degraded sound quality.

Is the latter scenario even an issue, assuming that good quality connectors would be used? Or is a direct-wire that much better, no matter the connector quality of DIN/RCA jacks, and attention should be paid to getting the best cable match from the start?

I'd be interested to hear the experiences and thoughts of anyone who has been through this.

Thanks, and regards,
Svend