Internal Tonearm Wiring

[Andrei]

I am looking to rewire the internal wiring on my Jelco 750D. It already has decent copper wire but I would like to rewire it with a top quality silver wire. Any suggestions?

[SquireC]

I suggest you contact Johnnie at Audio Origami for advice.

http://www.audioorigami.co.uk/
:)

[Reffc]

I am looking to rewire the internal wiring on my Jelco 750D. It already has decent copper wire but I would like to rewire it with a top quality silver wire. Any suggestions?

If it's perfectly decent copper wiring, best advice would be to leave well alone. Changing conductor types doesn't give you anything better, just a lot of money for a different conductor. The signal is going into a high impedance gain stage input so any very minor changes in resistivity will be completely inaudible and negligible. Save your money towards a cartridge upgrade. It would be money far better spent and where you will at least notice audible improvements.

The only time I'd advise wiring improvements is where older non ofc wiring may have corroded, especially at joints, or where wiring and insulation are relatively speaking too bulky for complete free movement of the arm in which case a very fine litz wire replacement is often a good idea. Copper is fine. Why people pay unfathomable premiums for silver wire (which by the way is cheap as chips by the metre wholesale bought in reels) is just another audio con imho.

[walpurgis]

Ah. Well I'm about to rewire one of my Mission 774 arm wands with gold plated silver Litz and silver plated tags to see how that sounds. It wasn't dear to buy and as I've been impressed with the way 'pure' silver interconnects sound, I thought I'd try it. I'm also thinking of making up silver signal leads from the arm too. Single core in thin teflon sleeves and a braid screen over them (with a braid fabric sleeve over that). It may or may not offer an improvement. I shall report back.

[Ammonite Audio]

If it's perfectly decent copper wiring, best advice would be to leave well alone. Changing conductor types doesn't give you anything better, just a lot of money for a different conductor. The signal is going into a high impedance gain stage input so any very minor changes in resistivity will be completely inaudible and negligible. Save your money towards a cartridge upgrade. It would be money far better spent and where you will at least notice audible improvements.

The only time I'd advise wiring improvements is where older non ofc wiring may have corroded, especially at joints, or where wiring and insulation are relatively speaking too bulky for complete free movement of the arm in which case a very fine litz wire replacement is often a good idea. Copper is fine. Why people pay unfathomable premiums for silver wire (which by the way is cheap as chips by the metre wholesale bought in reels) is just another audio con imho.

Bit of a sweeping statement there. Tom (Montesquieu) had his Jelco re-wired with silver by Johnnie and reported that it was worth doing.

[Reffc]

Just honest advice to be ignored or taken and just my opinion, but what do I know ;). Sweeping statements are more generalisations, and it would be dishonest to suggest that changing a conductor type will be a massive upgrade. That is more a sweeping statement. A cart upgrade however usually proves beyond all reasonable doubt to be a sensible upgrade, all things considered but people are free to spend and hear what they want.

[belloire]

problem is you're not going to get much of an upgrade to a benz wood for £250........

i'd recommend J7 at audio origami too. top man :)

[awkwardbydesign]

Whatever you use, I would suggest you pay attention to microphony. There can be enough energy being generated by the cartridge to make this matter, which is why some people try to stop the wires moving within the arm, or at least damp any movement. See also triboelectric effect.
Enjoy! :D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triboelectric_effect also http://www.trifield.com/content/tribo-electric-series/

[Andrei]

Just honest advice to be ignored or taken ...
Of course not ignored. Maybe not acted upon for whatever reason but certainly not ignored. I am not without doubt because in one instance I replaced the Copper Oyaide (external) tonearm wire with with silver wire from Yannis and I am not sure there was any change. As against that in other places I have replaced various copper interconnects with silver and in those cases there was an improvement in the quality of sound.

[CornishPasty]

I've never known anyone spend money on an upgrade and not hear an improvement. It would be embarrassing if they didn't ;)

[Marco]

The other thing to consider here is that there is silver and there is SILVER - not all are equal, and purity plays a big part on the results of any potential sonic upgrade, over the use of good quality copper. Unfortunately, high-purity silver doesn’t come cheap…

IME, there is also an intrinsic ‘silver sound’ and an intrinsic ‘copper sound’, when applied to tonearm wiring or interconnects, and everyone will have their preference as to what sounds ‘right’ to their ears. Much is also system dependent, where in some instances it can a good idea to use a mixture of both. Yes, sometimes, you *can* have too much of a ‘good thing’! ;)

I agree with Paul, in the sense that solid-silver cable is by no means universally a ‘magic bullet’, and that sound-per-pound wise, a judicious cartridge upgrade will usually reap greater rewards than ANY cable upgrade.

Marco.

[struth]

I was told that silver plated cable was best

[walpurgis]

I was told that silver plated cable was best

Depends, very much. Some silver plated cables sound horrible. Dunno why, but they do. Try using QED Silver Anniversary speaker cable and you'll see what I mean. The stuff positively screeches at you. Nasty!!

[awkwardbydesign]

I've never known anyone spend money on an upgrade and not hear an improvement. It would be embarrassing if they didn't ;)

Well, you don't know me, but I have! I've done enough of them over the years and some worked and some didn't. Especially internal "upgrades" of components.

[petrat]

I was told that silver plated cable was best

:nono:

IME :no:

[Marco]

I was told that silver plated cable was best

It could be, in the right system, but it’s not something I’d generally recommend, as it has the tendency to sound bright (as indeed Geoff has highlighted). I’d go with either solid copper or solid silver instead.

TBH, unless the silver cable is *really* good quality, solid copper cables usually sound best. The other thing too is, as the old saying goes, it’s not what you’ve got but how you use it! Therefore, how cables are shielded, screened and assembled in general, is usually of more importance, sonically, than the influence of conductor material itself.

Marco.

[struth]

Well it got a response :eyebrows: :lol: think all mine are ofc.. good enough for my needs and this way i can keep the siller in me pocket:D

i'll get me coat!