Techie arm - rewire and lining

[eldarvanyar]

I am thinking of rewiring my SL1200 arm abs see that KAB in the USA sell a Tone Arm Wand liner for the Technics SL1200 arm.




‘If you drop the arm wand onto a table it will bounce several times. I tried cotton, then PVC lining, and yes even outer heatshrink tubing, and none would stop the arm from bouncing. Then I tried this unique 0.032"thin wall super soft rubber tubing. It weighs only 3 grams, and changes the the arm force setting by only one half gram. It slips easily into the arm wand and fits like a glove. And now, when you drop the arm on a table, it just stops dead, no bouncing. It really is quite remarkable.’

I wonder if a silicone tube of eBay would do the same job. Ha anyone else done this and used an alternative to the KAB tube?

I can order from KAB but just wary of ordering from USA at the moment as postage and duties often outweigh the benefits.

What size tube would you recommend?

Thanks

[worrasf]

See my post on rewiring the Technics arm: https://theartofsound.net/forum/show...-faint-hearted

You will see I chose to use cotton wadding which is what KAB used to use. TBH I have no idea if it makes any difference or not.
When I did the project a few months ago shipping time from KAB was in excess of 2 weeks. Likely to be longer now.

Best of luck with the rewire - it certainly concentrates the mind!

Steve

[eldarvanyar]

Thanks Steve,
I have watched a few YouTube videos and think it is doable.
It’s seems That this is one of the most notable mods for the techie making the biggest difference.

[worrasf]

No worries Lee - definitely doable it's just that it's all to easy to loose one of the wires inside the arm tube or worse in the depths of the arm pillar.
I never compared the before an after sounds as I went straight to the rewire as part of the whole TT refurb but yes, it is reckoned to be well worthwhile - not least as all the standard arm wires will now be pretty old.

Hope it all goes well

[eldarvanyar]

I have bought this kit of eBay for the rewiring it will enable the option to use different RCA cables.

It uses silver Litz wires

Each wire is a 7 strand Litz Construction.

Each strand is 0.1mm of 99.999% Pure silver, soft annealed wire giving it a 0.5 mm diameter and is insulated with high quality Teflon and PTFE sleeving. The cable its self is manufactured in one of the most stringently governed factories in the world which supplies and manufactures wiring sets for many of the worlds top end audio companies. Using the most uptown date manufacturing processes of its kind,

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/REMOVABLE....m46890.l49286






Before I embark on it I am thinking of installing a linear PSU at the same time whilst it is disassembled. So it will have to wait a bit before fitting.


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[337alant]

I just rewired my Techy 1200 stock arm with Cardas wire from TT through the arm to head shell and Klotz MC5000 from TT to the phono stage, a very worthwhile improvement IMO, cleaner, more dynamic range and more musical that the Rega RB250 and Origin live arm board I had in there.
I didn't use the pull through method I dismantled the arm bearings and arm tube so I could replace the arm tube ground lead.
Be careful when soldering the wire bundle to the head shell mount, as per the video ref above, fit a head shell into the mounting and I used a heat shunt whilst soldering so as not to damage the fragile springs.
I also wrapped the harness with a double layer of gas thick version PTFE tape for the section in the arm tube
Alan

[worrasf]

Good job Lee -

I agree the tonearm rewire brings a huge improvement to the standard arm.

I got my "stock" SL1210 up an running yesterday with a Sumiko Amethyst and I think it sounds bloody great - and not a million miles away from my ultimate modded SL1210.
Now you have done the big job on the rewire IMO the only other worthwhile upgrade is to add a KAB fluid damper. There's actually one on eBay at the moment (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304352110...0AAOSwYSNiBNQm).
With those 2 mods I reckon the standard arm will more than hold it's own with more expensive ones.

Steve