Rega 700 rewire

As far as I can tell, the 700 uses the same wiring as the models lower in the line. Thus, would benefit from higher quality wiring.

I agree with Raul. I have rewired my ET2 three times over the years; cartridge clips to phono input jacks, in one continuous run. The Cardas is good, but to my ears considerably behind the Discovery and the Audionote. The Audionote is what I used for the most recent rewire, and it is far and away the best of the four (I include the original Vandenhul silver/copper wire). The improvements in the areas of tonal refinement, detail, openness of the soundstage, and overall clarity were amazing. I can't recommend this wire enough; it is fantastic. $290 for 1.5 meters, with cartridge clips attached.

Suggestion: If you decide to try the AN, it's main disadvantage can be turned into a big advantage. The wire is so thin that it is tricky to work with. However, because it is so thin, you could run the wire externally, and leave your arm's original wiring intact. The extra "drag" of the wire's loop around the arms bearing (external), is completely negligible. Attach your own RCA's and you are good to go. I have never had issues with shielding when using MC cartridges. With MM's, shielding became necessary. If you really want to "guild the lily", skip the RCA's altogether, and solder the wire directly to the input trace on the pre's board, or at least to the back of the input jacks inside the preamp. You will be amazed.

Where does Rega mention that the wiring in the rb-700 is improved over the models lower in the line? According to the Rega website, in their description of the tonearms, only the rb-1000 is mentioned as having improved wiring.

I have to respectfully, and strongly, disagree with the above posters on the merits of improved wiring for this arm. Even if the wiring is "improved", I doubt that it would be of the quality of the Cardas, never mind the AN. Also, remember that the improvement is derived not only from the improvement in the raw quality of the wire, but also, and possibly even more importantly, from the elimination of several solder joints along the signal's path, by going directly to the phono input jacks.

IME, the improvements from eliminating all those solder joints along the path of the very fragile low-level signal, were revelatory. Nonetheless, you have a fine arm as is, enjoy it.

Can't advise you re the hum issue, but be carefull re the Grado's output and the EAR. If your Grado's output is .5mv, you will have a problem with the EAR's 500 ohm input impedance in MC mode. If you have the 5mv version of the cartridge you are OK, in MM mode.