What are good options for re-wiring an SME 3009 tone arm?

@d-vinyl-3009

Thank you so much! The audiokarma thread is very informative. My biggest fear has been reconnecting the ground (black) wire inside the arm tube using that little floating nut! Gluing the nut to the cable eyelet makes sense.

The Vinyl Source claims the capacitance of their full-length Litz cable is too low for them to measure. This length is the tone-arm plus one metre. They supply a strain block to replace the SME DIN block.

If I just replace the tone arm cabling, I would prefer to keep the SME DIN block and the original DIN block to RCA connector block cable, which is where those two connection points are located in each wire! This is using the engineering principle "if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it".

I started down this path because the original SME head-shell connectors have oxidised and I broke one from its wire.  Looks as if they are tinned copper, not the gold plated items common today!

In general, I am not a fan of spending big money on cables, but I reckon the tone arm cable should be the most important in the whole reproduction chain for vinyl playback.

Yes, the original SME tinned connectors were not that great and SME of Canada actually are on the side of removing those old SME DIN block connectors. Their postion on it, was that "the best type of connection, is no connection at all". 

That appears to be why SME of Canada and some other rewire services. Remove the SME DIN Block connectors and rewire out fully to the RCA connectors. Using custom designed cable stand off and strain relief systems.

On my side of it, after first having the SME Canada setup. I heard about what Analog Tube Audio was doing tonearm rebuild wise and internal silver cabling wise.

So, when I decided to rebuild and upgrade my beloved TD-124 turntable. I had them rebuild by SME 3009 S2 tonearm, install silver wiring and add in the RCA conversion kit setup. 

I went this way, as cables do matter to me and I wanted option to change out RCA cabling, as needed based on my system configuration (which does change), using my desired cable builder and needed cable length.

I found this at SME Tonearm Rewiring : SME Tonearms, SME 3009 Turntable Parts Templates & Manuals

It is on the side of the fewer connectors the better.  They seem to use Cardas Litz wire and charge GBP-400 for a complete rebuild:  The following is from their website:

"There are so called professional / expert SME rewiring services both here in North America & in Europe that will try to sell you on the idea that by pulling a piece of wire through the arm tube & replacing the vintage SME lower four pin horizontal DIN connector with an RCA termination will solve all your problems.

"All we can say to this is, that is nonsense & pure lies.

"This is nothing more than the easy way out, involving the least possible amount of work & the highest possible profit. This is basically a $49.00 rewiring job. Anyone that even knows the most basic amount about electronics & sensitive audio components will clearly tell you that the best type of connection is no connection at all.

"All these alleged professionals are doing for you is swapping one problem for another problem.  We on the other hand believe that the correct solution to the problem is the more difficult and time consuming road. No one else in the world employs two independent continuous runs of 4 X 33 fully RF shielded wire further encapsulated in an additional outer fully shielded RF jacket.  We actually use almost 10 feet / 3.04 Meters of 4 X 33 to accomplish a 4.25 feet/ 1.25 Meter run of cable.

"Our custom bottom end completely eliminates the original SME bottom end.
With our custom stand off and strain relief system all mess & clutter on the bottom of the tonearm are eliminated.  And miracle of miracles, there is no longer a connection point there ...
"By employing the system we have perfected over more than twenty one years, you will achieve far greater sonic improvements than by just pulling a wire through the arm wand , sticking a set of RCA connectors on the bottom of the existing SME screening can and buying a $1,000.00 phono interconnect cable to run from the bottom of the tower to your phono preamp.

Don’t forget to replace the rubber sleeve that isolates the rear counterweight portion from the front portion of the arm. Your new wire will need to pass thru it.

IF you can handle the super delicate Litz Wire, eliminating connections seems advantageous, but the whole world has been listening with those and many other wire types/cables/connectors/devices in play very happily.

I started with Litz, soldered,

thus the arm is ’captured’, which is why I located the Junction Box temporarily on the armboard, then moved the box to the rear edge of the plinth when in place.

as the arm pivots, the Litz wire moves a bit, in my case it rubbed against the edge of a hole it passed thru, delicate silk insulation wore off, Hum developed,

I changed to Steve Leung of VAS’s favorite tonearm wire/VPI mini-din/RCA Junction box. I can remove the arm board and tonearm with a simple disconnect.

more here Litz Wire Fun

I did not hear any difference between former Litz, and whatever Steve used, I can still hear the differences between my and my friend’s cartridges.

I think you would hear preferred differences if you tried a MC cartridge. I avoided them (they all were noisy when I was younger) stuck with MM until I decided to redo everything in 2019 which is when I got help here and put my MC/SUT/Vintage MM Phono in McIntosh mx110z chain together.

The phono cable in the pics is Ortofon, RCA to RCA, they have DIN version ...

Ortofon $315. phono cable

strongly recommended by New Art Vinyl, maker of the long black tonearm. Frankly, it doesn’t sound any different to me or my friends than the $6. cheapo phono cable from Amazon I was using while waiting for it.

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As an aside, a different arm with easily adjusted arm height? Azimuth adjustment? Internal silver wire?

I had 3009 and liked it on my Thorens TD124. I installed two Micro Seiki 505S arms, silver wire (long and short versions) on my friend’s Luxman PD444 two arm TT. I like that arm a lot!!!! It has a height adjustable base similar to my Acos Lustre GST-801, loosen, up or dn, tighten by hand. As a matter of fact, I prefer the Acos or the Micro to the SME. The Micro Seiki also has an adjustable collet for the removable headshell, so easy to adjust Azimuth.