Clearaudio universal tonearm re-wire.

@mijostyn There is no compelling reason to rewire my tonearms while they are presently intact. That’s just a waste of money and time. They are fine for now. If the leads break I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it, in which case I’ll probably just have my dealer take care of getting it to Clearaudio for official rewire.

The good news for me is I have two Universal arms, one with a stereo cartridge and one with a mono. If I am without one of the arms for a while then I can do without using my mono cartridge while I wait for return of a repaired arm, if and when that happens.

@mijostyn I know you like to tinker and figure out how to take things apart and fix them. I think that’s awesome, but I'm really not much of a DIY person myself, although I know my way around my bicycles well enough. I really have no desire to try and pull wires through the tonearm myself, or even solder cartridge leads. I’ll leave that to the pros.

On the Universal, there is no DIN connector on the arm anywhere. It is truly a direct wire from the head shell leads all the way to the RCA connectors at the phono-stage. There are no connectors along the way. I can understand why Clearaudio does it that way. It likely has sonic advantages. If for no other reason it may keep the tonearm cable capacitance as low as possible (~240pF they tell me), which has an advantage for setting lower cartridge loading for better performance.

LITZ WIRE FUN

Tonearm Arrives, I had no idea what Litz Wire was.

silk covered litz, 37 tiny strands each. tag each wire with colored tape

Strip Silk Covering, pet the silk in vertical movements, Silver Solder to Junction Box

 

Tonearm Installed! Aren’t I a Brave Warrior!

Later, a Cartridge Clip breaks, Prep to Repair

Used Instant Vinyl for Insulation of reattached clip

 

Later, Insulation Wears Off at bottom pivot, VAS Rewires, converts to VPI mini-din

Luckily I had a 3 Year Square Trade Warranty, they reimbursed me in full.

......................................................

Because of me, Maker has revised the design, ready for din connector

http://newartvinyl.ru/board/detali_proigryvatelja/tonarm_black_bird12_5_5pin/7-1-0-53

a few more details

https://www.audiogon.com/systems/11186

 

@dwette 

Ah, a cyclist, the best way to exercise and see the world. The wife and I climbed the Stelvio a few years back and we went romping through the Dolomites, Fausto Coppi's mountains, "Mi Dolomiti." Couldn't do it now. I'm afraid age has got the better of me.

My Schroder arm does the same thing, one wire from clips to XLRs. It is actually easier to rewire the arm that way. I have converted several SMEs. 

@mijostyn I’m 65 and still cycle about 5600 miles year. I don’t plan to slow down, although the last months have been on hold after a motorist in May decided their iPhone was more important than my safety. I’m just getting back to riding after several injuries. :(

They also destroyed my bike, but I have a new Moots on order. :)