I have have a couple of questions regarding cabling and connections. At
the risk of getting some daft and conflicting answers, here goes...

First, I've bought an old Technics SL-1800 off eBay, which I'm very
happy with, but I was wondering if it's desirable/possible to upgrade
the interconnect cable. This is a hard wired cable on this, as seems to
be the way with turntables, but the one on there is very old, and
looking a bit tired.

I shall be using a nice thick interconnect between the Phono amp and the
main amp (only has Aux input), and of course with gold plated
connectors. But this almost seems a waste if the turntable connectors
are old and tarnished.

Second, I've got a pair of Castle Severns, and also some reasonable
cable (6mm for the bass, and 4mm for the treble), and got some gold
plated banana plugs for the connections to the speakers (the amp in
screw clamp only). The banana plugs are the screw type, but is it worth
bothering to solder them on as well?

Cheers.

--
Andy Hewitt
http://www.thehewitts.eclipse.co.uk/Home.html

In article ,
Andy Hewitt wrote:
First, I've bought an old Technics SL-1800 off eBay, which I'm very
happy with, but I was wondering if it's desirable/possible to upgrade
the interconnect cable. This is a hard wired cable on this, as seems to
be the way with turntables, but the one on there is very old, and
looking a bit tired.

I shall be using a nice thick interconnect between the Phono amp and the
main amp (only has Aux input), and of course with gold plated
connectors. But this almost seems a waste if the turntable connectors
are old and tarnished.

Pickup wiring - because of the high source impedance on MM types - is one
of the few cases where changing the cable can make a real difference to
the sound. So you really need to use similar spec cable to the original -
and of the same length.

But a better way is to build in a pre-amp at the turntable with a low
impedance output so interconnect cables have no effect.

--
*No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver,purple

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article ,
Andy Hewitt wrote:
First, I've bought an old Technics SL-1800 off eBay, which I'm very
happy with, but I was wondering if it's desirable/possible to upgrade
the interconnect cable. This is a hard wired cable on this, as seems to
be the way with turntables, but the one on there is very old, and
looking a bit tired.

I shall be using a nice thick interconnect between the Phono amp and the
main amp (only has Aux input), and of course with gold plated
connectors. But this almost seems a waste if the turntable connectors
are old and tarnished.

Pickup wiring - because of the high source impedance on MM types - is one
of the few cases where changing the cable can make a real difference to
the sound. So you really need to use similar spec cable to the original -
and of the same length.

Hmm, right. Does that include the cable from the preamp to the main amp
too?

But a better way is to build in a pre-amp at the turntable with a low
impedance output so interconnect cables have no effect.

I don't think there's an easy way to do that, although I could shorten
the leads from the deck to the preamp (I have a new one coming with no
built in leads), and then run longer leads to the main amp from there.

--
Andy Hewitt
http://www.thehewitts.eclipse.co.uk/Home.html

In article ,
Andy Hewitt wrote:
Pickup wiring - because of the high source impedance on MM types - is
one of the few cases where changing the cable can make a real
difference to the sound. So you really need to use similar spec cable
to the original - and of the same length.

Hmm, right. Does that include the cable from the preamp to the main amp
too?

No - a well designed pre-amp will have a low output impedance so cable in
likely domestic lengths will have no effect at all.

But a better way is to build in a pre-amp at the turntable with a low
impedance output so interconnect cables have no effect.

I don't think there's an easy way to do that, although I could shorten
the leads from the deck to the preamp (I have a new one coming with no
built in leads), and then run longer leads to the main amp from there.

--
*Can atheists get insurance for acts of God? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article ,
Andy Hewitt wrote:
Pickup wiring - because of the high source impedance on MM types - is
one of the few cases where changing the cable can make a real
difference to the sound. So you really need to use similar spec cable
to the original - and of the same length.

Hmm, right. Does that include the cable from the preamp to the main amp
too?

No - a well designed pre-amp will have a low output impedance so cable in
likely domestic lengths will have no effect at all.

That's very much as I thought. I guess this really isn't going to be
worth the bother. Maybe make an effort to clean up the RCA plugs.

--
Andy Hewitt
http://www.thehewitts.eclipse.co.uk/Home.html