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

Jim Lesurf wrote:

[Snipped Text]

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.

By all means change the plugs if you fear that the existing ones are
tarnished and can't easily be cleaned. However be aware of the following...

A potential snag with cables from a cartridge to an RIAA preamp is that
some cartridges require an 'optimum' cable+amp capacitance. You don't say
what cartridge you are using so I don't know if this is relevant in your
case. However if you are replacing the cables this might need to be taken
into account.

Changing the plugs will have almost no effect on the capacitance unless you
significantly shorten the cables in the process.

If you tell us what cartridge you are using, then we can probably say if
this may matter or not. MC types are unlikely to care about the cable
capacitance, but this may be important with some MM cartridges.

It's an Ortofon VMS20E.

At this time I'm more inclined to use some switch cleaner on the RCA
plugs, and leave it at that, after all, it does actually sound OK.

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?

My personal preference tends to be for soldered cable/plug connections.
However a screw connection should be fine if the cable and plug are in
decent condition and you tighten the screw fairly well. FWIW The banana
plug-socket connection is also a pressure contact.

Yes, the screws are tight. I realise the plug-socket connection is a
simple resistance fit, I was just thinking about eliminating another. Of
course, it does depend on how well I can solder OFC cable to a gold
plated plug :-)

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

In article , Andy Hewitt
wrote:
Jim Lesurf wrote:

[Snipped Text]


If you tell us what cartridge you are using, then we can probably say
if this may matter or not. MC types are unlikely to care about the
cable capacitance, but this may be important with some MM cartridges.

It's an Ortofon VMS20E.

I haven't found info on a VMS20E. However 'VMS' tended to be the term
Orthofon used for 'induced magnet' types - i.e. one of the systems commonly
called 'moving magnet'. From the data I've found on Orthofon VMS types, I'd
expect this to want a load of the order of 300-400 pF in parallel with
47kOhms.

If the above is correct, then changing the cable capacitance could be
expected to affect the frequency response with this cartridge

Above said, if the pre-existing cable wasn't fitted with such a cartridge
in mind in the first place it might be 'wrong' as already fitted! Might
only have about 100-200 pF of cable capacitance. Note, though, that any
effect may be modest, so this may all not be worth bothering with. If the
results sound fine, that should suffice.

FWIW when designing/building RIAA preamps mumble years ago I used to
arrange for the user to be able to select adding a 220pF extra capacitance
just in case they found it helped. But I have no idea how many people would
find the change particularly significant. This might be worth checking if
you like to ensure things are 'just right', but this be may more a matter
of 'tidyness' than of any improvement to the resulting sounds. After all,
the speakers and room acoustics will probably be causing *far* more
noticable departures from a flat frequency response. :-)

At this time I'm more inclined to use some switch cleaner on the RCA
plugs, and leave it at that, after all, it does actually sound OK.

OK.

[snip]

My personal preference tends to be for soldered cable/plug
connections. However a screw connection should be fine if the cable
and plug are in decent condition and you tighten the screw fairly
well. FWIW The banana plug-socket connection is also a pressure
contact.

Yes, the screws are tight. I realise the plug-socket connection is a
simple resistance fit, I was just thinking about eliminating another. Of
course, it does depend on how well I can solder OFC cable to a gold
plated plug :-)

Yes. :-) Both good pressure contacts and soldered ones should be 'ohmic'.
The advantage of a pressure contact is that it can be quicker and easier to
undo, clean, and remake. Soldered connections should be more reliable in
the long term, but may deteriorate when the metals being soldered together
are dissimilar and/or the solder is inappropriate.

In practice, though, I find that either a decent pressure contact or a
soldered one generally works fine for years. Hence I'd put this into,
"whatever suits you" class." :-)

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/AudioMisc/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html

Jim Lesurf wrote:

[Snipped Text]

In practice, though, I find that either a decent pressure contact or a
soldered one generally works fine for years. Hence I'd put this into,
"whatever suits you" class." :-)

Righto, cheers to both of you, I don't think I'm going to worry myself
over this one :-)

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