Gilbert Posted August 2, 2006 Share Posted August 2, 2006 The tonearm is a vintage SME 3009 II (early edition). Even though I have not listened to a single song (at least not in it's entirety), I am compelled to do it, because of it's age and my past experience with everything vintage audio gear (save one piece, my favorite MR71, thanks John). Also, at this point in the game, my plinth & arm board are going off to Allan's tomorrow, and my VRD's are in a bit of a limbo, due to plating issues, and nothing to do with Craig. There's also a stereo cabinet issue that I'm getting resolved and, well,...... Hopefully, hope..hope, everything should fall into place within a couple of months.....and if I don't do it now, I'll likely scratch the idea, once my gear is completed. Beside, I don't really care to do a before & after test. I do believe that re-wire her up professionally, (with good stuff, if such wire exist), she'll have to sound better. It just has to. Especially if there's such a thing a high performace tone-arm wire???? ANYBODY KNOW WHO DOES THIS KIND OF WORK RIGHT? IS THERE SUCH A THING AS PERFORMANCE WIRE FOR THIS KINDA THING? If ya do, please share..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Songer Posted August 2, 2006 Share Posted August 2, 2006 I've done it. Not for the feint of heart. Lots of fiddling--can be VERY frusrtating!!! Check these guys out--looks like they'll do the job for $129 http://www.britaudio.com/RewireService.html . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott0527 Posted August 2, 2006 Share Posted August 2, 2006 Not for the faint of heart is very true. To try it yourself, I would say, get ready to ruin your first arm while learning all the things not to do. The disassembly and reassembly alone is enough to make you rip your hair out. Trying to solder 30 something ga wire to the pins on the headshell connector (the knurled piece at the end of the tone arm) is another difficult task. The pins are spring loaded, set in plastic. Too much heat and you'll melt the plastic and ruin the the connector. A 10 or 15 watt soldering iron can be helpful. It is very hard the first time you try it. Subsequent tries would not be that difficult. If someone is charging $129 to do it for you, I think that is a pretty fair price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kudret Posted August 2, 2006 Share Posted August 2, 2006 I was also thinking about rewiring my SME 3012. I did some reading on AA and was encouraged by a number of posts saying that it wasn't that difficult. I also managed to find some detailed instructions. This one was sent by Wolfram: http://dedi262.your-server.de/analog1/wbboard/thread.php?threadid=4495&boardid=2 After reading Allan's and Scott's experiences I certainly do not want to ruin my tonearm. As for which wire to use, cardas 33ga copper and van den hul MCS-150M silver wire were the top two contenders. Cardas costs about $1.5/foot and van den hul $75 for 4 pieces of 50 cm. Does anyone have any experience with either of them? Kudret Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott0527 Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 Kudret, That's a nice thread. I'll have to get it translated to english. From the pictures, looks like he's directly wiring to his interconnect. I think I'd go for the RCA conversion kit and run my tiny little tonearm wires to RCA's and then slide the can back on. I used Cardas 33 GA. I just can't believe you need anything more than that for a tonearm. One thing I noticed that helped me a lot when soldering this stuff... It appears the Cardas wires had a varnish on them. So after stripping the insulation off, it really helped when I lightly scraped the bare wire with an exacto knive. Talking 33 ga here so I'm talking about very lightly scraping. Prior to scraping I had some problems getting the wires to take the heat. After scraping, a quick touch of the low wattage iron and the wires were attaching to the pins much easier. The first time I tried it, it wa pretty hard but then I didn't have those nice pictures in the thead you just posted. I just don't see Gilbert as having "that delicate touch" that might be necessary for this udertaking. Am I right Gilbert?[] And $129 doesn't sound all that bad for the 4 to 5 hours it would take a first timer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kudret Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 I'll have to get it translated to english. Scott, Try http://www.babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/tr. Not perfect, but helpful. Kudret Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 Anyone hear any feedback on Brit Audio? That does sound like a decent price! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lindsey Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 This guy does it also, along with converting the arm for RCA jacks: http://cgi.ebay.com/RCA-CONVERSION-KIT-FOR-SME-3009-3012-TONEARMS_W0QQitemZ150009188731QQihZ005QQcategoryZ64620QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Personally, I don't think it's necessary. I have the exact same arm and table as you do, and am using a Denon DL-103 cart. This combination absolutely kills! I personally think you need to spend more time listening and less time fidgeting/tweaking. [] Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubai2000 Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 Gilbert, I am in the fortunate situation of having a friend who not only rewired his SMEs, but also mine. I had a look at him working and it was kind of fiddly, but not too bad for someone who is used to such handiwork (like soldering very fine wires etc). As for the sound improvement: YES, have it done. I never thought that a different internal wire could make such a big difference....yes, really lifting a veil. Your LPs sound a lot cleaner and faster. Absolutely recommended!!! Wolfram BTW: yes, the gentleman in the link above has wired the arm all through to the preamp. An option, but then how do you try different TT/preamp ICs []. Wolfram Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilbert Posted August 3, 2006 Author Share Posted August 3, 2006 Alright, I'm gonna do it. I pulled my tonearm apart, except for the wires and though it looks like delicate work, I don't think it would be that bad....but I ain't gonna try it. So I'm gonna go with Britt. The RCA conversion kit came in a couple weeks ago, and I am very pleased with the build quality. That German ebay guy really does these right, so right in fact, that I feel like buying some of his other SME stuff. That was a good call Allan, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 Gilbert, What's the eBay ID of this German seller? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubai2000 Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 Fini, the German seller is analogtubeaudio - that's his company's name, so you might reach him through Google as well. He is well known (and respected) over here. I also use his RCA kit and it works just fine. Concerning his bronze bearing and groundplate opinions differ a bit. Yes, quite a few people claim sonic improvements (but hey, they had just bought a new tweak...[]). Having talked to some SME 'freaks' over here I got a somehow more mixed response. Great looks - for sure - but in comparison to other tweaks (different headshell or rewiring) their effect might be a bit underwhelming. But of course one never knows until one tries....but somehow I remain sceptical. Wolfram Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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