Sme tonearm rewire

3 Way Bookshelf Speakers
God bless UPS, the Internet, Ebay and Paypal. The wheels are turning... should be an interesting next week!
 
stevieboy said:
Hi Anilva,

Thanks :) if you mean thin wire to thick in the signal cable then no it's all thin tonearm wire only right to the plugs. I think the black sheathing where the thin wires end makes it look thick. Is that what you're referring to? The ground wire I will be soldering to a thicker wire so there will be one joint but considering it's ground wire am guessing it won't matter.

Santhosh,
When you're back you can! Or maybe Jan we'll do a session first week or so. Work's a little crazy right now so just enjoying the project itself. That om 5e is still amazing me record after record!

Regards


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Click to expand...

Stevieboy,

Thanks that was my question and you answered it. But I am surprised how such an extra thin wire meant for tonearm can be used as a regular interconnect cable. May be the rubber sheathing adds to the strength...
 
And I'm done! Decided I did not want to live with two solder joints in the earth wire so I unscrewed the knife edge and resoldered a fresh earth wire to the earth lug and refitted it back inside the tonearm. Soldered the thin earth wire to a longer thick length terminating in a spade and heatshrink wrapped the joint. Put all the sundry parts together and mounted the tonearm on the skeletal plinth. Pictures to come in a new thread on the garrard 301 which is sitting pretty on a birch ply motor board whew. Now to reread the tonearm manual just to be on the safe side and then fit the cart and have a first run.


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Need help: in the picture below, how does one remove the part marked A from B? Is it friction fit? Or is there some threading? Does it require any special tool needed to remove it?


MIARTzX.jpg


Secondly, if the spring action of the four terminals for the headshell (inside A) is/are stuck, how does one restore the spring action so that the terminals make proper contact with the headshell's male connectors?

My problem is with one terminal not springing back and therefore not making contact with the headshell. Any idea what's the best way to restore it? Do I even need to separate A from B to do it?

Any pointers and advice welcome.
 
Joshua,

The spring action failure happens when some soldering is tried at the tonearm base, usually to replace the SME connectors with RCA sockets. The heat from that travels very quickly through the thin wires to the pins, and damages the plastic base. A heatsink should be installed in the socket to drain the heat away from the pins. Please keep this in mind when you install a new socket.

To remove part A from B i. e. socket from armtube, you have to take out a screw at the base of the socket.

Regards,
 
Last edited:
Agree with G401 and analogadikt, I will recommend doing things patiently as it has tiny screws, thin wires etc. If terminals in headshell sockets are tiny hollow tube it would be difficult to restore. If solid give it a try if you are buying new. Give it through inspection of what could be causing it to stuck. Soldering is little tricky and risky as they are in plastic bush.
Tonearm Wire #58
Regards
 
Thanks for all the pointers.

No soldering has been done in this tonearm.

It was playing perfectly then one day both channels started playing at barely audible volume. After lots of troubleshooting that included changing cartridge, changing inter connect cable from tonearm base to phono preamp, changing phono preamp, changing amplifier, etc, and testing for continuity of the tonearm internal wiring, the culprit was localised to the socket pins. Deoxit has been tried but it has been of limited help, as it improved things somewhat but could not restore normal operation. Let's see if further faffing can resolve this issue.
 
Hi Joshua,

There's a small screw underneath the tonearm at the beginning of the armtube where it meets the nut. After removing this, its a press fit. You can't do one individual pin. If its gone, its gone, you'll need a new nut with the four pins.

All the best!

Regards
 
Joshua,

I had got a new one from ebay for around 100 dollars if I remember right. Certainly it wasn't 150 euros a few years back! Don't go for an old one, the new connectors will transmit better and last longer too.

Regards
 
Do keep in mind - something you surely know - that the Type 1 of the 3009 and 3012 first came out in 1959, and that there are possibly hundreds, if not thousands, that are still in use without having undergone re-wiring, dismantling, or any form of repair after more than 50 years. Not many audio products can make such a claim.
 
Apparently my friend has been busy fiddling some more with the arm with his can of Deoxit and the spring has sprung back to life:) but he now has a hum problem. Plus the level of audio is still below normal. I'm not sure if this is somehow related to the hum issue. I guess further testing of cabling is needed.
 
stevieboy said:
Hi Joshua,

There's a small screw underneath the tonearm at the beginning of the armtube where it meets the nut. After removing this, its a press fit. You can't do one individual pin. If its gone, its gone, you'll need a new nut with the four pins.

All the best!

Regards
Click to expand...

Where have you been? Hibernating for so long?

Cheers
 
anilva said:
Where have you been? Hibernating for so long?

Cheers
Click to expand...

Hi Anil!

:) like a bear! I saw this cos someone sent me a PM so I chanced upon this thread hehe. How about a Bangalore meet? It's that time of the year... :licklips:

I haven't been into music for a year now, other personal things. Gonna be moving to a new place this month and will finally have space to take up the Altecs again and set up my turntable! No vinyl for more than a year now so once that happens I guess I'll be more regular here...

Regards
 
stevie, a bit off-topic here, sorry for that. Do you recommend the SME3009 Series II with detachable headshell or fixed headshell?
 
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