Tonearm rewiring with Hyperlitz

Hi guys,

Sharing a project to rewire my vintage AKAI TT which was inherited.
Initially the sound of this TT is ok lah, kinda a bit thin.

Original wires with the connector which I will bypass


Tonearm wires are connected to this PCB junction box.



Unsolder the wires from above, and then remove the main mounting screw and then remove the entire arm.


Stuff in the new hyperlitz wire.


This is the tricky part i.e. to get the wire to stuff from the main tonearm thru the 90degrees shaft.


Took out the junction connector near the head shell.


Solder the hyperlitz wire direct to the original connectors.



After that I reassembled the unit, did some alignment, and presto
Nice, the midband is especially much fuller and smoother sound. Well worth the effort.

Also to note is the grounding of the tonearm, it's highly important not to miss it otherwise buzzing gets into the system.

cheers.

Just the first 2 hrs into playtime and the sound opened up so nicely; I really can't believe that original PVC insulated wires did so much damage to the micro signals. Salute the LP sound...

cheers

Very often, change of internal wires do a lot of good, but must be careful as to choice of wires which offer least or no resistance that can hamper the sensitive movement. I've done quite a few rewires and changing the external cable opened up the sound quality to quite significant and audible results.
Not all tonearms can be easily rewired but the least that can be done is to change the cartridge head terminals and wires. Old wires from 3 decades ago isn't a good thing for tiny signals.
I use a Linn Ittok, and this arm CANNOT be easily rewired unless one is looking to risk destroying it. The only thing to change is the cartridge wires and custom external cable. I use selected shielded 2 wire cable, not coaxial. Cable capacitance isn't an issue with MC. I felt its best suited and implemented for any MC cartridge. The principle is the same as a microphone and associated cabling. Yes, it was a whole lot more superior.
I was actually toying around to rewire my 1st TT, a Technics Quartz model...but then again..since its a showpiece most of the time...didn't bother. It plays well satisfactorily anytime.