Fxr-Ii Arm Leads

[tim_bissell]

The internal wiring is all new; you have a choice of external wiring, from the standard Rega wires upwards. I think continuous wire from cartridge tags to RCA is also an option.

@elwy I'm not an expert, but having the tonearm pivot 2mm closer to the spindle than it should be will make a difference, and I guess that it would push the cartridge back along the wand.

-- Tim

[rolleye]

According to my measurement it's around 220mm. The armboard is the correct Michell one for Rega arms so this should be OK.

is the hole in the Michell armboard dead centre? if its off centre you could turn it round to find the exact distance

[rolleye]

Regarding the hummmmmmm, I've connected the FXR's earth lead directly to the pre-amp (Jordan) as it has its own phono section but it still hums, louder as the arm nears the centre of the platter. I know this is caused by the Grado as they are known for 'humming' so i'm going to try a couple of other cartridges just to confirm it.

OK the Grado hums on the FXR-II ......i've fitted an Ortofon 2M Blue (decided to sell the brand new 2M Black as I'm not sure I like Ortofon's) and NO HUM so will now concentrate on the arm lead. Think i might have another go at 'dressing' the thick rega external arm lead and if all else fails i'll rewire it with some much thinner Cardas.

[Alec124c41]

It's not the arm that generates the hum picked up by the unshielded Grado, but the motor.

Cheers,
Alec

[rolleye]

Thanks Alec I appreciate the problem lies with the Grado, the rewiring comment came from my frustration when trying to 'dress' the arm lead on a PT Export Vector.

The thick rega cable on the FXR-II isn't very flexible and it does have an adverse effect on the turntable suspension. The Cardas is quite thin and much more flexible and it might be more appropriate.

However having said that I tried Tim's suggestion of doubling up the rega arm lead and fastening it (loosely) with a wire tie and its now much better than before.....the 2M Blue is also sounding good and no hum

[David_x]

I bought an Audiomods arm recently and also had this stiff arm lead problem. My solution was to remove the base board on my Export and raise the deck above the Mana by a cm or so using spare loudspeaker 'feet' attached to the Export frame. I also drilled a new exit hole at the back of the deck near the bottom of the frame. I needed a new exit anyway as the huge Nakamichi plugs wouldn't fit through the existing hole and I was a bit nervous about removing the plugs and then having to weld the hair-thin cables back on. The phono cable doesn't touch the Mana and the bounce is reasonable - if not quite perfect.

[Cyclopse]

I am thinking now of doing a FXR II rewire. Did anyone take a close look when you were setting theirs up?

Want to keep the armtube wires and just fit the SME 5 pin connector to the main pillar. This way I can do away with the Rega interconnect. Do you know if its a case of removing the grub screw, then the plastic plug to get to the fine wires. Hopefully its just a case of removing so there enough spare wire to solder to the pins.

Hope you can advise.

Many thanks

Cyclopse

[tim_bissell]

I'm no expert (I watched mine being done), but I think it is as simple as that; note that there is not very much slack in the arm leads; you will need to detach the tags from the cartridge and pull the leads through when lifting off the existing plug, and pull them back when fitting the new one.

-- Tim

[rolleye]

I haven't had time to do mine yet, how is the new arm lead Tim? any improvements? I assume it has less impact on the suspension?

[tim_bissell]

The bounce is better with the flexible arm cable, but the RCA plugs are still too big to fit through the back of the PT1 plinth, so I have routed them out through the base; I have not noticed any change sonically, I was just hoping it wouldn't make it sound worse and that much it has achieved! I'm just waiting for a new bearing now, and then I should be able to just listen to the same configuration for a while and start getting a feel for its new character!

-- Tim

[natty_dredd]

Could you carefully strip the rega wire down so that the outer sheath is removed and any other unnecesary covering?

The Anniversary way of cable dressing is not as you say (unless there are parts missing).

The Anniversary either came with an RCA board mounted on the back so that the very fine internal wires were soldered directly to that (plus of course an earth).

Or the arm would have been provided with an external wire that was just the actual wires of the cable naked up to a point were it would then be attached to the plinth, the rest of the cable to the RCAs being the rest of the full, thick cable - hope that makes sense.

The Roksan cable on my 2nd Anni was like this and I think it is also Roksan's standard cable dressing.

[natty_dredd]

Regarding the hum, could you put a metal shield around the motor and earth that? See if it's that causing the hum..

[rolleye]

Could you carefully strip the rega wire down so that the outer sheath is removed and any other unnecesary covering?

now that might work, i've seen armleads done like that before, mind you there would be no going back if, once stripped, it hummed it would however improve the flexibility of the arm lead, yeah it might work

[tim_bissell]

I've just peered at the guts of my rega arm cable, and the cable is composed of a central signal core, 2mm diameter insulation, then an outer woven copper sheath (inside the outer insulation) which carries the ground signal, so the cable is not two core and thus not easily strippable!

-- Tim

P.S. with my new arm cables, they come out of the arm pillar, and are attached loosely to the side of the plinth (plenty of slack to avoid interference with the suspension) before dropping through the baseboard