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LP12 pickup wires affect suspension??



I have an LP12 with Grace 707 tonearm.
My wires and plug to the arm went south.

I ordered a new plug very nicely made and soldered onto "Cardas cable" from Sweetcome audio on fleaBay.

Sweetcome did a nice job on the cabling/plug...but I find with the heavier cable that now has to drop through the tonearm hole in the baseboard of the deck, there does not seem to be any way to relieve the weight off the suspension.

In the LP12 setup manual, they talk about how to terminate the wires from the tonearm. This would not be possible in my case, they are just too fat.

Has anyone else run into this?

Any ideas on how to deal with the tonearm cable weight and how it affects the suspension?

I am about ready to break out the silver wire and soldering pen to create my own leads. The sound from the Sweetcome setup is nice, but the LP12 being so picky about getting the "bounce test" just right, I must come up with a way to compensate for the offset in weight/travel.
gumbydammit

Showing 2 responses by gumbydammit

gumbydammit OP
186 posts
 
Yes, I used to have that in place. When ordering this replacement, I could not tell that the wiring is more than double the size of the original. (For a planar 3 that does not move, it would be fine.)
There is no way to tuck this wire into the lead.
A 90 degree turn in it and attaching it to the bottom of the table anywhere, would literally lock the suspension solid and prevent it from moving at all along that 'third.'

I have also tried to relieve the wire from the turntable stand instead, but no matter what I do, it seems to be impossible to prevent it affecting the freedom of movement.
gumbydammit OP
186 posts
 
We live in a 1890's era train station with a crawlspace. My current setup involves 4 holes in our hardwood floors (you should have seen the Mrs when she realized what I did LOL)...and then 4-12 foot lengths of heavy duty electrical conduit hammered into the earth, so that there is about 4 feet of conduit sticking through the floor. I then connected them together with a simple wooden top shelf. This gives excellent "give" while isolating the table from everything but the trains that run by.

I have a homemade stand, similar to the S.Org. stands many people place their tables on. I have bored a hole in the bottom and the cable from the tonearm now hangs straight down for a good 18 inches and then goes into a "J" shape, where it is zip-tied to the side of the table at the tip of the "J"...this allows for the free-est movement of the suspension. The effect must be minimal, because the bass is back to how it used to be...and then some.

If anyone knows where to buy a plug that will fit this tonearm, please let me know. I am going to make a set of cables for it to remedy this issue. I know things are compromised. Sounds good, but...
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