the dreaded breaking of tonearm wire...now what?


I just got a new (used) benz micro h2 in the mail and began my first install. Needless to say, didn't go very well. Actually, except for one tonearm wire breaking, it wasn't as bad as I thought.

So, is there anything I can do to salvage it? Or, should I just send it somewhere, or just a new tonearm cable? It's just the stock in the MMF-5, but don't have a budget right now for anything much better.

What would you do?

Good news: even though I only have sound through one channel, it already is an incredible difference. I think I need some extra counterbalance weight, as the force is tough to adjust. But already much better, except for the fact there is no soundstage with one speaker..

Thanks
pablo16

Showing 2 responses by dan_ed

If you're lucky you can reuse the heat shrink, otherwise get a new piece and slide it up the wire out of the way until you've got things re-soldered.

Try to heat up the clip first since it has more mass than the wire.

You'll probably want to clip an alligator clip to the wire just below where you'll be applying the soldering tool. It will act as a heat source to keep the heat from traveling up the wire and melting more of the insulation.

Then slide the heat shrink over the joint. I've found a hair drier works pretty good with this small of heat shrink.

Had this happen to me several years ago with a MMF-7. I used the opportunity to re-wire the whole arm with better clips and wire. I think I spent about $40 and a couple of hours on a Saturday.
Michael Percy Audio. They have the clips, heat shrink and lots of wire to choose from. The Litz wire is a bit of a pain to work with and it may not necessarily sound better. But they have a good selection to choose from.