Blackbird 12.5" Tonearm: revised with DIN Connector.

Sort of reminds me of WW II. The Russians are still doing things the old manual method while at SME production is almost entirely CNC. But the old manual machines are a dime a dozen and if you know what you are doing almost as good, just takes more time. I would go for the 9" version.
I sort of believe humans are the same everywhere, same basic set of instincts.  The real problem is with those who seek to gain power. It is no different here in the states. We need term limits and campaign finance reform. You should get votes by appealing to individuals not international conglomerates.

I just noticed, this 14" arm has their RCA Junction Box pre-wired on the UNDERSIDE of the pivot plate. 

http://newartvinyl.ru/board/detali_proigryvatelja/tonarm_long_life_14/7-1-0-45

That requires a lot of clearance below, mine is ON a plinth, so: I bought that box as a separate item, stripped the 5 litz wires, soldered the tiny things, mounted the box myself separately on the plinth near the tonearm. I shake my head every time I think about it. The chances of it going poorly, then what? It was a big risk. Pre-wired DIN, very little risk.

I’m sure they would make your preference, RCA or DIN in any length if asked.

Those UNsoldered Litz wire leads provide an opportunity to run an interconnect direct to the phono stage inputs without a DIN plug in between. Or even to use a balanced connection direct from the cartridge if the phono stage is balanced.

lewm,

the arm's designer 'prefers/preferred/stubbornly insisted' that the buyer can make as pure a chain as possible with loose litz wires as you describe.

I was not shy about my opinion: "you strip these wires, you solder them"!

There's a limit to how long a length litz wires should be, not to mentioned the lack of protection from EMI/RFI, so realistically it's going to a nearby connector of some type, then via din/rcabalanced cable. Mine: litz to their rca junction box; rca to SUT; SUT rca to mx110z MM Phono In.

I suspect they will make a balanced connector version if requested, they are enthusiasts as you can tell.

They finally had to admit, very few people are going to do that, and those few people might buy a different arm it seems to me. i.e. I would prefer to adjust VTA while playing. 

Their arm lacks a precision base like the acos-lustre gst-801, (no surprise at the low price). An optional VTA on the Fly mount would be nice, keep the base arm price down, pre-designed optional feature, like a conversion lens for a camera; kit lens/optional high quality lens ..
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actually, after trepidations, I found stripping the litz wires easier than stripping a 'normal' wire.

usually we cut in from the edge with a wire stripper, depth adjusted for the particular gauge, and forcefully pull a length of the outer insulation off, trying not to cut/break the conductor strands. the thought of this is what caused me lack of sleep.

these silk covered enamel covered litz wires, hard to see even thru a magnified shop light: I simply used the tip of a fresh exacto-knike blade and scratched the silk apart/off by movements parallel to the conductors. get a fuzz ball of silk, cut it off, roll the wire a bit, repeat. Easy.

Next: Put a lump of 'silver' solder on the contacts first, then heat that lump and insert the litz wires into the molten lump, thus never heating the litz wire or silk covering itself.

To keep things in place, no tugging on the litz wires:
I mounted the arm in the removable arm board, down to the shop.
then I made an extension board to have a surface to temporarily mount the rca junction box behind the arm so it could not move (where it would be positioned on the plinth).
soldered everything, back upstairs,
then carefully get the junction box 'loose', get the temporary board under it out of the way,
insert/mount the arm board 
mount the rca junction box same location but now on the plinth (I used double faced tape).

Easy, unless you never did it before.
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Why? After general advice against it (totally unknown here) I just couldn't get that arm out of my brain. I had messed with the JVC 7082 Arm's sagging counterweight issue, and found it was only 11-5/8" effective, ... I liked everything about the design, a full 12.5" (the goal was after all a long arm), it just barely fit, aren't I clever, 

oh yeah, I just remembered, beyond eBay/PayPal protection, I bought a square trade 3 year warranty for it $110. (called square trade first, discussed rarity etc.). Arm, with custom spacer was $1,090.  + $110. = $1,200. total delivered with 3 yr warranty

Now, pre-wired connector, din or rca, known nice guys, very little risk.

oh yeah, covid hit, the shipping got delayed, held here at JFK airport for quite a while, another display of my patience.

I'm still regretful that Russian Preamp didn't work out, not just me, but for the seller too, they really tried to solve it.

elliottbnewcombjr

There's a limit to how long a length litz wires should be ...

I didn't know that there was such an issue with Litz wires. What is the limit? (Of course, it's generally a good idea to keep phono cables as short as possible.)

... not to mentioned the lack of protection from EMI/RFI,

That's not an issue if you run them balanced into a balanced phono stage.