Kondo AN silver tonearm wire


I’m having Analogmagik direct-wire my FR-66s, and I was planning on Kondo silver wires. Richard Mak is not a fan of working with this (and I know its difficult to work with) but has anyone had any experience with the anti-skating / resistance issue he mentioned here:

"Kondo Silver is very stiff wire, it is made by an OEM factory which I shall not disclose. It is not the best for FR application as it acts like an antiskating when it twist in the 90 degree turn. If you insist on using Kondo, I will put it in."

 

au_lait

Don't do it!!!

I had VAS rewire my Russian tonearm, his preferred wire's insulation is too stiff, it pushes back as the arm pivots, no way to make it precise and consistent thru the arc, I am unable to accurately set/control anti-skate.

I ended up changing to a wonderful Victor 7082  arm with a DIN connector.

It was fine with the original delicate silk covered Litz wire, however the arm design had a hard edged hole that the wire passed thru and that edge eventually rubbed the silk insulation off, and hum developed after a few years.

Proper control of anti-skate, consistency thru the arc, is far more important than any imagined advantage of silver, or any .....

 

I had some of that stuff under the name "AudioNote" Silver Litz wire.  If that is the same thing as what you are dealing with under the name Kondo, I found it to be anything but "stiff".  In fact, it's rather floppy very flexible wire that tends to get tangled with itself if you are not very careful with it.  That happened to me and an attempt to untangle it, however gentle, resulted in a break rendering the four lengths useless for wiring a tonearm. There is no way you would be able to solder the broken ends.  However, there are some very favorable reviews of it, and I still think it is likely to be excellent sounding.  I am thinking the Kondo wire might be different, if your installer says it is stiff. I still have the tangled mess.

Audionote and Kondo arm wire are different

Audionote fine, very flexible, good but fragile.

Kondo - called Fairy Wire - much much thicker than the audio note - not ideal for arms due to interference with bearings.

The new 1877phono zavfino wires are good - copper and silver available.