Hifihvn makes a good point. The way you assure that the reading you are looking at is real is to start out by shorting the leads of the DVM together and looking at the reading you get. If the leads are in good shape you will see about 0.1 ohm.
Now if the leads in the tone arm, say from the red lead to the center of the right channel RCA are more than about 1 ohm I would say that you have a problem. Now you might see a reading like 1.1 ohms; don't forget to subtract whatever the reading of the DVM is when you short its leads together. You are going to see some resistance because the wires are very thin. Some phono cartridges have source impedances as low as 5 or 6 ohms, so you can see that a series resistance like that could have an effect.
If you have beeper in the DVM that register continuity, it might beep if you have anything less than 400 ohms, so it cannot be trusted.
Now if the leads in the tone arm, say from the red lead to the center of the right channel RCA are more than about 1 ohm I would say that you have a problem. Now you might see a reading like 1.1 ohms; don't forget to subtract whatever the reading of the DVM is when you short its leads together. You are going to see some resistance because the wires are very thin. Some phono cartridges have source impedances as low as 5 or 6 ohms, so you can see that a series resistance like that could have an effect.
If you have beeper in the DVM that register continuity, it might beep if you have anything less than 400 ohms, so it cannot be trusted.
