Vinyl Asylum Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ.

---

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Vinyl Asylum ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

Rewiring a Technics SL1200 tonearm from bayonet to RCA phono inputs.

Posted by tubesforever (M) on July 11, 2009 at 00:51:44

I will reference my original post about how to rewire an SL1200 tonearm in the optional link below.

For the process of doing a bayonet to RCA phono input wire there are a variety of issues you must address.

First, you need to stress relief the wires leaving the tonearm wand so they will not bind the movement of the tonearm. Second, you need to protect the tonearm wires which are generally around 33 awg. Third, you need to also stress-relief the RCA ends so you don't yank out the fragile wires. Fourth, you should shield these wires to provide the quietest overall performance.

For this project the owner, a friend a fellow inmate, asked me to use Cardas. I like this wire. It is 99.9999 percent pure copper, it is a litz configuration and has excellent shielding which is easy to prepare and solder.

I built a three point attachment plate at the bottom of the Technics tonearm base and inserted a pair of thin wall teflon tubing into the plate. I used vinyl tie straps to secure both ends of the teflon tubes and several more to secure the tonearm cable.

I like to cover the exposed tonearm wires in tin plated copper shielding to reject RFI. I wrapped this and then used decorative vinyl braiding for looks.

The teflon tubes insert into the base of the RCA plugs where I use a vinyl adaptor to interface between the gold plated connector and the teflon tube. A special adhesive is used to secure the elements together, the set screw is inserted and the wires generally speaking should last a life time.

The RCA ends are some of my favorite pieces. These are Vampire direct gold plated oxygen free copper connectors. They are reasonably cheap at 27.95 a pair and they hold most female RCA's with complete confidence.

With the decorative external braid these wires look like a million dollars. They are cheap and easy for a diy type. It just takes some time and attention to detail.

Running Cardas 6 nines pure litz wire from bayonet to RCA inputs will make for some excellent sonics. It just doesn't get much nicer than this for copper tonearm wire!

Enjoy the pictures, this project turned out really well and the sonics should be superb.

By the way, to the fortunate inmate, thanks for all you have done for the asylum over the years.


"Help support our school's Music programs"

• How to rewire an SL 1200 tonearm   (Open in New Window)

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

VH Audio

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---