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JackD, I'm going to get the Nagaoka, after I change out the RCA cables and get the VTA ring un-frozen. Thanks for the tip. I can not believe you have 30 cartridges. How many turntables do you have? I can picture in your mind that you have a large fishing tackle box filled with really fun stuff.

[JackD]

Much to my wife's dismay probably a dozen, though to be honest most were bought cheaply and have been cleaned up and serviced and then are made available to the local college kids for what I acquired them for looking to get into vinyl for the first time after growing up with only digital files or maybe CD's.  That way they get a fully funtional inexpensive TT with a new stylus that I set up for them while they watch.  They also get to avoid the perils of Ebay and shipping damage and have me around to help them if need be.  Helps them avoid the frustration of buying from out of town and then having no help if they encounter a problem, which leads many of them that buy online to walk away and go back to the simplicity of digital.  Set up two of them in January alone.  A lot of the cartridges have come with the various tables or have bought vintage bodies and new styli seperately. I have my favorites, but a lot of them just get rotated through periodically.

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Interesting. I bought the Technics and Dual turntables from a husband with too many of them. He set up about 8 of them, all vintage,  for me to audition in his garage. During the audition, his wife walked through the garage and had the mild look of dismay and frustration with his hobby; she was quite polite however. I think he was relieved that I bought two of the tables and gave me a decent price. He was a real gentleman and clearly has a passion for this hobby. It kind of reminded me of someone rescuing stay dogs or cats. In this case, they were turntables brought back to decent shape. I love his commitment!

[JackD]

Luckily my wife enjoys the hobby, though most of her involvement is through buyong LP's.  Plus I guess it doesn't hurt that my little sideline business covers all the costs of the hobby.  Like the guy you bought from I enjoy introducing people to the  hobby.

[JackD]

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I see Monty helped you get the ring unstuck.  Congratulations, now you can move on to the rewire.

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Yes, he was helpful. That ring was just cranked too tight. Must of been like that for decades. It took a bit to finally get it to move. VTA now works like a charm.

The WD40 leaked a bit into the auto start mechanism below and stopped working, just slipping internally and would shut down after a few revolutions of the turntable. Frustrating to say the least.  I pulled the tone arm out and wiped off all the excess WD40 from the gears, pulley and O-ring, now it works fine. I'm amazed at the engineering that went into making this turntable. While I had the tone arm out, I rewired. Too tight of fit for the Liberty Cable. I used a thinner Radio Shack set. Took a while to get the soldering right. Testing the table to a Shure M44-7, and it works. Time to purchase the Nagaoka.

[JackD]

If you didn't already you might want to measure the capacitance of those RS cables especially if they are their audio cables instead of video.  Some of them are over 200pf in capacitance alone.  I did find a pair in my cable box recently from the 80's that measured 75pf. They were in fact thin, flexible and if I remember a dark brown in color with gold plated RCA's.    Some of the "audiophile" cables from Kimber, DH Labs, Wireworld, Vampire and Audio Magic measured well over 200pf and some over 300pf.  Usually video cables using Belden or Canare RG-59 measure the lowest.  If the ones you used measure high you might have to buy some of the low capacitance ones from Blue Jeans or Monoprice.

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JackD, here are more details. I tried installing Liberty Cables at 10pf/ft. However in order to for me to install, I had remove the outer jacket, outer copper braid, and the foam PE insulation to expose the central two individual insulated wires for about the last 4 inches, therefore, the wires were not completely covered by the metal (RF?) shield. I got excessive hum.

I also have Blue Jeans cables that are of similar thickness to the Liberty Cables, but i did not try. How thick are the Monoprice? I can certainly try them, if thin enough. Just not a lot of room to thread it through a small slot to solder on the PC board.

[JackD]

I think the the Blue Jeans cables are of similar thickness to the Monoprice ones from what I have read on AK.  If the RS cables measure out below a 100pf then you will be fine.  If you have a standard issue DMM it may not have a capcitance measurement and you will have to buy a cheap capcitance only one for less than $20 from Ebay.  Otherwise all you can do is listen and see what you hear.  Kevin at KAB has the upgrade Technics cables for  $29  Unfortunately the M44 like all Shures from that time period like high capacitance in the 400-500pf range so it will not be a true test.  And a lot of people like the sound of the M44 if you buy the M55E elliptical stylus.  I think there are several JICO sourced ones on Ebay for little money.  I might also buy a JICO sourced replacement AT-12 stylus from Ebay just to have a spare with a different sound profile.  Here is the Shure stylus

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TURNTABLE-STYLUS-NEEDLE-SHURE-M44E-N55E-M55E-N44E-M80E-VN2E-759-DE-/290840113376?pt=US_Record_Player_Turntable_Parts&hash=item43b76bf0e0

and this is the AT-12 Stylus

http://www.ebay.com/itm/STEREO-RECORD-PLAYER-NEEDLE-STYLUS-ATS-12-AT-12E-AT11E-Fisher-ST35VD-629-DE-/200832574481?pt=US_Record_Player_Turntable_Parts&hash=item2ec28de411

Both for just a little over $25

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I got a DMM today, and tested the Liberty Cables, and they are about 10pf/ft. I wish I can figure out how to get them back into the Technics with out the hum.

I seriously doubt that the Radio Shack Audiocables will test out well. I'll check today. I think I'm going to order the KAB -Technics cables.

Alternatively, I might try the Grado on the Technics, since you mentioned that they are less sensitive to capacitance.

[JackD]

This is another option then you can swap cables anytime you want.

http://www.kabusa.com/gif/pc1200a.jpg

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The Jack Plate is perfect, I'm getting that. Thanks for the tip.