Completed Assembly
OK, so you accept the premise that cables break in over time by just playing your hi-fi, and that a burn-in device is an unnecessary indulgence.
Fair enough.
Have you taken into consideration whether the millivolt level voltage output by a moving coil cartridge will ever break in a tonearm and its interconnect ... in your lifetime?
Every interconnect and speaker cable that leaves Galibier receives a 72-hour burn-in on our Cable Cooker. Our power cables are burned in on a Hagerman Frycleaner.
Burn-in units assume that the interconnect you're burning in is terminated with either an RCA or XLR connector.
This presents a challenge for tonearms as well as for tonearm cables - the latter if you want to burn it in separately. Cartridge clips and 5-pin DIN connectors need not apply.
If you own a burn-in device and haven't cooked your tonearm and cable, we've documented construction details for you to do so.
Our current solution addresses two use cases:
1. Adapting the headshell end (the cartridge clips) to an RCA / XLR connection. In this scenario, you're burning in the internal tonearm wiring along with the wire leading to your phono stage - whether it's a plug-in cable or a straight run from the cartridge clips.
2. Adapting a removable tonearm cable with a 5-Pin female DIN connector. If you purchase a new tonearm cable and want to burn it in without removing your tonearm and cartridge from your turntable, you'd need a 5-Pin male DIN connector to hook everything up.
In both cases, you're "creating" an interconnect with either RCAs or XLRs at both ends.
We started with a simplified version which addresses scenario 1 and involves pressing something along the lines of a Molex connector into service (example shown).
These will work for occasional use, and will allow you to connect to your cartridge clips to burn in the entire length of the cable.
You'll have difficulty finding the right pin size and you may have to start with a larger diameter and grind the pins to conform to the size requirements of the cartridge clips.
Molex Pin Connector
Earlier Versions
With this connector, you won't be able to burn in a cable separately from the tonearm (scenario 2).
Shown here are some earlier versions.
Note that strain-relief needs to be addressed when connecting to the headshell end!
You'll ruin your day if you rip out the headshell leads from a straight run of Cardas Clear running from cartridge clips to RCAs (or XLRs).
Here's that solution in action.
It takes a bit of care to anchor the cable in place, but for someone who's doing this once every 5 years, this method will suffice.
Just make sure you anchor the assembly securely in place.
The "Fiddly" Solution
The Key Parts
With all of the above faffing about and its limitations, a better solution may also be easier - one which addresses both scenarios.
It does present its own fabrication challenges, however.
Heres' the parts list:
We use 2:1 adhesive-backed shrink (3/8" and 1/2") for all of our interconnects.
It's much more secure than the run of the mill strain relief than what most manufacturers use. It ain't braggin' if it's true ;-)
The challenge involves fitting the Cardas connector into the aluminum tubing. The closest size we could source was undersized by about .040", and we used a rotary file on a drill press to expand the inner diameter.
Using this connector addresses both of the above scenarios:
Bolting the p-clip to the headshell anchors the assembly in place to protect the delicate headshell leads from damage.
Mocked Up
Assembly in Action
Here's the assembly anchored to a headshell with the p-clip (click image to expand).
One thing to note is that the pins are slightly on the small side. When affixing headshell leads with Cardas "clamshell" (dual split) style clips, it's a simple matter of squeezing them to pinch the pins to fit.
Headshell leads with simpler, single splits require a bit more care to narrow down - the same care you'd apply if you were fitting the clips to a cartridge with narrow pins.
Burning in a cable not attached to a tonearm is a simple matter of plugging the tonearm cable into this connector. That's what this male connector was designed for, after all.
Working with these connectors requires a fine hand.
When soldering, be sure to tin the leads first, and test fit the wire into the connector. You get one try to get this right! De-soldering will not remove all of the solder from the cups, so take your time.
Sourcing a perfect size piece of aluminum tubing will be a challenge. You will likely find yourself having to open up the inner diameter of a narrower tube as we did. Absent a rotary file on a drill press, you'll have to get creative.
If this presents too much of a challenge, you might dispense with the aluminum tubing and build up some heat shrink to form a strain-relief for the exit cable.
In this case, insulate all 4 wires with thin shrink before building up the outer with layers sufficient to survive plugging and unplugging from a phono cable (scenario #2).
Pay attention to channel assignment and polarity. You'll note that we applied appropriately colored heat shrink (1/16") to the pins for quick identification.
The outer diameter of the tubing we used was slightly narrower than 1/2". To achieve secure clamping with the 1/2" p-clip, we applied a layer of heat shrink to build it up slightly, so it served this purpose as well as providing strain-relief.
As noted above, we use 2:1 adhesive-backed heat shrink on our interconnect builds for added security.
Lastly, test your connections for continuity, correct channel assignment/polarity, and shorts ... or contact us, and if there's enough demand, we may turn this adapter into a product.
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