Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners

Thanks guys! I am not confident at all when it comes to soldering these little tonearm wires to heavier gauge clips. I just received my AN wire... boy is it skinny! The great part about it is, it is extremely flexible, which will ultimately be a plus with an ET wireloom. I have at least 3 projects ahead of me, all having to do with the ET.

Chris: My post regarding the aluminum plate supplied w/ the ET was just to hopefully get anyone's experience w/or w/o the plate on a VPI acrylic armboard. My concern being that the acrylic may be too soft or not, to be used w/o the plate, and how each may have sounded. I have, as an upcoming project, a DIY armboard, so I'll most likely eliminate the plate as I'll be using a harder substance as the interface. That's my plan and I'm sticking to it, (for now) lol.

Any tips on soldering will be very much appreciated. I'm usually more likely to take my sweet time getting mentally prepared.

Hi Slaw, Use an old cart and put one tag in one of the connectors. Fasten the cart in an vice (?) and you have both hands free. One to hold the wire in the back of the tag the other for the soldering iron. Use first some old tags and wire for practise.

Slaw -
With regard to the aluminium plate/acrylic. I would not run the plate, it's added resonance. I have moved away from metal spikes, and if I use them I radius the tip so it is not a sharp point. I say radius, as in rounded, NOT flat. The idea is a small radius tip sitting in a larger radius hole as per most unipivot bearings. My suggestion would be to radius the tip of the grubs screws and then you should be able to couple directly to the acrylic without damaging the surface. In an ideal world the acrylic would have a dimple in it for the radius tip to sit in.

Slaw, working with AN wire is a delicate process, but with patience and care you can do it. Nandric's suggestion of anchoring the clips (one at a time; of course) on an old cartridge is a good one; you don't want solder "creeping" into the clip's sleeve. This can happen even if you hold or secure the clip vertically. A toothpick stuck in a large ball of modeling clay (or similar) also works well. The advantage here is being able to adjust the angle of the tooth pick/clip easily; horizontal is best.

-With the clip secured to the toothpick or cartridge, tin the clip's tab over it's entire length. Don't use too much solder; you don't need much.

-Now comes the hardest part; tinning the wire itself. After a lot of trial and error, I have found that the best technique is to melt a bead of solder unto the the iron's tip and with your other hand run the end of the wire through the bead of melted solder until you can see that the wire is coated with solder. Don't hold the wire in the solder bead too long or the wire itself will melt. Run it through slowly; it may take three or four times. Once the wife's insulation has melted the wire will be coated with solder; not before. If you try touching the wire with the tip of the iron you will probably melt the wire.

-Now, solder the tinned end unto the prepared clip's tab. I like to make sure that a little bit of solder (remember, don't use too much) runs unto the wire beyond the tinned section. This will provide some strain relief, as the insulated portion will be less susceptible to fracturing.

-Slip the heat shrink tubing over the wire unto the clip, making sure that it slips on past the tab and unto at least part of the sleeve for additional integrity and strain relief. Don't try to slip it on over the clip first.

-Unless the heat shrink tube fits very loosely (unlikely) I prefer to not heat-shrink it. This makes repairs much easier, by allowing you to carefully slip it off of the clip and reusing it.

Good luck, and let us know how you like the AN wire; it transformed the sound of my analog setup.

****Once the wife's insulation has melted...."****

Cracked myself up. Once my wife's insulation has melted, my iron.... Well, I better stop there :-)