Ortofon - Leadwire Set, 4 Pieces, Headshell Cables

A set of four headshell leadwires, colour-coded, with gold-plated connectors at both ends.

Headshell leadwires are the four short cables connecting a cartridge’s pins to the headshell, and they are the most fragile connection in a turntable. They corrode, the connectors loosen with repeated cartridge changes until they no longer grip the pins properly, and the fine wire inside eventually fatigues. A channel that drops out intermittently or sounds thin is very often a leadwire rather than a cartridge.

This is Ortofon’s base set: four highly flexible 28 AWG wires with 40-strand copper conductors, symmetrically constructed with gold-plated 1.2mm connectors at both ends, supplied in different colours so you can identify each channel and polarity at a glance. One complete set for one headshell.

One point worth raising because Ortofon does not reconcile it: this set is specified with 1.2mm connectors at both ends, while Ortofon states elsewhere that its cartridge pins are 1.2mm but its headshell pins are normally only 1.0mm. If your headshell has 1.0mm pins, expect the headshell end to be a looser fit than the cartridge end. Ask us if you are unsure what your headshell uses.

Features

• Set of four leadwires — one complete set for a headshell
• 28 AWG, highly flexible, with 40-strand copper conductors
• Gold-plated 1.2mm connectors at both ends, symmetrical construction
• Supplied in different colours for easy channel and polarity identification
• The usual cure for an intermittent or thin-sounding channel

Specifications

• Type: Headshell leadwire set, 4 pieces
• Gauge: 28 AWG
• Conductor: 40-strand copper
• Connectors: Gold-plated, 1.2mm, at both ends
• Construction: Symmetrical, highly flexible
• Quantity: Four wires — one complete set for a single headshell
• Colour Coding: Supplied in different colours for identification. Ortofon’s convention across its LW series is red and green for the right channel hot and ground, white and blue for the left channel hot and ground, with green also used to ground the cartridge housing
• Origin: Ortofon A/S, Nakskov, Denmark
• Not Published: Length — Ortofon publishes no length for this set, nor for any of its premium LW-series leadwires; the insulation material; capacitance or resistance figures; a model designation, since this base set has none
• Note: Ortofon specifies 1.2mm connectors at both ends of this set, while stating elsewhere that its cartridge pins are 1.2mm and its headshell pins are normally only 1.0mm. Ortofon does not reconcile the two statements. On a 1.0mm headshell pin, expect the headshell end to fit more loosely than the cartridge end