Good move. Try and avoid unshielded cables as the low voltage Cartridge signals can be overpowered by magnetic fields. There are many excellent shielded ones with prices low to high. Check the Sterophile Buyers Guide and good luck. On the cheap check the AR cables at Best Buy.

Depending on which cable you choose to run from the arm's output to the pre amp, yes, you probably will change the sound of the system. Is change the only thing you want? Use a female to female RCA and connect another interconnect onto the end of your existing phono lead. Again, depending on the cable you choose, you will probably change the sound of the system. (If you chose a high capacitance cable, you will undoubtedly notice a change in sound quality.)

I would think you would prefer to improve the sound of the system. Improving the system begins at the cartridge leads and runs to the pre amp inputs. Without rewiring your tonearm from the cartridge back, you are only doing a small bit of the job required to really upgrade your system. Replacing the tonearm leads is a bit more challenging than merely soldering some new connectors to the existing lead and buying a new interconnect. However, doing the job properly is where you will get your most efficient improvement. Drop someone like Michael Percy a note to inquire about what you will require to do a total rewire on your arm and cruise the internet for basic directions on how this is done. The new tonearm leads do not have to run inside the arm.

Before you invest in even that much money and time, though, I would make certain the table is set up as well as possible and is isolated from the airborne and mechanical feedback that plagues older Thorens tables. Improvement here will let you hear the most benefit from further tweaks to the system. If you don't have a top notch support for your table (Thorens like a wall mounted shelf), you will hear more improvement by doing that job correctly than any tonearm cable will manage.

http://www.percyaudio.com/

My bookmarks are out of whack tonight. Place "turntable set up" in a search engine. You can also begin by reviewing the Stereophile archives .

Are you, in this case, just looking for the potential fun of some tweaking or are you trying to correct some fault you find with the turntable's current performance? If it is the latter, give us some notion of what problem you have with the current sound and perhaps someone can offer some specific suggestions.

Jan Vigne has offerred very good advice. There may be better ways to approach a problem, or for that matter, more productive ways to have fun tweaking.

Jan's advice makes sense, but, may be more advanced or ambitious than you'd planned. The simple answer is that it can help. The slightly more complicated answer is that it can open up a variety of issues hinted at by Jan and Jim due to cable choices. The changes may just be different without being better (true of any tweak or change to a system, actually.) Years ago, I put female RCA jacks on a Technics and female RCA umbilicals on an old AR and it allowed me to use interconnects of my choice. It was worth it at the time, but, far larger benefits were had by upgrading to a modern high-end turntable.

If you do the mod, save the original cord so that you can revert to your old sound. Bear in mind any mods might kill resale value, if that is a consideration. Listening to interconnects hooked up to your current hardwired cables via double female RCA adapters won't necessarily tell you a lot about the sound you might get -- the old cables in the chain might mask any subtle changes the new ones would afford you.

Avoid high capacitance interconnnects (they could make squeals like you've never heard before) and most interconnects that use PVC insulation (I find they sound smeared in the treble and mids.)

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Listening to interconnects hooked up to your current hardwired cables via double female RCA adapters won't necessarily tell you a lot about the sound you might get ...

My point is such a connection will very likely change the sound, if by no other means than the new longer length adding more capacitance to the cable resulting a high frequency roll off. Whichever route the o.p. decides upon, the new cable should be no longer than the original cable that came with the table.

I would further suggest the o.p. decide whether the goal is to get an improvement; i.e. more transparent, open, dynamic sound, or to use the new cables as a tone control for a system that sounds a bit off. If the latter, then the simple double RCA connection will suffice. Without changing the wiring starting at the cartridge leads, the result is no more than adding another set of RCA's and another cable onto the stock cable. That arrangement is not much different than using a RCA coupler to add another interconnect onto the end of the existing cable. If the former, then the same problem Jeff points to (the original cable not allowing the new cable to perform up to its potential) will be there if you are only adding new interconencts after the signal has passed through as good chunk of the lesser tonearm wiring.

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what about replacing the whole length of the existing cable with, say, those with silver core (forget about the idea of using RCAs for interconnect)? Will it bring about improvement?

Probably. Without knowing any more about your system or tastes, that's about the best assessment I can make. But you might not like silver cables after you rewire the arm and lead out. If you are considering making one long run from the cartridge clips to the pre amp, you'll find that the 36 A.W.G. cable meant for the inside of the tonearm is pretty difficult to work with as an interconnect. I think I'd do a good cable as the tone arm rewire and terminate that with a junction box to accept other interconnects. And, since some silver cables can be difficult to work with and more than many systems require or can benefit from, stick with a good tone arm cable and learn from the experience. The silver cables will be there next time.

All this is being done because the RCA's on the present cable are dirty? Has no one introduced you to Pro Gold or Cramolin?

Finally, jumping to silver cables is defintely putting the cart before the horse if the table still isn't set up properly? Are we to assume you've attended to all the more important items before you've considered this project? Do you have a vacuum type record cleaner? That will do more for your entire record collection than silver tone arm wires. Do you have a well built two point alignment protractor? An accurate stylus pressure guage? A stylus cleaner? Is the table isolated properly? In my opinion, these are the things that need attention before you jump into rewiring a tone arm.