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Headshell leads and Arche headshell

I just received my Arche headshell. Definitely the best looking headshell that I have ever seen. I have been trying a couple of headshells, Phasetech and Ikeda with my Air Tight and FR64s and I did not like the result all that much in comparison to Reed. However, today, Air Tight with Arche headshell and FR66s sounds very very promising.
However, one problem that I have is headshell leads.
I have Oyaide, Ortofon and Ikeda silver leads that are all quite thick and stiff. I think the lead pins on Arche headshell may be a bit thicker than usual and it was really difficult to insert the headshell leads properly and I broke a few leads in the process :( Took me about an hour to finally fit all 4 leads then I found a new problem. The thick silver leads put enough force on the cartridge and kept pushing down the mounting plate essentially affecting SRA angle. As I understand it, the screw on Arche headshell can push down mounting plate for more SRA but there is no mechanism to fasten the mounting plate tightly against the headshell.
Finally I gave up on using those thick silver leads and just using Sumiko coppper leads for now which is so light and flexible that it virtually exerts no pressure to the mounting plate. Now the Air Tight/Arche/FR66s sounds great but I am wondering if there is any good silver leads that are flexible that would not cause any problem with Arche headshell?
suteetat

Showing 8 responses by nandric

nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 
Milimetr, The Arche is not supposed to 'sound' but to help
the cart and the tonearm to do their job right.
nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 
There are Van den Hul and Clearaudio headshell-leads which
are pretty 'thin'. For those who are good in soldering there should be no problem at all. The tags or clips in different quality can be bought on ebay. The added advantage of Arche to me are those inserts on which one can preadjust other carts and also the fact that one need just one set of headshell wire. Anyone else with more inserts than one?
nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 
Daniel informed me to be aware of the problem. Suteetat should contact him if he needs a direct solution. From July on the appropriate headshell wire will be available. With the same silver litz wire as used in the Axiom and some, strange to me tags ('titanium pincers'?). I asked for more info about those. I myself use the Clearadio tags for the headshell side and Cardas clips with springs for the cart (connectors) side. I ever shortened one of my silver litz phono-cable, bought an professional soldering iron before that and make my own. However my 'gold mine' of silver litz wire is pretty deplited.

nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 
The 'titanium pincers' are the 'medical tweezers' which Daniel recommends for use by handling the wire clips. Those are anti-magnetic , have a firm grip and will not damage the gold plating on the clips. Because of the context I thought that he dicovered some new kind of clips. I asked him to explain those 'pincers' in German to me. His headshell wire which are the same as in the Axiom tonearm are very flexible according to him. I am as curious about them as Suteetat is. One other explanation is about those small screws with which the inserts are fastened in the Arche headshell frame. Those screws have small steel balls on their 'nose' and can hold the inserts very firm in its place while allowing for the SRA 'rotation' at the same time. I need to add that behind those balls in the 'nose' of the screws there are springs which provide the needed tension.
nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 
Suteetat&Milimetr, For the 'low riders' among carts there are thicker inserts. I bought two standard and one 'fat' insert for just one of my carts with unusual 'height dimension'. The reason is the sturdy construction of the HS back side with arm coupling and azimuth provision.
nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 
Dear Dover, I need to mention that I was able so far to adjust my Arche to 1/306 s of a mm easily. If one handles the suppllied Allen key on the long lever, it works like
a minut (even seconds) of an analog watch. Very interesting to see how fine adjustable the M4 special fine thread is, if the indicator lever is long enough. Thus it indicates every fraction of a minut on an imaginated 'clock face' around the SRA screw. It is even fairly easy to return to previous settings to cross-check the sonic finding.I forwarded my findings to Daniel and he announced to add a printed dial indicator face to the SRA screw to allow precise repeatable settings.
nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 
Suteetat, I bought 3 inserts (2x standard 1x 'thick one') instead of one other Arche which is equivalent to 4 Arche's. Then I soldered my own headshell wire from silver Litz and Clearaudio clips (the best there are). This way one can determine the right length of the wire and avoid the 'compliant problem'.
nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 
What 'association' means ? Well John what do you think
when you see, say, this hanky?
John: 'I think about my mother cause she is a tearful kind of a person.'
And you Peter? Peter:'I think about womens behind.'
How come? Peter: 'I always think about womens behind'.
Some other can't obviously put Dertonarm out of their mind.
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