Removable headshells 101


Due to the influence of Raul's thread on MM cartridges, I believe that some of us (perhaps for the first time), have acquired a tonearm/s with a removable headshell?
In my case, there was a vacuum of knowledge or information about what makes a good headshell and for the last 6 months a great deal of my time and effort has been expended in acquiring personal hands-on experience.
Perhaps a Forum to share experiences will help new adherents to this once denigrated (by the High End) segment of tonearm design?
halcro

Showing 3 responses by 2channel8

I'd really like to revitalize this thread (minus the verbose theories) and share experiences to see if ant predictable combinations become clear.
I will confine my comments to my Sumiko Premier MMT with Cards rewire. I had been researching a possible replacement arm for my Oracle Alex MK III; but I am abandoning that for now, as the only affordable options seem to involve fixed headshells. So I'm looking to tweak the Sumiko. If anyone knows of any good tweak for the MMT, feel free to share.

The cartridges/headshell I use:
Hana SL/Sumiko with Cardas Rhoduim wires the rubber collar washer is lost. 19.26 g/lowish? compliance
I've ordered a Yammamoto HS-4 (carbon) intended for this one because I just can't leave well enough alone and I think I thought I may have heard something I slightly didn't like on one LP the other night.

Denon DL-301 II/LP gear Supreme 18.52 g/22 uN
Dynavector 10X3/TT-N 19.63 g/12 uN (I use damping)
Shure V15 RS SAS/Ortofon SH-4 16.24 g/25 uN and Stabilizer

I listened to the Shure, Hana, and Dynvector with and without collar washers today. No earthshaking differences; I think I prefer the Hana without and the Shure with. The Dyno sounded the same.

As I said, I plan on mating the HS-4, which is about 0.7 g lighter than the Sumiko, with the Hana.
I am thinking I'll move the Dyno to the Sumiko to lighten the load there. But maybe the DL-301.....?

Regarding leads, I am not sure I buy the idea of silver or rhodium having much effect unless the entire arm is wired the same way. Kind of seems like a 4" pipe connected to a 2" one. The 2" controls the flow rate. That being said, I'll probably try switching the Cardas leads to the HS-4 if I haven't bent a cantilever by that point.

Comments? Advice? Similar experiences?
Thanks for re-joining, @nandric. Your expertise is always appreciated. Are your tonearms wired with silver? What do you mean by "fast headshells"?
Interesting. Do you have a favorite arm, or is it basically horses for courses?