Removable headshells 101

Threads like this cause my pocketbook to drain itself of currency. Bought new headshell leads and an Orsonic Av-11b headshell. Thought I might as well now before this thread causes the other unintended consequence (compare MM/MI thread): the skyrocketing of headshell prices. Where can I find an AT-LH18 for $55?

Q: I just bought an Azden ym p50vl (sic!--see above); any thoughts on good headshell match? Or does matching require knowing the tonearm as well?

Halcro (or anyone): what headshell are you using with your signet 'freaks'? I'm using mine (tk 5ea with at 155lc stylus) with an AT ms-11 headshell. I've not been entirely happy with the sound; maybe it's the headshell?

What about for the empire 4000 D/iii (which I also just bought; sic!)? I'm really not happy with the sound I'm getting from that cart--I got a NOS stylus, so maybe it's breaking in.

What for heaven's sake is the sence of testing two carts a day? What possible sence is in owing 100 different carts? This whole fuss has nothing to do with music but with some egos who want to be 'super egos'.

What sense is there in watching sports or tv or having a cocktail or any of the other countless activities undertaken by citizens in a pluralistic democracy? Unless one is a devotee of Plato or Aristotle and gazing at the Forms all day, push pins or poetry: whatever (to butcher Bentham).

Perhaps the intention is to achieve super ego status (who really knows?; who cares?), but nevertheless the MM thread and hopefully this one has helped a lot of people acquire information that would be otherwise lost or relegated to the chosen few. Where else am I going to get opinions (for free!) on relatively obscure headshells but through threads such as these? One shouldn't confuse the value of a practice with the value of the original intent (cause).

But you are probably right, Nandric, that all this is but a symptom of the West's decadence and decay. But we knew that already when 100 million votes were cast to pick the winner of American Idol :-).

Dear Nandric: the reference to Plato and Aristotle was intended to mark a contrast with those in a pluralistic democracy who deny that there’s a legitimate perspective from which to condemn an individual’s personal ends. That’s not to say there are no illegitimate ends, but we can draw the distinction (see: harm principle) without getting into the nitty gritty of an individual’s conception of her own good.

In that light, recall that the epigram is ‘pushpins, poetry: whatever’ and not ‘benevolence, pleonexia, murder: whatever’. Unless you’re comparing owning 100 MM carts and testing 2 carts a day to murder and thievery, there’s no issue here.

Even if my wallet were willing, my personality would never permit me to buy a $3k cartridge. Admittedly that’s one reason I love the MM thread: it comforts the bargain hunter in me, nurturing the idea that I can have 10 quality MM carts for the price of one MC cart. You may charge me with the vice of acquisitiveness, but I would say I love pluralism ;-).

Dear Raul: thanks for the advice. Unfortunately for me, my AT headshell is one of those tiny, short and stubby ones that make little allowance for adjustment. I just tried mounting the Empire on it and I don’t have the required, very, very short, screws. Worse: I have no idea where to get them. My Azden is also out of commission until I figure out how to deal with the universal mount adapter it came with. The adapter covers all but a tiny bit of the cart’s pins and there’s no way for me to get my lead wires onto them. I’ve already destroyed a set of lead wires trying. Is the adapter supposed to have its own pins or are the cart’s pins supposed to stick out through the adapter? I’ve never even seen a p mount cart before this one so I don’t know what’s going on.

On a brighter note, I swapped my Signet freak cart from its AT headshell onto a Sony headshell I had lying about, and it’s clearly better for it. In my ignorance, I had believed that the AT headshell to be just better simpliciter and didn’t even think to try the Sony on it. Hume wins again: pretense to causal knowledge be damned; try everything and see what happens.

Your influence is far and deep, Raul. Turns out the previous owner of my Azden removed the adapter's pins based on your recommendation in the mm thread. I ordered a new adapter so I should be able to listen to it next week. Maybe I'll try drilling larger holes in my current adapter so the headshell pins will fit through. Might as well try as it's unusable for me right now.

Mounted the Empire on an Orsonic headshell. Will report some thoughts about it next week.

I'm looking to upgrade my headshell leads to silver wire. Anyone have recommendations? Are the Van den Hul leads that use MCS 150m good? What about MCS 300?