Removable headshells

@billstevenson Much appreciated but, I bought a Yamamoto before seeing your post. Thank you for the advice.

I also bought what's supposed to be a real Jelco headshell from Audio Sensibility. Evidently remaining stock from when they were a Jelco dealer. 

@lewm Thank you for your wise words.

@mulveling  Thank you too.

I wish I could help you, I have two Yamamoto headshells at my home in FL.  Tried them and didn't like them.  Unfortunately I am at my "summer" home right now in NH.  If you want to hold off 3 or 4 weeks I can gift you one.  They are excellent quality and highly regarded BTW.

A difference of 1 or 2g can be ignored. Yamamoto makes excellent headshells. Go for it.

Thanks everyone! It's all great input. My research reveals that there are more variables than expected with specs and ratings as I read and learn more about the subject. My take away here is to get a headshell in the 12 gram range to get started.  Also, one suggestion I have gotten is to try a Yamamoto headshell that is 10.6 grams. Any opinions about that one?

I use the head shells made by Pete Riggle of VTAF and Woody tonearm fame. The headshells are made of wood, and only 6 grams. He also provides a 5 gram brass weight for when it needs to be heavier. Also, I love the finger lift he designed. Real easy to use. 

David

If you don't want to accept what I said, trust mulveling on this one.  A heavier than necessary headshell would be deleterious in this application.  

I wouldn’t count the Moonstone as a low-compliance cartridge. It’s made in Japan, and thus spec’d at 100Hz rather than 10Hz (Euro). Its compliance is really more akin to 18 - 22 (@ 10Hz), which is into high-medium compliance territory. I certainly wouldn’t go out of my way adding a massy headshell here.

Also in general - it’s unlikely any MM cartridge would have compliance as low as 12 @ 10Hz. It’s MC cartidges that have a much stiffer suspension and robust damper because of how they work.

A heavy headshell ("too much weight") can be your friend if you want to use a low compliance cartridge and need to increase tonearm effective mass.  One very good one that I use with a Koetsu Urushi is the Ortofon LH9000, which weighs 18g, as compared to most of my other headshells that weigh 9 to 12g. I mounted it on my FR64S tonearm, which is already a high mass tonearm, but the FR headshells are not so great sounding. With the LH9000, the Urushi never sounded better.

The SA-250 effective mass is 18g, yes? Looking at an online resonance calculator, I would think if you added weight you'd be out of that sweet spot for resonant frequency.

I hate to say this, but they all sound different.  You would be well advised to try a few different ones before settling on one.  The one I use is, unfortunately, no longer available.  I do like ones that allow you to adjust azimuth.  In terms of weight, too much weight is not your friend.