I also use an Orsonic headshell, although it says Audioquest on it. It's likely the AV-1.
Seeking high quality lightweight head shells
In order to achieve the best performance from a cartridge, TT, arm and head shell all play an important role. I recently purchased the Sound Smith Ebony Voice MI cartridge. I'm planning to mount it on an SME 3012R tone arm. I understand given the cartridge parameters and its nominal 1 gram tracking, I need a good lightweight head shell. Can anyone direct me to a site or otherwise good source for a premium head shell? BTW, the cart is a medium compliance type. Your guidance is much appreciated.
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I recently did some research into this, and here's what I found (weight in grams): Jelco 12 Technics 7.5 (7.65 actual on my scale) Zupreme 12 (w/wires) Yamamato HS1A 10.4 Yamamato HS3 8.2 Clearaudio Stability 12 Sumiko HS-12 11.2 w/o lift, 12.6 w/lift actual on my scale) LPGear 7.5 / 8 The ad to the Orsonic listed above says its weight is 11 grams. -Bob Bob |
Hesson's research aligns with my own experience. So far the Technics headshell is the lightest I've come across. But spend the $15.95 and replace the leads with HPOFC ones. The medium compliance version of the Voice has a compliance of 22, which is on the high side of medium. It weighs 6.8g. The effective mass of the stock SME 3012 R tonearm is 14g with its standard headshell, so total effective mass is about 21g. This cart-arm match creates a 7 to 8 Hz resonance which is at the low end of the ideal zone. If the Technics shell can reduce the effective mass by a couple of grams, it'll put the resonant peak solidly in 8 Hz territory, which is closer to ideal. No other headshell is lighter than the Technics, though there are a couple of wooden Yamamoto headshells (boxwood perhaps?) that come in at 8 g which should be close enough. |
Dear Frontierl: Btw, IMHO you can use any headshell weight where the cartridge makes the best match ( of course that the tonearm can handle the headshell weight. ), don't worry about the resonant frequency between tonearm/cartridge, that resonant frequency value can't tell you anything about the quality performance of that cartridge/tonearm combination. If you have time please read this: http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1200430667&openflup&1612&4#1612 Btw, Johnnyb53, you can find from Denon a 5grs headshell and from Audio Technica a 6 grs. headshell too. Regards and enjoy the music, Raul. |
