Should the Tone Arm be Removed When Installing Cartridge?

I guess according to Miller there would be 3 categories among us: audiophiles, sensible persons, and Linnies. We know the latter group are irredeemable.

i see merit in mijo’s approach, if you have an easily removable arm board and a non-removable headshell.


in my experience gimbal type tonearm bearings are not so fragile, given reasonable care. Many unipivots simply come apart at the bearing junction.

millercarbon, I am not certain of your intended message.  Are you disagreeing with me, in that you think the tonearm should be removed to install a cartridge?  I've never ever even considered doing such a thing, but if I did, I would then be very worried about damaging the cantilever/stylus when re-installing the tonearm. That to me is even a greater opportunity for disaster.  I am not rabid on this topic; it's surprising to me that others might routinely do what I never have thought of doing.  Which is fine.

Does the tonearm have a detachable headshell? If so, I see no reason to remove the whole tonearm in order to install a cartridge.  If not, I still don't think it's necessary.  In fact, there is some advantage to leaving it mounted because you can more easily avoid stress on the bearings if you're careful.  On my Triplanar tonearm, which does not have a removable headshell but which does have an azimuth adjustment that permits rotating the whole headshell by 180 degrees, so the mounting surface faces upwards toward the installer, that's how I do it.  Makes life much easier.