Adding mass to a tonearm

Raul -

 I have two systems, my "fun" system which has the pioneer Pl-530, and what I consider my "high end" system which has my VPI Prime.  I'm only talking about my  The system that has the Pioneer, which has the Denon PL-103r. The only reason I was asking about adding high is because I've read that the 80's turntables with "S" arms are lower mass and that the Denon likes a higher mass  tonearm.   I cannot find any specific literature about the Pioneers S arm and what it's effective mass is.  

While the Denon sounds really good right now in the system I was just wondering how much I was "leaving on the table" by not having a higher mass arm, this led me  wanting to experiment and see what I could achieve with higher mass tweaks. 

Dear @last_lemming : Ok. What you can do is to buy a higher weigth headshell and see what happen.

Now, when we change the headshell from with the cartridge is mounted for other diferent headshell it does not matters its weigth ( well it matters but... ) the changes in the " new " quality level performance comes not only from the weigth but from the new headshell build material, new headshell build shape and the new headshell wiresa/connectors. So, its not easy to say if the changes for the better or bad quality comes from the diferent weigth.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

First, I don't believe that "S" arms are necessarily lower mass.  That will be a function of the material the arm was formed from, how thick the walls, the length, and so on.  If fact for a given length, a straight arm with offset headshell will likely be lighter than an S arm with the same effective length when other factors are equal.

However, to experiment, you could take a small ball of Blu-tak or plumber's putty weighing a gram or two (use your VTF scale) and affix that to the headshell, rebalance the arm, and see if this offers any sonic/tracking improvement.  If so, keep adding weight until it becomes worse, then reduce it to the optimal.  If no improvement was observed, then forget about it.

Note if that does give an improvement you should be able to determine how much mass could be added for a more permanent solution.

Dear @pryso : """  Note if that does give an improvement you should be able to determine how much mass could be added for a more permanent solution."""

As I posted the " game " of "" adding mass " rigth at the headshell is not the best way to do it because when adding anything at the headshell you are changing the resonances colorations/distortions because the material used to increment the mass can works as a " damping " tool or the other way around depending on the kind of material used on it.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Raul, and last_lemming, maybe I didn't make myself clear.  My suggestion to experiment with bits of clay to add mass was not meant as a permanent condition.  It was merely an easier way to find out if, and how much, added mass would improve the performance of the cartridge.  It went without saying if say a 2 or 3 gram increase was beneficial, then find a headshell that much heavier.

Otherwise, experimenting with a number of different headshells could get expensive and would be very time consuming, given consideration to mounting and alignment for each trial.  That was why I included the thought of "a more permanent solution".