Detachable Head shell or Not?

Me too.  Have always disliked the label “audiophile” ‘though.  “Enthusiast” works much better for me…..soon to be (more) “relaxed” 😊

There’s no question that it is much more practical to have a tonearm with a detachable head shell. There is also no question in my mind that, everything else being equal, having a fixed head shell has sonic advantages. Whether those sonic advantages are significant enough to justify giving up the practical advantages of detachable head shells is a personal call. Since it is practically impossible to compare both approaches in a situation where everything else is equal, the reason that I feel there are sonic advantages to fixed head shells is the following:

Years ago, when I had more time on my hands and was more obsessive about this hobby I spent quite a bit of time with a soldering iron modifying my components. As crazy as it sounds even to me today, at one point I actually had my entire system (with the exception of cartridge pins and power cords at the wall outlets) hard wired. Not a single connector on any of the cables, low level or high, in sight. Straight shot of tonearm wire from cartridge clips to preamp where it was soldered to the phono section’s circuit board. Interconnects to amplifier and speaker cables at both ends were, likewise, hardwired. My point in bringing this up is that every time that I eliminated a connector or some kind from the signal path there was an audible improvement in sound So, for me, it would defy logic to think that the elimination of the additional contact points introduced by a head shell would not result in a sonic improvement; especially considering a cartridge’s very low level,signal. Again, whether the improvement in sound is worth the hassle and inconvenience is a personal call; but the improvement was real.

However, this is really all academic since a superior arm design with a detachable head shell will be superior to a lesser design with a non-detachable head shell.  I am not aware of any arm that comes both ways, detachable and non-detachable.

Too many typos.  Too many solder flux fumes?  😱

Agree with Lew. Along the same lines as the fixed vs detachable headshell question, if the quality of the wire used to rewire in a continuous run is not at least equal to that of what the arm is presently wired with, as well as that of the cable connecting the arm to the preamp, then the net improvement after rewiring will be lessened; possibly rendered irrelevant. A vote, once again, for the AudioNote silver wire.

Btw, something that doesn’t get mentioned in this “debate”. We all have favorite cabling for our systems. Imagine if one were to decide that our preamp needed to be moved to a different location and instead of the 1 meter tonearm interconnect cable with DIN plug currently used, we would now need 1.5 meter of tonearm interconnect cable.. Does it make sense to, instead of buying a 1.5 meter length of the currently used tonearm interconnect cable, to patch our current one meter cable to a different brand, or model, .5 interconnect? To my way of thinking, that is essentially what happens when not using a continuous run to preamp tonearm wire.

Jafox, you missed my point entirely. 

I have shared my experience with and impressions of four different tonearm wires in (actually, with the exception of the VDH, “on” is more accurate) my Eminent Technology ET2 tangential tracking arm- the stock VDH silver clad copper, Cardas, Discovery and finally AudioNote silver in a “continuous run from cartridge clips to preamp”. I won’t bore anyone with those impressions again. I also did share that aside from the clearly superior sonics of the AN, the fact that it is far and away the thinnest and most supple of the four allowed for much easier and consistent balancing of the arm. I still own the three different replacement wire looms.

I bring this up again only to point out that it is entirely possible for owners of pivoting tonearms to use a wire loom of a very supple wire such as the AN to run a “continuous from cartridge clips to preamp” EXTERNALLY while leaving the arm in its stock form. That is precisely what I did with my back up arm (Syrinx PU3) when I needed to take the ET2 off my turntable; once when the air pump broke down and once when I needed to dismantle the arm to clean the air capillaries.

What I have done is secure the AN wire (twisted pairs) to the underside of the arm tube at two or three points along its span with thin strips of easily removable painters trim tape. Then create a generous loop around the pivot point, dressed and secured at some point where the arm’s movement won’t be impaired and then continue onward to the preamp. The AN is so thin and supple that whatever amount of additional resistance it may add to the movement of the tonearm is unlikely to be a negative factor; it is that flexible compared to the others. Of course, the wire is totally unshielded and in some listening room environments this may cause issues with noise. I have not experienced this.

Point is that the curious can experience first hand the benefits of “continuous to preamp” tonearm wiring without taking the plunge to full modification of their arm. Frankly, I’ve always been surprised that only one participant in these discussions has ever tried this; to the best of my knowledge.  When one considers the amounts that are spent on tweaks and other items that end up in “the drawer” no longer used, the cost of trying this is very reasonable. Moreover, if one likes what one hears perhaps the very same wire can be supplied to a professional modifier and reduce the cost of a more permanent internal wiring. I would be shocked if most who try this were not, likewise, shocked at the improvement in the sound of their lp playback.

**** listen for several weeks on a regular basis to one setup in my own system where I know intimately every component in the pathway, and then to change from setup A to setup B and listen again for an extended period of time to B. Ideally, that would be followed by a second audition of A. ****

Exactly. Trust your ears! I recognize the influence of “placebo effect”, but IMO the road to the best possible sound from one’s system is to keep a healthy amount of skepticism always secondary to what we actually hear.

I wish I had said that 😊

 Btw, for me it has been a permanent arrangement since with the ET2 I have felt no need to do it internally.  

How would you describe, from a specific sonics standpoint, what your goal is? What about the sound that you are getting now are you not satisfied with and hope to improve?

Thanks.

mijostin, my most ambitious mod was a complete rebuild of the crossovers (internal and external) and all wiring in a pair of Magnepan MGIIIA’s with high quality and bypassed caps and air core inductor coils; some of the best available at the time. All in an external finished wood box (see through acrylic cover, of course 😊), no fuses and all rewired with Cardas (regret that one) internal hook up wire. Not a single one of those nasty steel connectors that they use (d?); and of course, no socks. I’m sure that all seems like child’s play compared to what some of the esteemed contributors here are capable of, but I was pretty proud of that one. To this day, in many ways the best sound from any of the systems that I have had. In the loft space that they lived in the soundstage was simply phenomenal; huge, well proportioned with great sense of depth. Incredibly, well defined bass down to about 28 hertz, as measured. For orchestral music, I have heard few that got it so close to right. Miss those speakers.