I have Ortofon silver leads as well and still have problem with its stiffness. I think the problem is worse for Koetsu because of the long body and relatively small room between
end of cartridge and headshell lead terminals. Silver leads just does not like to stay bent and exert quite a bit of force back at the cartridge. Since Arche mounting plate is basically attached to headshell through a hinge, headshell leads kept pushing mounting down at an angle always.I can't keep it perfectly parallel to the headshell.
For Koetsu, I really need something softer than silver leads, I think. All 3 that I have, Oyaide, Ortofon and Ikeda are all very stiff. I just found Acrolink 8N copper headshell leads that looks promising. If it sounds as good as its 8N phono cable, I think it should be ok. Too bad, I really like Oyaide silver lead wires but it just does not work with this particular setup. |
Don't know what happened to that thread either.
But so far, I am very impressed with Arche. A little hard to say as I changed headshell as well as headshell leads.
Acrolink is much easy to deal with than the stiff silver wire and does sound quite a bit better than Sumiko wire but also cost quite a bit more.
I got SmarTractor at the same time with Arche and it is very interesting. Easier to see things than Feickert or Clearaudio protractor. Strange though that P2S distance when adjusted to 295mm for FR66s or 295.6mm for Reed, it is a bit different from previous setting I had using Feickert and Clearaudio!
I only tried UNI-din geometry so far and it is very interesting. The sound is more relaxing, smoother, cleaner overall. The bass is a little softer, not quite as punchy though but still very tuneful. My impression is similar for both Reed/Lyra and FR66s/Air Tight. Some of my favourite recordings, music wise, sounded a bit edgy, a bit raw around the edge became smoother, more listenable.
I don't know how much is the UNI-Din geometry or how much it is from the fact that it is much easier to see and use and just letting me get proper placement easier.
I am at the age where being near sighted for a long time, I finally started to get a little far sighted as well but at a point where the weakest reading glass is still a tad too strong for me, no glasses is still not very clear and I don't have a chance of seeing those tiny point with my glasses on so I need all the help I can get.
Made me curious how Axiom would sound but I am in no immediate danger of trying that though :) |
I only have one insert so far but will get 2nd Arche for my FR64s for sure though. |
My problem is solved for now with Acrolink headshell leads.
If Daniel's silver litz wire is also very compliant, it would interesting to try. |
Syntax, did you shorten your Ikeda lead?
Mind looks longer, judging from your picture but it is hard to tell. I have been thinking that if I want to use silver lead, may be shorten it a bit more may help. |
Milimetr, my initial impression of Arche HS in comparison to Ikeda HS is quite positiv,much much better than current in production phasetech headshell. Not night and day or anything like from Ikeda but I feel the transition from bass to midrange to treble is more coherent. Everything sounds a bit more natural, a bit more detail but relaxing. Mind you, this is only after a few days of listening and headshell leads was changed from Ortofon silver wire to Acrolink 8N copper leads as well.SRA adjustment can be done as mounting plate is attached via a hinge screw up front so you can tilt the mounting plate down in the rear with another screw. I am not sure how useful that is. On Koetsu cartridge with long body, if you tilt the mounting plate just a little bit, bottom end of the cartridge body would hit the LP quite easily. |
There should not be any problem with Koetsu cartridge unless you use one of those very stiff headshell leads, I would think.I find Oyaide/Ortofon leads too stiff for Koetsu and Arche for sure. Acrolink or simillarly soft leads that would not cause much tension when bent should work.
Right now I have Arche with my Air Tight cartridge.
I should be getting the 2nd Arche sometimes next month with
silver litz wire and hopefully that will be soft enough.
Not sure why many silver leads are quite stiff. They are flexible and not very pliant. Silver valhalla wire in VPI arm or silver Finewire in Reed arm would also be ideal.
Also, because of the long body, SRA adjustment with Arche will not be all that useful but you can always keep the mounting plate parallel to the headshell and use the arm's SRA/VTA adjustment instead. |
Dover, I think you may misunderstand my post a bit and I think that I did not make a good description of my problem.
If you look at Arche website, the mounting plate is mounted flat up against the headshell which is fine. Mounting plate is attached by a hinge joint on the side (tension ball point tappets according to Arche). You adjust SRA by a screw located toward the rear of mounting plate. In effect, you adjust SRA by tilting the rear of the cartridge down.
When Koetsu is perfectly parallel to the headshell, ie no tilt at all, there is no problem (assuming arm is perfectly parallel to the platter). If you start applying SRA adjustment on Arche by tilting the end of cartridge body downward, low rider like Koetsu/Kiseki with relatively longer body than usual, the rear end of the body will hit LP very quickly so there is not much room to adjust SRA with Arche for these cartridges. Unless I somehow misundestand the whole purpose of this tiltable mounting plate but this is my impression anyhow.
The screw is a few milimeter long and supposedly you can adjust from 90-94 degree so definitely a little adjustment will affect the angle much more than SRA adjustment via tonearm.
My problem with thick silver headshell leads was that the leads put a lot of tension on the cartride and push the rear end of cartridge down by itself without applying any SRA from the screw on Arche.
Nandric, I am not sure how the thicker plate will help low rider cartridge more. At the momdent, I just keep the tonearm completely parallel to the platter and keep the mounting plate perfectly flat against the headshell. |
Peterayer, from what I can see usually, the hinge screw generally has enough tension to keep the mounting plate stationary in one place. When playing, there will also be more force to push the mounting plate up toward the headshell.
I don't think that there is a problem with this design per se
in this regard.
Oyaide leads are very stiff and when there is less clearance between cartridge and headshell pins such as in Koetsu case, the tension, created by headshell lead is very strong.
When I took Koetsu off Oyaide headshell that I have initially, I found a couple of pins on Koetsu was bent significantly. When adjusting overhang of my Koetsu, it also was not easy as I have to push against the leads quite a bit to get Koetsu back enough in the headshell.
I look a bit more closely at the headshell leads that I have and actually, it is not the wire itself that is very stiff but really more at the end of the leads where you have the heatshrink and tubing. You can bend the wire anyway you want but the joint and the heatshrink tube part
is not very bendable and you can feel a lot of tension there when you need to bend it. Oyaide is quite a bit more stiffer there than both Ikeda and Ortofon.Two heatshrink tube ends barely a space between both heatshrink tube/joint end for Koetsu.
Again, Syntax had not problem mounting his Olympos with Ikeda wire as there is certainly more space to work with and using leads that are more pliants in my case Acrolink, there is no problem. Whether I should blame dimension of Koetsu, stiffness of the leads or Arche design, you can all decided for yourself.
I usually stay very neutral regarding the two camps as I listen to both, appreciate the advise from both camps that I found to be useful. I bought Arche from local dealer with no special discount or favor from any particular camp and like it enough that I am ordering a 2nd one for my other tonearm despite problem that I have which is already easily fixed.
Sorry for bring up this topic as I did not realize that it would become a springboard for more spats among some board members.
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hmmm.. I posted about 10 hours ago and nothing showed up.
Peterayer, anyhow, I don't know whose blame this is. It could be combination of Arche, Koetsu's dimension and stiffness of leadwires. Actually I should say the stiffness of the joint and leadwire end with heatshrink. The wire itself in the middle is quite soft. With Oyaide wire and headshell, there was not much room between cartridge and terminal on headshells and eventhough I could force Koetsu into the right position. When I took it off Oyaide headshell, there was enough pressure to bend a couple of pins on Koetsu cartridge quite a bit. Syntax had no problem with Ikeda silver leads and Olympos. Now, I have no problem with Air Tight and Acrolink leads. I don't expect further problem with Koetsu either with right leadwire. Enough to say that I am getting a 2nd Arche and probably a third as well... |
I ordered a couple of sets and another Arche headshell as well. They should be here soon. Since there is just a bit over 1/2 cm space between the end of the pins of the cartridge and headshell (for Koetsu and Kiseki) something very bendy and thin would be good. |
Sounds good! Mine should be here very soon. In comparison to Ikeda cartridge, the rear of Koetsu is extended probably another 1/2 cm toward the rear so there is very little clearance space. The long shrink wrap or whatever it is called make me a bit worry. I might have to trim it.
I ordered the new Arche headshell with additional thicker mounting plate
so the pins end of cartridge and headshell will be at a slightly more different level and hopefully that will give me a bit more wiggle room for the headshell leads. |
Hmmm.. I posted something about 12 hours ago and it went into limbo. So this is kind of a duplicate post from earlier.
The new headshell leads look promising but heat shrink of whatever you called it looks a bit too long, I might have to trim it a bit. With Koetsu and Kiseki cartridge, the rear of the cartridge extended probably about 1/2 cm further to the back than Ikeda cartridge so the space between the end of the pins on the cartridge and headshell is very small. I ordered the thicker mounting plate for another Arche headshell for my Koetsu so hopefully with the pins being at different level, hopefully there will be enough room to wiggle the leads around a bit more.
Glad to hear I am not the only destroying Oyaide leads left and right :) Over here for some reasons, Oyaide silver leads are very expensive, almost $150 a set, more than twice as expensive as thecableco advertized in the US.
Let just say that I am not a happy camper with all these silver pieces lying around. A local DIY store that also sell Oyaide leads told me they can resolder the leads for me at least. |
I got another Arche headshell, Aggelos leads and mounted my Ikeda cartridge on it with no problem at all. No struggling, bending, twisting the wires and absolutely no problem with SRA at all as Aggelos exerts pretty much zero force back on the cartridge unlike Ikeda or Oyaide wire. I don't have even an hour on this setup with FR-66s yet but love what I hear so far very much. |
