Hi Jim. I did in fact try this over the holidays.
not to muddy the waters but have you tried the Korf ceramic headshell ?
Testing the Yamamoto HS-4 Carbon Fiber headshell.
Received the Yamamoto HS-4 Carbon Fiber headshell today and tried it on my 12" Jelco 850L. I guess this is a common upgrade path for many Jelco users so I succumbed to temptation.
Turntable is a modified Garrard 401 in a slate plinth on a maple and concrete support with new third party bearing, platter and idler.
I tested it with my Decca "Garrott Brothers Microscanner" Gold with new line contact stylus and Decapod.
Three records were played. Ketty Lester - Love Letters (1962), Cole/Davinport/Tate/Dickenson - French Festival Nice France 1974, Buddy Tate - The Great Buddy Tate (1981).
I played sample tracks from the records before swapping the standard magnesium Jelco headshell out. From the first needle drop using the Yamamoto, there was a soft grey veiling. Not a great start. There was definitely greater depth and improved bass - I could hear the kick drum pedal hitting the skin in a very specific location and acoustic bass was well delineated and easier to follow. Soundstage was more of a wall of sound with greater height. I remember the same effect using grey plate Sylvania Gold 5751s once which are acclaimed but not to my taste. Female vocals didn’t have the articulation and airy projection I normally experienced and it was that which forced me to stop going any further and I duly put the original shell back. The greyness was gone, replaced by a transparent black background and what I can only call a vast increase in precision and focus. I deliberately didn’t mention the mids and highs with the HS-4 simply because they were compromised and wholly unsatisfactory. With the Jelco, the tremendous detail returned: The color and metallic shimmer of cymbals, the beauty of vocal inflection, instruments speed and clarity. Piano hammers sounded fast and believable. But most importantly, dynamic range now soared with startling realism. That bass drum is not as clearly evident and it is the one area I’ll give to the Yamamoto. Make no mistake though, this carbon fiber headshell was an enormous fail for me. I can only assume the material imparted its soft plasticky sonic signature onto the music. Not recommended.
Turntable is a modified Garrard 401 in a slate plinth on a maple and concrete support with new third party bearing, platter and idler.
I tested it with my Decca "Garrott Brothers Microscanner" Gold with new line contact stylus and Decapod.
Three records were played. Ketty Lester - Love Letters (1962), Cole/Davinport/Tate/Dickenson - French Festival Nice France 1974, Buddy Tate - The Great Buddy Tate (1981).
I played sample tracks from the records before swapping the standard magnesium Jelco headshell out. From the first needle drop using the Yamamoto, there was a soft grey veiling. Not a great start. There was definitely greater depth and improved bass - I could hear the kick drum pedal hitting the skin in a very specific location and acoustic bass was well delineated and easier to follow. Soundstage was more of a wall of sound with greater height. I remember the same effect using grey plate Sylvania Gold 5751s once which are acclaimed but not to my taste. Female vocals didn’t have the articulation and airy projection I normally experienced and it was that which forced me to stop going any further and I duly put the original shell back. The greyness was gone, replaced by a transparent black background and what I can only call a vast increase in precision and focus. I deliberately didn’t mention the mids and highs with the HS-4 simply because they were compromised and wholly unsatisfactory. With the Jelco, the tremendous detail returned: The color and metallic shimmer of cymbals, the beauty of vocal inflection, instruments speed and clarity. Piano hammers sounded fast and believable. But most importantly, dynamic range now soared with startling realism. That bass drum is not as clearly evident and it is the one area I’ll give to the Yamamoto. Make no mistake though, this carbon fiber headshell was an enormous fail for me. I can only assume the material imparted its soft plasticky sonic signature onto the music. Not recommended.
Showing 21 responses by noromance
@hdm I did read your review recently. I have no idea! Maybe it's a Decca thing with its high energy feeding into the shell and arm (despite being in a Decapod). The difference was not subtle. Fine detail was missing on the Yamamoto. Most likely being absorbed by damping in much the same way a cork mat softens the sound. Which is why I do not use one. I do not damp. Everything is rigid as possible with the 3" maple the only consession to softness. I'm listening to Van Morrison - Beautiful Vision (WEA 1982) and the percussion is superb. Vivid and open, incredibly fast and detailed. With the HS-4, it is definitely veiled somewhat. Back to the original, it is like a Cleaned Window (get it?!) One could speculate that the magnesium shell is reflecting energy back into the system giving the impression if detail. However, I do not feel that is happening as the purity of tone is so tangible. In other words, mouth sounds on a female singer and brushing cymbals, harp string plucking and the reverberation along the strings, the fine control of sibilance, and most of all, the emotional quotient of the performance, all indicate a lack of distortion. The natural, you are there rendition of the performance has an absolute sound of rightness missing with the carbon fiber shell that I could not lose forces me to stay with the Jelco for the moment. Most odd that we are hearing things the way we do or that the systems gel differently. |
I sent the Yamamoto headshell back to Amazon. There was no letting it break in or testing with other cartridges. It just didn’t work for me. I wish you could have heard the difference. I once sat in on a show demo of a dull and overly bassy system and spoke to Ken Kessler afterwards. I found his reaction disquieting when he said it was excellent. Maybe it's me! |
Thanks @lewm for all that! Of course I know you were not being judgmental. It's great to hear alternative opinions and insights. I wonder if it's the Deccas. I know my three Deccas trounce my Audio Technica AT750SH which I bought out of curiosity and a control, Deccas being somewhat out there as far as normal cartridges go. I hear folks saying they prefer a smooth sound or a controlled sound. I don't. I love high levels of insight and detail. When I detect a reduction of that detail, the guilty party, if you will, has to be removed. |
@halcro I was hoping you'd stop by. I'm baffled. It's not the first time I've had well-reviewed items sound worse than what I already have. I'm certain the leads were correct. I took a photo in case I forgot the orientation. As you know, the Boston Mat2 was one and some $250 acclaimed phono cables utterly failed to match my standard Jelco 501 cable. However, other goodies like idlers, bearings, tubes have all been consistent with other users' feedback. Maybe the Decapod metal created an unstable junction between the carbon fiber... |
De gustibus non est disputandum! But not really. There have to be other phenomena at work here. I do not believe the disparity of human physiology can be so diverse that we hear so differently. But not really. Maybe neural density of the brain accounts for the alternative psycho-acoustic interpretations of the auditory transmission from system to mind. |
Thanks again @chakster . There are two questions raised in this whole quandary. 1. What is the quality of the sound produced in a system where the damping is such that the music appears to be either bright, lively, detailed, and transparent or sound dark, muted, flatter, and less dynamic? 2. Why would one prefer one type of rendition of the music over the other? |
@nandric Not sure what cultural and musical preferences have to do with sound perception especially in relation to others on this thread. Truth and value statements may seem at odds with each other but what is the truth here? Is the headshell truly better than I hear it? The only way to ascertain an agreed-upon outcome is to have a listening session and discussion. We could speculate and theorize indefinitely. |
’Not really’ means that taste and cultural preferences are not relevant to the actual sound quality. I am rejecting that as a factor in the equation. My hypothesis is thus: Unless there are physiological and/or psycho-acoustic reasons, the quality of reproduced sound should be consistent for all users. If it is not, other physical factors are at play in the reproduction chain. |
@tomic601 I must have missed this, Jim. I have looked at ceramic headshells and put it off. How did you get on with the pseudo ceramic spacer sound? |
My older post from 2019. Interestingly, I have had the opportunity to test out a very well made 12" Well Tempered clone with a carbon fiber tube. (See Virtual Systems profile) And it has the same characteristics of slightly slower and duller sound. A grayish veiling, reduction of dynamics. (Note that the arm builder has improved this by changing a part). Is this "plastic" coloration endemic in carbon fiber? |
Thanks @lewm . I can rest easier now! |