SOTA NOVA, HR-X VPI, Technics 1200G recommendations?

Removable headshell is amazing option!

I didn’t damage any cartridge on Reed 3P (without removable shell), but it’s a challenge to swap carts on such arms. If you want to use just one cartridge then it’s ok.
But I got many cartridges and many tonearms. I like and enjoy using tonearms with removable headshells and DIN connectors.

Some outstanding tonearms are: Ikeda IT-345, FR-64fx, 66fx, 64fx PRO, 64s, Lustre GST-801, Victor UA-7082, Technics EPA-100 mk2 and much cheaper Denon DA-401 for high compliance carts. All with removable headshells!

@chakster, for people who want to swap cartridges all the time removeable head shells are very convenient but, they are a compromise when it comes to performance. If I really needed a removable head shell  I would not get any of those arms. I would get a Kuzma 4 Point 9.
I have found that I only want to listen to one cartridge, the one I like best. With the exception of 78's the best cartridge is always best at all genres. I also do not mind setting up cartridges. I am not willing to compromise. I want the best performance possible considering the tradeoffs. Once I set up a cartridge it stays put for years, sometimes more than a decade. If comparing cartridges is your thing the best way to do this is with multiple arms. Unfortunately for me the only turntable I like that takes two arms is the Dohmann Helix which has not fully evolved yet and is currently out of my price range anyway. 

I can't disagree more, because I'm still searching for the "best" cartridge and I tried over 60 of them (new and old, mm/mi and mc). Using 4 different tonearms is better than using one. 

It was an illusion that I could use one great cartridge on one great tonearm, this is the reason why my Reed 3p "12 inch is not in use now. This is the reason why my most expensive modern LOMC are not in use now. 

In my perspective I only discovered something more interesting, more involving and it wasn't a compromise in sound at all. 

As I mentioned in my previous post, with tonearm (with removable headshells) like Ikeda IT-345, FR-64fx, 66fx, 64fx PRO, 64s, Lustre GST-801, Victor UA-7082, Technics EPA-100 mk2 and much cheaper Denon DA-401 ... no one can go wrong if they are in use with properly matched cartridges. I have all those arm and very happy about performance. 



 

Chakster, Hasn't your journey revealed to you that there are many, many excellent cartridges and that the differences among the many very good sounding cartridges are in terms of nuances that may or may not appeal to any particular listener.  That is what I have come to believe; there certainly is no one single Holy Grail of cartridges.  The existence of so many very excellent cartridges makes it all the more obvious when you come upon a cartridge that is just plain ordinary or "bad". Those can be readily eliminated from the play list. I also agree that matching of tonearm to cartridge can really make a difference.  I could only have come to appreciate that by listening to many different tonearms with many different cartridges, and swapping cartridges among them.  In particular, low compliance LOMC cartridges really need high effective mass to sound best.  I find high compliance cartridges to be less fussy, in general.

For a few decades, the TP was my only tonearm.  Then when I started playing with several different turntables, I began to acquire and to listen to other tonearms.  I bought the Reed, which borrows heavily from the TP, and I bought several tonearms with interchangeable headshells only reluctantly, because I was steeped in the propaganda against headshells that was in the air in the late 80s and 90s. Like you, I am now addicted to having several cartridges pre-mounted on several different headshells, so i can swap from one tt/tonearm to another with minimal fuss. Doing that is a very educational experience. With a fine quality headshell, I absolutely hear no degradation associated with the extra contacts in the signal path, so long as I am using a high output MM or MI cartridge.  With an LOMC, I cannot swear that it doesn't make a difference, but I have stopped worrying about it.  My Koetsu sounds its best in my FR64S, regardless of the fact that I must use a removable headshell with that set-up. Also, rigidity of the connection between tonearm and headshell matters much less with high compliance cartridges, because those don't put much energy back into the headshell/arm wand.  With low compliance LOMC cartridges, there is a case to be made, I guess.

The effective mass of my SME 309 tonearm with removable headshell  is less than the effective mass of the SME IV or SME V fixed tonearms.  Hmm.  Generalizations can be dangerous.  I agree that fewer connections between the phono cartridge and preamp is better but unless you are soldering the tonearm lead wires to the phono cartridge pins and to the preamp input leads, it is somewhat of a moot point.  1.5 meters of litz lead wire has a resistance of about 10.8 milliohms,.  Each connection has a resistance of 0.5 milliohms.  My tonearm has 5 connections to the preamp vs 3 for the SME IV or V or 1 extra milliohm.  7.5% more resistance using a removable headshell.  But a fixed tonearm with no connections- solder joints only would reduce the resistance between the phono cartridge and preamp by 25%.