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Headshell leads and Arche headshell

I just received my Arche headshell. Definitely the best looking headshell that I have ever seen. I have been trying a couple of headshells, Phasetech and Ikeda with my Air Tight and FR64s and I did not like the result all that much in comparison to Reed. However, today, Air Tight with Arche headshell and FR66s sounds very very promising.
However, one problem that I have is headshell leads.
I have Oyaide, Ortofon and Ikeda silver leads that are all quite thick and stiff. I think the lead pins on Arche headshell may be a bit thicker than usual and it was really difficult to insert the headshell leads properly and I broke a few leads in the process :( Took me about an hour to finally fit all 4 leads then I found a new problem. The thick silver leads put enough force on the cartridge and kept pushing down the mounting plate essentially affecting SRA angle. As I understand it, the screw on Arche headshell can push down mounting plate for more SRA but there is no mechanism to fasten the mounting plate tightly against the headshell.
Finally I gave up on using those thick silver leads and just using Sumiko coppper leads for now which is so light and flexible that it virtually exerts no pressure to the mounting plate. Now the Air Tight/Arche/FR66s sounds great but I am wondering if there is any good silver leads that are flexible that would not cause any problem with Arche headshell?
suteetat
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unoear
141 posts
 
Nice to hear the siren's promos from the friendly salesman Syntax; Syntax, are you also the one to be handling the refund department for your partners, dietrich and axinia? Mike is still waiting, and waiting for his refunds...me too.

Cheers; well, sort of...
suteetat OP
435 posts
 
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.
nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 
Suteetat, I bought 3 inserts (2x standard 1x 'thick one') instead of one other Arche which is equivalent to 4 Arche's. Then I soldered my own headshell wire from silver Litz and Clearaudio clips (the best there are). This way one can determine the right length of the wire and avoid the 'compliant problem'.
suteetat OP
435 posts
 
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.
Ag insider logo xs@2x
unoear
141 posts
 
Nice to hear the siren's promos from the friendly salesman Syntax; Syntax, are you also the one to be handling the refund department for your partners, dietrich and axinia? Mike is still waiting, and waiting for his refunds...me too.
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