I had Empires about 40 years ago, I think it comes out as I believe I still have an insert somewhere, but it was a long time ago. Soldering the leads is a real pain if I remember correctly.
Empire head shell
I recently purchased an Empire 208/298 turntable (with the tone arm) and have a spare head shell for it. The headshell in the turntable has the (stock?) Empire 108 cartridge in it, which I am currently using. I'd like to put something in the spare to try out; however, the leads where the clips are soldered to attach to the back of the cartridge are clipped, and would be too short to do anything with. Can these leads, and/or the whole piece that goes through the back of the headshell be replaced, and is it cost-effective? Where or how would I do this? Thank you.