Removable headshells 101

Dear Nandric: Of course that I don't make any audio item choice only because I trust in you and that's not what I posted.

++++++" the subject here is which of those 15 answers are the " one " and only your skills/experience/know-how level along some type of research ( who is telling what, which audio system they own, music sound priorities of those persons, biased?: to what, etc, etc ) can tell you. " +++++

IMHO anyone of us follow a process ( personal one. ) when we take a decision.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

Hey Folks,

As some may have read/remember, I have a Sota Star/SME 309 on order. I get the idea from reading SME's description that the 309's removable headshell is not standard and would not be interchangeable with the headshell's you folks are mentioning. Is this correct? The SME is different?

Thanks,
Robert

Dear Raul,
Thank you for your responses and trust.
I also take with a large grain of salt the recommendations of most reviewers (except for perhaps Art Dudley & Arthur Salvatore) because their job effectively, is to promote new audio products.
Thus they mostly test and listen to, the latest (and greatest?) and probably don't have the time or opportunity to hear the great vintage analogue products which we, through forums such as these are able to?
You thus will never hear a current reviewer test a new audio cartridge against some of those vintage MM designs we have found to be so special?
You won't hear them test the new 'super' tonearms against the FR series or the Micro Seikis or the Audiocrafts or the SAECs etc for the same reasons.
The results of this myopia are constant articles and reviews which give the impression that the state of high-end audio is relentlessly moving forward?
This I have found in the last year or so, to be rather far from the truth.

On the issue of headshells though, I tend to agree with Dertonarm that if a well-designed headshell does not work well with a particular cartridge, there is more likely to be a fault or quirk with that particular cartridge body or design?
Of course it is easier to just say......poor match.....incompatibility......lack of synergy etc but I'd really like to know what are the reasons for these excuses?
And there must be definable reasons? The fact that we don't have the knowledge or patience to discover these is simply an admission of the depth of our lack of knowledge when it comes to audio? :-)
Cheers
Henry

Dear Dertonarm,
Thank you for your recommendations.
Interestingly, Audio Technica headshells I have experienced, frustrate me enormously.
Firstly, their fixed mounting holes in lieu of slots, makes aligning the geometry of the cartridge a hit and miss affair. I find you can be a millimetre or 2 away from achieving the correct stylus position and the only way to correct this is to unscrew the small side screw holding the headshell to the socket tube and slide it back or forth. This side screw is in fact then, the prime point of transferring the structural rigidity of the headshell to the socket tube.
As such it is totally inadequate.
Additionally, these fixed mounting holes do not allow one to adjust the overhang angle of the cartridge so that the stylus is tangential at the 2 null points.
If one is interested in accuracy and rigidity, I find the AT headshells ones to be avoided :-)
Cheers
Henry

Ecir38,
I have used other headshells in the MA-505s arm with great success.
At the moment the Yamamoto HS-1As is sounding particularly fine with the FR-5 MM cartridge mounted therein.
The only problems I can see with the Micro tonearm is for heavy cartridges and headshells whereby the counterweight ends up precariously close to the end of the arm-tube?
I've just purchased some additional weights from Holland to avoid this problem.