Removable headshells 101

Timeltel ... TA?

Also the use of wood as a damping/vibration modification material is interesting.
I have some mpingo wood shims I had made up for the Revox (where cartridge mounting requires shims for adjustment)

They are usually sold/advertised as "cartridge dampers"...

I have to admit to not having experimented with these other than using them as shims on the Revox (where they do an excellent job)

Wood has a couple of interesting properties:
Different speed of sound along grain vs across grain
This results in quite complex reflection/refraction patterns of vibration movement - with the potential for frequencies being altered/spread (refraction) resulting in damping...
Add to that the shear influences at the material boundaries.

The potential may indeed be there - but like any of these vibration related issues, the environment is so complex as to make it intractable other than as a black art. (frustrating that!)

bye for now

David

Pryso - yes interesting isn't it, Henry's comments amount to "this emperor has no clothes" :)

Dear pryso/Dlaloum: I totally agree with Halcro on the Orsonic hadshells ( I owned all the different original models. ) that IMHO are just a crap of headshell full of distortions.

Of course there are people that loves those distortions because IMHO they don't know/be aware that part of what they are hearing through this headshell in reality is added distortion.

This Orsonic headshell is one more myth in the analog audio that sellers spread the " rumor " that was a " great one " with out IMHO any precise/clear evidence and with out any other " help " ( for we customers. ) that makes easy money.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Hi Pryso, This is the problem of the abundance of information: I forget my 'source'. Anyway that is way I bought Clearaudio Titanium. An obvious copy of Orsonic.
But if Raul's and Halcro's objections also apply to Clearaudio I have obviously lost more money then those who have bought the Orsonic. Being cautious is alas not sufficient.

Regards,

Thinking further on this, it seems to me that any headshell with such poor structural integrity that one could "actually see the shell convulsing", then it could be twisted (albeit slightly) by hand as well. I mean, how much energy does the stylus/cantilever generate as it traces the groove?

The Orsonic I purchased appears to be very rigid, at least to attempts to twist it by hand.

Now I'm not suggesting that Henry and Raul are wrong about the lack of good sonic qualities. But I am inclined to try it for myself before discarding it -- and yes Raul, with a few different cartridges to see if I find a match.