The current research from my tonearm project says.....

Vinyl Asylum

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In Reply to: What is the relationship between headshell weight and performance. posted by Olly on April 21, 2007 at 06:30:38:

Just for others that read about this subject I will flesh it out a bit more. Olly you have a really good understanding on all this stuff.
Ideally the headshell would function as an immoveable platform so the cartridge and stylus could extract the information on the groove wall with the greatest accuracy. However it has to move up and down to compensate for warps and vinyl irregularity.
Many low fi and mid fi head shells allow a degree of headshell flexing. They sacrifice manufacturing costs and design features for a solid platform.
I recommend trying a highly stiff headshell. My research says the stiffness is critical and the weight is much less important. From a material engineering standpoint the material you chose for the headshell to get the stiffest material will also determine its weight and this has to be factored into the effective mass you are aiming to achieve.
You also have resonance issues with stuff that is stiff. So choosing the right material has effects up and down the chain.
Now remember what John just mentioned below. The pieces all have to come together as a system. Getting the arm resonance matched well is equally important to the sound. A tonearm has to be matched to the proper cartridge to really perform well.
Taking a Sumiko H-12 as an example, this headshell is a magnesium alloy design. It allows great stiffness at a realistic weight. The material is machineable so you can build cheap consistant pieces in mass production environments.
Olly you could build a stiffer graphite head shell, but it might be more difficult than building a stiff alloy headshell.
Hope this helps fuel some more discussion on headshells.
This is one piece of the overall tonearm design I want to get right.

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - What is the relationship between headshell weight and performance. - Olly 06:30:38 04/21/07 (6)

I've been experimenting with Benz Aces... - Scottrt 13:10:52 04/21/07 (1)

Re: I've been experimenting with Benz Aces... - Square Peg 14:14:54 04/21/07 (0)

The current research from my tonearm project says..... - tubesforever 11:17:23 04/21/07 (0)

Tried that. - OldGroaner 09:39:43 04/21/07 (0)

It isn't the headshell mass, Olly. it's the total effective mass - HenryH 07:40:53 04/21/07 (0)

Re: What is the relationship between headshell weight and performance. - John Elison 06:59:03 04/21/07 (0)

Follow Ups

The current research from my tonearm project says..... - tubesforever 11:17:23 04/21/07 (0)

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