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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
 
Ah, silver litz and Daniel...I paid Daniel for silver litz, never received the product or a refund...still waiting all these months, maybe years. As Syntax is fond to say, "hope, it dies last."

Cheers!
suteetat OP
435 posts
 
Milimetr, my initial impression of Arche HS in comparison to Ikeda HS is quite positiv,much much better than current in production phasetech headshell. Not night and day or anything like from Ikeda but I feel the transition from bass to midrange to treble is more coherent. Everything sounds a bit more natural, a bit more detail but relaxing. Mind you, this is only after a few days of listening and headshell leads was changed from Ortofon silver wire to Acrolink 8N copper leads as well.SRA adjustment can be done as mounting plate is attached via a hinge screw up front so you can tilt the mounting plate down in the rear with another screw. I am not sure how useful that is. On Koetsu cartridge with long body, if you tilt the mounting plate just a little bit, bottom end of the cartridge body would hit the LP quite easily.
milimetr
139 posts
 
Thank you a lot for your description.
Does it mean that Arche cannot be used with Koetsu cart?
I was thinking about pairing Arche with Koetsu...
suteetat OP
435 posts
 
There should not be any problem with Koetsu cartridge unless you use one of those very stiff headshell leads, I would think.I find Oyaide/Ortofon leads too stiff for Koetsu and Arche for sure. Acrolink or simillarly soft leads that would not cause much tension when bent should work.
Right now I have Arche with my Air Tight cartridge.
I should be getting the 2nd Arche sometimes next month with
silver litz wire and hopefully that will be soft enough.
Not sure why many silver leads are quite stiff. They are flexible and not very pliant. Silver valhalla wire in VPI arm or silver Finewire in Reed arm would also be ideal.
Also, because of the long body, SRA adjustment with Arche will not be all that useful but you can always keep the mounting plate parallel to the headshell and use the arm's SRA/VTA adjustment instead.
milimetr
139 posts
 
Thanks a lot. I am considering to use Arche with Virtu tonearm and Koetsu Coralstone, so your opinion is very useful for me.
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