Moonglum, You wrote: "BTW...your Triplanar has a connector at each end of the phono cable. All you have done is reduced the number of connectors not eliminated them."
Without a doubt, what you say is true. Would you expect me to solder the tonearm wires direct to the cartridge, at one end, and direct to the hot and ground inputs on the phono stage? The issue at hand is whether reducing the number of connectors to the bare minimum, using presumably very thin wires all the way from cartridge pins to phono stage where the same wires are terminated with male RCAs or XLRs, vs using a removable headshell, which entails the introduction of physical connectors at the headshell times 2 (headshell wires connect to the rear of the headshell and headshell makes additional physical contacts with the mating piece on the arm wand), at the base of the tonearm via DIN or RCA or whatever, and then on to the phono stage, using RCA or XLR there.
John Ellison pointed out on VA that by allowing for the extra connectors introduced by the headshell, one can actually reduce the total resistance seen by the phono signal, compared to using 33ga wires all the way from cartridge to phono inputs. He seemed also to believe that the lower the resistance, the better or less distorted would be the SQ. My own experience tells me that eliminating as many connectors as possible always sounds better, notwithstanding the slight penalty for added R. You could say this is my opinion based on my years in this hobby. It is important to note that in terms of pure resistance, we are talking about a difference of less than 0.5 ohms, using John's calculation, which I don't doubt, albeit I found a slightly lower number than he did for the 4 feet of 33ga straight wire option (~0.8 ohms vs ~1.0 ohms). You can read the relevant posts from me and Halcro, above. I also pointed out that there is no imperative about using 33ga wire from one end to the other in the minimal connector scenario. One could get away with 28ga wire, for example, and this would reduce the gap in resistance between the two approaches, if resistance is a bugaboo. (John assumed one foot of 33ga wire [disregarding the two added physical connections in series with the signal in his scenario], followed by 3 feet of 26ga wire. He compared the total R for that to the total R for 4 feet of 33ga wire.)
I have also pointed out that many phono stage gain devices are wired with discrete resistors in series with their inputs, to prevent oscillation. The values of such resistors are typically about 100 ohms or more. This totally swamps the difference in total R between the two wiring options, so I cannot imagine why resistances in that order of magnitude would make much difference. But if I am entitled to my opinion, the other guys are also entitled to theirs.
You seem to be asking me to say how I arrived at my own opinion. I guess this is due to an accumulation of several experiences. One such was in connection with my Triplanar. When I bought it (from a reviewer), it came with the external in-line termination box that offered female RCA outputs. After listening to it for several months or even a year, I then had it re-wired by Herb Papier, the inventor of the Triplanar, with about 4 feet of 33ga Cardas wire going from cartridge to male XLRs that plug directly into my balanced phono stage. The original wire was also Cardas 33ga, so there would be no SQ difference per se attributed to changing the wire. Using a Koetsu Urushi, it was and is my subjective impression that the tonearm sounds better using the direct connection. These days, I own several tonearms, some that use the straight shot wiring and some with removable headshells. I generally find that for LOMC cartridges, I prefer the tonearms with straight connection vs the tonearms with removable headshells. For higher output cartridges, I agree with what I think Halcro said; I hear no difference.
Without a doubt, what you say is true. Would you expect me to solder the tonearm wires direct to the cartridge, at one end, and direct to the hot and ground inputs on the phono stage? The issue at hand is whether reducing the number of connectors to the bare minimum, using presumably very thin wires all the way from cartridge pins to phono stage where the same wires are terminated with male RCAs or XLRs, vs using a removable headshell, which entails the introduction of physical connectors at the headshell times 2 (headshell wires connect to the rear of the headshell and headshell makes additional physical contacts with the mating piece on the arm wand), at the base of the tonearm via DIN or RCA or whatever, and then on to the phono stage, using RCA or XLR there.
John Ellison pointed out on VA that by allowing for the extra connectors introduced by the headshell, one can actually reduce the total resistance seen by the phono signal, compared to using 33ga wires all the way from cartridge to phono inputs. He seemed also to believe that the lower the resistance, the better or less distorted would be the SQ. My own experience tells me that eliminating as many connectors as possible always sounds better, notwithstanding the slight penalty for added R. You could say this is my opinion based on my years in this hobby. It is important to note that in terms of pure resistance, we are talking about a difference of less than 0.5 ohms, using John's calculation, which I don't doubt, albeit I found a slightly lower number than he did for the 4 feet of 33ga straight wire option (~0.8 ohms vs ~1.0 ohms). You can read the relevant posts from me and Halcro, above. I also pointed out that there is no imperative about using 33ga wire from one end to the other in the minimal connector scenario. One could get away with 28ga wire, for example, and this would reduce the gap in resistance between the two approaches, if resistance is a bugaboo. (John assumed one foot of 33ga wire [disregarding the two added physical connections in series with the signal in his scenario], followed by 3 feet of 26ga wire. He compared the total R for that to the total R for 4 feet of 33ga wire.)
I have also pointed out that many phono stage gain devices are wired with discrete resistors in series with their inputs, to prevent oscillation. The values of such resistors are typically about 100 ohms or more. This totally swamps the difference in total R between the two wiring options, so I cannot imagine why resistances in that order of magnitude would make much difference. But if I am entitled to my opinion, the other guys are also entitled to theirs.
You seem to be asking me to say how I arrived at my own opinion. I guess this is due to an accumulation of several experiences. One such was in connection with my Triplanar. When I bought it (from a reviewer), it came with the external in-line termination box that offered female RCA outputs. After listening to it for several months or even a year, I then had it re-wired by Herb Papier, the inventor of the Triplanar, with about 4 feet of 33ga Cardas wire going from cartridge to male XLRs that plug directly into my balanced phono stage. The original wire was also Cardas 33ga, so there would be no SQ difference per se attributed to changing the wire. Using a Koetsu Urushi, it was and is my subjective impression that the tonearm sounds better using the direct connection. These days, I own several tonearms, some that use the straight shot wiring and some with removable headshells. I generally find that for LOMC cartridges, I prefer the tonearms with straight connection vs the tonearms with removable headshells. For higher output cartridges, I agree with what I think Halcro said; I hear no difference.