Detachable Head shell or Not?

@pindac - I read again your comments on tube rolling while also evaluating cable differences.  During the decade that I compared many cables, I did much more experimenting with tube rolling.  It was 15-20 years ago that some A'gon members, most notably Albert Porter and Bart Posner, shared with me much of their in-depth knowledge on the many tubes they had tried.  I bought the same line and phono stages as Albert owned, and I had the same observations.

The first thing I do when I get a tube product is to remove the stock tubes.  They are there because of availability in mass quantity.  But the true potential of these units is only experienced through patience.  One learns/discovers a few brands of each tube type that bring on a new level of articulation, frequency extreme coverage, openness.  There are some with wild tonal coherence issues, flat presentation, etc.  But on occasion, a discovery can lead to an improvement that many would classify as a "component upgrade".  This experience can occur 2, 3 or more times with one component.  And if the component has a tube power supply, especially a tube rectifier, a change here can be as dramatic as a signal tube.

Some tube component designers suggest that their designs do not require tube rolling, or they go as far to say it is not recommended.  But Michael Elliot, the Counterpoint designer. encouraged his customers to experiment with signal and power supply tubes.  He was so right about the benefits here.  It's this devotion to experimentation with tubes and cables, that can take a fairly good sounding system to be near, or at, or even beyond the performance of systems costing significantly more.

@pindac - If interested, send me a private note here and I can share some of my favorite tubes in the 6922/6DJ8, 12AX7/5751, 12AU7/12BH7, EL34, classes.  I have no experience with 6SN7 based preamps but maybe one day I can try such.

John

With detachable shells, I think it is never as good, but convenience may trump the degradation in sound. Similarly I cant think of a single situation is which directly going from the cartridge to the preamp with wire wont be superior. 

I used to not like them, but now that I own a Technics MK7 I have come to appreciate the ease at which I can not only mount a cartridge, but also swap another in on a spare headshell. I doubt there is much noticeable difference in sound quality. Another cool thing is you can use headshells other than the Technics.

The idea of the continuous wire from Cart' Pins the Phono RCA will be very appealing to those who want minimised interruption in the Signal Path.

The method is best used only if the mechanical properties of the Tonearm are not impacted on by the methods to use the wire,

The goal is to have as close to a Zero influence as possible on the mechanical interfaces within the arm, and there are not many who deal with this area, that are with the understanding and skills to create the methods where a influence of the design change for the wiring is nearing Zero influence.    

Raul - I tend to not be fond of the word, best.  The use of superlatives often gets us in trouble.  Even when we refer to one product over another as better, this too is often not easily quantifiable.  When I compare products, I think of preference, and at that moment.

I talked again with the tonearm dealer today.  Two weeks ago he gave me the rundown on the sonic and setup differences of the tonearm he had for sale vs. two others that I asked him about.  He had been a dealer for one of those.  It all came down to preferences, the word best never came up.

The dealer told me the tonearm mount ring on my TT's tonearm tower is chrome-plated aluminum.  As the bottom of the tonearm is metal, he suggested an alternate to machining the existing mounting ring.  He felt that metal on metal was not a good coupling.  Initially he considered inserting a 3mm wood shim here as provided by the tonearm designer. But today he suggested to machine a new mount altogether.  He talked of different wood materials and other boards made of multiple materials sandwiched through a high temperature process.  I shared the evolution of my system, my sonic preferences years ago and now.  This lead him to suggest a couple of boards to match with my preferences.  Again, we never talked about best.

With all the discussion here on tonearms, removable head shells, cable from cartridge to phone stage, etc., the discussion today with the dealer made me aware of the relevance of mounting board materials. 

After I live with he arm and cartridge change for a week or so, I will tweak the arm's parameters per the dealer's suggestions, listen more and repeat another time or two and then leave it alone.  Once I become familiar with the changes, I will cycle a few IC's and PC's in a couple places.  And who knows, I might prefer another of my cables in a link that was not preferred there before.  😊