Detachable Head shell or Not?

What makes me smile is the idea of a $20K cartridge on a $100,000+ turntable in order to play even a mint vintage LP that one may have paid $5 or $10 for. Of course the buyers of those cartridges probably would not be caught dead with a used LP. They probably buy all their LPs newly minted from one of the many purveyors of such vinyl. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that, but it is an amusing social phenomenon, to me.

The first thing I'd say is, don't knock it until you've heard it.  My first experience hearing a system that probably cost more than you mentioned was mind blowing.  

Secondly, if someone is going to make that kind of investment, they are likely well versed in what "good" vinyl is.  The person that owned this system was, for sure.  They may also buy collections of used vinyl, but be very picky about what they purchase, not to mention being cognizant of the fact that old pressings are often better than new pressings.  

If I had the means and time to do so, I would not hesitate to make an investment of that size in an analog system and the vinyl to go with it.

@edgewear the Zen Diamond that convinced me there’s no decisive sonic advantage to fixed wiring.

Exactly.
The world of audio deviates more and more in situations similar to formula 1 or to formula indy cars where every technical micro detail is pursued for improvements that in car racing a tenth of a second every lap can make the difference (and can be verified ) but in the audio field we must consider that the ear has difficulty in perceiving, even more with age since the physiological decline increases and worse still there is no racing car to beat.
With these terrible assumptions, we cannot expect the new generations to love audio as we do, on the contrary, there is a risk of move away these young people from us who belong to the old or very old generation.

Just an update here.  After taking delivery of a Schroeder tonearm, I soon realized that this tonearm has a similar cartridge interchangeability as the Tru-Glider.  In the case of the Schroeder, the cartridge attaches to a plate which is then attached to the arm via one screw.  The screw is used to align the cartridge around the Z axis at the two null points on the protractor.  The Tru-Glider uses a detachable head shell and likely goes through a similar adjustment to the null points.  Both arms retain wire integrity from cartridge clips to RCA's.

As for my TT situation, both arms would sit on towers.  See my system setup for a view of this.  Swapping cartridges for both arms is quick and easy....no fussing with the high-risk process of mounting a cartridge with its screws.  Adjusting either arm's tower for the correct distance for the two null points takes only a minute or two as well.  This reminds me of the adjustable distance settings I have seen on the Feickert TT.

I have no experience with the Tru-Glider, but once the arm height is adjusted for VTA, it takes maybe 5 minutes to adjust the counterweight for back-n-forth VTF and Azimuth.  And then the setup is ready to play.  Total swap time here is about 15 minutes with the only vulnerability being the breakage of the cartridge clips if one gets rushed or careless.

The following is a copy and paste of a section of an earlier post I had made.

There is an update on this investigation further on in this post.  post that follows 

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' The motivation to create this demonstration of New Wire Designs on the Tonearms   is solely created from my side, the Tonearm Designers are aware of the compromises that my suggestion to trial the wires can create, when an external mounted wire is used, they remain open minded about the demonstrations and are quite willing to experience my proposals and have already shared between each other a simple solution for mounting routing the Wires and a temporary shielding method, that if all the methods being selected work together, will alleviate the concerns for an unsuccessful demonstration completely. 

From a selfish perspective I am hoping for a PC Triple C or D.U.C.C Tonearm Internal Wiring, as the over the past year the whole of the system has progressively had New Wire Design Cables added, and is now set up with the same wire types being used at all other interfaces between devices, and PC's are the ongoing Cables being exchanged to the New Wire Types.

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Today I have taken part in a phone conversation with the engineer who is producing the Tonearm that I am using.

Our models in use at present are not identical, as I have not had the modified SME Bayonet Headshell, that has a much improved coupling to the wand produced for mine.

I have heard my model in comparison to the SME Bayonet Headshell modified model, and have also had my preferred Cart' mounted onto the modified model.

There is a noticeable improvement with the modified Headshell in use, my own Cart' was being perceived for being able to offer an improvement in the preciseness of the details produced, and this is a cart' that is already very good at digging detail out. A longer listening period may have shown more of the improved capabilities of the modification.

This is a modification that I intend on having adding to my own arm. 

I have balked at booking the Arm in fro the mod' as there has been inroads made to the use of PC Triple C wire for internal wiring for the Tonearm.

I have had a very recent experience of this wire in use on the modified tonearm, which had got my attention further, even though I was assured there were a few foibles that were remaining to be overcome, as the sheath was not supple enough.

Today I was informed of a new sheath being used and the Tonearm is wired internally with PC Triple C Wire.

I was thanked for encouraging this line of investigation and was requested to visit to receive a demonstration.

The Engineer who has worked with this tonearm design for quite a few years has made it known they are extremely impressed and I should hear it in use myself.

He said he has no doubts in his mind why SAEC have chosen this wire type for their Tonearm.

I has taken a little bit of obsessional encouragement to get to this stage and the reports offered are very exciting.

I have another friend who is a producer of Tonearms and has been encouraged by myself to take part in these investigations, I am sure now the reports are as received they will adopt the methods used for the one that is now in use and looking to be quite a special item.    

@lewm 

@pindac 

'what tonearm offers both a continuous wire connection AND an interchangeable headshell? '

Kuzma 4Point arms all have detachable headshell and continuous wiring run from cartridge to phono - no joins.

Furthermore you can remove the arm tube completely with continuous wiring still attached to make attaching the wires to the cartridge pins easier after you have install the headshell alternate headshell.

Brilliant system.