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
Dover, I think you may misunderstand my post a bit and I think that I did not make a good description of my problem.
If you look at Arche website, the mounting plate is mounted flat up against the headshell which is fine. Mounting plate is attached by a hinge joint on the side (tension ball point tappets according to Arche). You adjust SRA by a screw located toward the rear of mounting plate. In effect, you adjust SRA by tilting the rear of the cartridge down.
When Koetsu is perfectly parallel to the headshell, ie no tilt at all, there is no problem (assuming arm is perfectly parallel to the platter). If you start applying SRA adjustment on Arche by tilting the end of cartridge body downward, low rider like Koetsu/Kiseki with relatively longer body than usual, the rear end of the body will hit LP very quickly so there is not much room to adjust SRA with Arche for these cartridges. Unless I somehow misundestand the whole purpose of this tiltable mounting plate but this is my impression anyhow.
The screw is a few milimeter long and supposedly you can adjust from 90-94 degree so definitely a little adjustment will affect the angle much more than SRA adjustment via tonearm.

My problem with thick silver headshell leads was that the leads put a lot of tension on the cartride and push the rear end of cartridge down by itself without applying any SRA from the screw on Arche.

Nandric, I am not sure how the thicker plate will help low rider cartridge more. At the momdent, I just keep the tonearm completely parallel to the platter and keep the mounting plate perfectly flat against the headshell.
Raul, this a good question about the arche and the initial flaws inherent in the design. The earlier trumpets, say now that they were a little slow and out of tune, whoops! It is like, "oh yes, it is super...wink, wink."

So, from the origin forward the arche will continue to be further compromised by a patching process. A little bend here, add a plate there...to parapharse one of the group, "the brain was compromised from the beginning, right?" Slippery, huh?

Cheers!
If stiff headshell leads exert enough force to effect and alter the SRA, ie. the movement of the cartridge in the headshell because the mounting plate is on a spring hinge and not fixed, then that seems not to be a very rigid headshell design.

I had been under the impression that a tonearm headshell should be extremely rigid. What is the point of having a rigid arm tube if the headshell is not rigid. Or is this headshell and mounting plate design meant to absorb vibrations by being flexible?

Perhaps I don't understand the design of this headshell.
Peterayer, from what I can see usually, the hinge screw generally has enough tension to keep the mounting plate stationary in one place. When playing, there will also be more force to push the mounting plate up toward the headshell.
I don't think that there is a problem with this design per se
in this regard.
Oyaide leads are very stiff and when there is less clearance between cartridge and headshell pins such as in Koetsu case, the tension, created by headshell lead is very strong.
When I took Koetsu off Oyaide headshell that I have initially, I found a couple of pins on Koetsu was bent significantly. When adjusting overhang of my Koetsu, it also was not easy as I have to push against the leads quite a bit to get Koetsu back enough in the headshell.

I look a bit more closely at the headshell leads that I have and actually, it is not the wire itself that is very stiff but really more at the end of the leads where you have the heatshrink and tubing. You can bend the wire anyway you want but the joint and the heatshrink tube part
is not very bendable and you can feel a lot of tension there when you need to bend it. Oyaide is quite a bit more stiffer there than both Ikeda and Ortofon.Two heatshrink tube ends barely a space between both heatshrink tube/joint end for Koetsu.
Again, Syntax had not problem mounting his Olympos with Ikeda wire as there is certainly more space to work with and using leads that are more pliants in my case Acrolink, there is no problem. Whether I should blame dimension of Koetsu, stiffness of the leads or Arche design, you can all decided for yourself.

I usually stay very neutral regarding the two camps as I listen to both, appreciate the advise from both camps that I found to be useful. I bought Arche from local dealer with no special discount or favor from any particular camp and like it enough that I am ordering a 2nd one for my other tonearm despite problem that I have which is already easily fixed.
Sorry for bring up this topic as I did not realize that it would become a springboard for more spats among some board members.
I just got confirmation off line that once SRA is set, one tightens the locking mechanism on the mounting plate and it becomes becomes extremely rigid and a fixed part of the headshell. I guess if the leads exert enough pressure to move the SRA, then one must hold it steady as the locking mechanism is tightened.

Details are on the webpage.