[bbophead]

Thanks! Yup, it's pretty cool looking. And sounds great

 
Yeah, I'm a fanman.
 
Please ignore the gnnrrr.  I need a new pic.
 

 

[CrazyRay]

Nicely done Skylab!

 

[analogsurviver]

  FYI
 

 Congrats!
 
Well, I am preparing to digitize at least the amount of vinyl pictured here into DSD128 files . Even if we assume the sound will be indistinguishable ( which can be approximated with DSD better than any commercially other available digital ) from the vinyl playing live, clicking on some wireless rodent  to get some silicon playing music will NEVER be able to replace the ceremony of playing vinyl. The tangible feel of the record jacket, which is an art on its own, is not reproducible on a computer screen. As is the super fine texture that even DSD is still lacking. As far as this quality is concerned, PCM and particularly 44.1/16 bit - never happened.

 

[analogsurviver]

I have installed the 2M Black "PNP" cartridge/headshell combo on my Pioneer PL-530 - sounds terrific.

Does this headshell allow for lateral alignment of the phono cartridge offset angle and/or overhang AND azimuth adjustment ? These, if fixed, leave you at the mercy of the tonearm designer that were anything but precise regarding geometry say 30 + years ago. From what I could decipher from the photos, minor lateral geometry adjustment should be possible.
 
Otherwise, this headshell seems to be optimized for rigidity/lack of/suppression of resonances. It is not the usual gimmick luring $ out of audiophile pocket on grounds of looks/exotic materials/precision of execution alone. It has one of the most practically useable and not too detrimental for sonics fingerlift seen to date in a commercially available product. I bet 2Ms sound better in it than they do in more conventional headshells. Did you try 2M Black out of curiosity in some other hedshells on this table as well ?

 

[Skylab]

You're correct, you cannot adjust either overhang or offset angle.  Fortunately, on the Pioneer, it wasn't really required.  On the Pioneer, overhang as checked with a Mobile Fidelity GeoDisc is spot on. Offset angle may be the very tiniest bit off, which will set the theoretically ideal tracking point a very slight amount more toward the beginning of the record than the end, but IMHO it's not even close to enough to be significant. I had a 2M Bronze on the original Pioneer headshell, and yes, I was able to optimize it very slightly better using the GeoDisc. But the PNP lines up very close. Close enough that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to someone who doesn't have the tools/experience doing cartridge alignment.

 

[analogsurviver]

  You're correct, you cannot adjust either overhang or offset angle.  Fortunately, on the Pioneer, it wasn't really required.  On the Pioneer, overhang as checked with a Mobile Fidelity GeoDisc is spot on. Offset angle may be the very tiniest bit off, which will set the theoretically ideal tracking point a very slight amount more toward the beginning of the record than the end, but IMHO it's not even close to enough to be significant. I had a 2M Bronze on the original Pioneer headshell, and yes, I was able to optimize it very slightly better using the GeoDisc. But the PNP lines up very close. Close enough that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to someone who doesn't have the tools/experience doing cartridge alignment.

 
Thank you for the instant reply. You were lucky with the Pioneer, most others are simply too much off.
 
WARNING : Technics arm on the 1210 DOES have a significant error in offset angle AND overhang and I would not recommend using this headshell on
Technics. A good conventional headshell would allow for proper alignment. 

 

[Skylab]

Why would you say that "most others are simply too much off"? The Technics may be, I have no experience with the Technics, but I think that in MANY cases where the arm uses a universal headshell, the alignment will be quite reasonable.  It cannot just be "luck" that it lines up almost exactly perfect on both of my Pioneer decks...
 
Nothing universal is going to be a panacea. But this may be valuable to people who don't have the tools or experience to do cartridge alignment.

 

[analogsurviver]

  Why would you say that "most others are simply too much off"? The Technics may be, I have no experience with the Technics, but I think that in MANY cases where the arm uses a universal headshell, the alignment will be quite reasonable.  It cannot just be "luck" that it lines up almost exactly perfect on both of my Pioneer decks...
 
Nothing universal is going to be a panacea. But this may be valuable to people who don't have the tools or experience to do cartridge alignment.

 
In 80s, Audio ( US magazine, now defunct ) published a good article on tonearm geometry. They had LOTS of then separately available arms on test, mounted them as per manufacturer's instructions, and then compared the results achieved with the theoretically and practically achievable results obtained by the use of Dennesen Soundtractor ( Baerwald alignment ). Very, VERY few were correct. You can see the "diversity" of the geometry of some pivoted arms here
http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~yosh/armdata.htm
I could have used ANY similar list - point remains the same.
 
Since then, many alignment tools using Baerwald alignment have been made available, MFs GeoDisc included. Baerwald has 66.0 mm and 120.9 mm from the centre of the record as null points
 
My own experience with mounting XY carts on XZ turntables , both "integrated" and separate motor/arm variety, confirms this. In general, Japanese tonearms list 15 mm as overhang - regardles if the effective lenght of the arm is 1 milimetre or 1 kilometre. There is only one effective lenght for which 15 mm overhang is correct - and it is fairly longer than average. Most Japanese arms tend to have too short overhang and too small offset angle to accomodate Baerwald alignment. In addition, there is tendency to mount the arm too close to the main bearing - in simple attempt to make the overall
dimension of the TT smaller.
 
That Audio article did have consequences - for example, SME did revise the geometry of the wand for the SME Sereies III , which was originally issued with wand according to IIRC Stevenson alignment that pays too little attention to the tracking error at the outer grooves if aligned right inside. It is possible to align the cart in SME III wand"MK I" correctly - but then it will appear crooked to an average audiophile. So do correctly aligned carts in most other arms - they are anything but parallel to the headshell lines if parallel where it really counts, that is to say on record, at any A and B points according to any alignment chosen.
 
Therefore, count yourself lucky with the Pioneer - kudos to them if they did not fall into each and every trap most other manufacturers did. The possibility to correct for the misalignment error that should not have been there in the first place is definitely a pro for conventional headshells that allow it. I would be interested in the independently measured tracking error of present Ortofon arms mounted according to manufacturer's instructions and fitted with 2M/PNP headshell; if it is indeed correct, kudos to Ortofon. If it is, this is a strong selling point, particularly for those not so comfortable with correct cart aligning themselves.
 
Just do not expect every other arm will be correct. One I can for sure say is not correct for such headshell is Technics Sl 1210. I agree that 2M/PNP must have advantage in rigidity/freedom from resonances - but that can quickly be overshadowed by distortion resulting from geometric misalignment.
 
My suggestion is to take any headshell that does allow for geometry correction, align the thing right using an alignment protractor and see if overhang and parallel mounted cartridge allow for the PNP headshell or not. Here the listing from ebay
http://www.ebay.de/itm/Black-Alloy-Plug-in-HEADSHELL-Head-Shell-for-Turntable-Record-Player-Disco-DJ-/350805504061?pt=Turntable_Parts_Accessories&hash=item51ada3303d
showing one of the many sellers of the Technics clone headshell, that does allow to adjust geometry right for most cartridges/TTs and is inexpensive enough to use for geometry chek up only. Tad heavy - but it does not sound bad either.

 

[Shaffer]

  FYI
 

 
Well, call me amazed. Never did I expect to see my record collection in a meme when I opened this thread. I've added a more recent shot (about a year ago) below; the shelves are pretty full at this point. On a personal note, I'm pretty flattered. Just showed this to my wife and children.
 
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d26/blkgti/x085.jpg

 

[OPR8R]

   
Well, call me amazed. Never did I expect to see my record collection in a meme when I opened this thread. I've added a more recent shot (about a year ago) below; the shelves are pretty full at this point. On a personal note, I'm pretty flattered. Just showed this to my wife and children.
 
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d26/blkgti/x085.jpg

It is indeed an impressive collection.

 

[Shaffer]

  It is indeed an impressive collection.

 
Thank you very much. It only took 38 years to get there.

 

[]eep]

Sure, that is an old school record collection. And an extensive one at that. I hope it's not 'the worst 5000 records ever made". I can't tell from here. :rolleyes:

This is mine... (among others, of course I have many LP's and quite some cd's too). But I guess the point of that picture is to show the effort that goes into a collection. Then mine qualifies too, it takes a lot of time and effort to get all the tags and covers logically indexed, informative and congruent.

But ppl don't seem to know the difference between hardware and software. The carrier and what it contains. Meme's are thoughtpollution. Mindprogramming instead of individual thought. Try thinking, it might reveal something new...

 

[Shaffer]

Sure, that is an old school record collection. And an extensive one at that. I hope it's not 'the worst 5000 records ever made". I can't tell from here.

 

How kind. Perhaps I should be the one rolling his eyes. Good luck to you. Indexing is hard work.

 

 

[bbophead]

Maybe something got lost in translation. 

 

[shipsupt]

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