Home Vinyl Asylum

Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ.

Headshells and stereo..

A couple of points - it really depends on how serious you want to get.

Using a stereo cart gives you all sorts of flexibility, like playing only one groove wall and playing vertically cut records. Using mono vintage or modern mono carts is OK if they do it for you. Just remember that the older your records are the more rugged the cantilever has to be.

As to headshells adjust the VTF using the rider weight on the SME. The Sumiko is a heavier headshell than the Stanton. If you use the Stanton weights they have to get you to the correct VTF, and it's unlikely that they will hit the spot - so you've got to adjust with the rider weight. If you use a Sumiko Headshell for 78s and SME for LPs you may find that you have to move the main counterweight as well to get the rider weight into an acceptable range.

Then there's VTA - the Sumiko and Stanton are different from each other and the SME.

Generally modern DJ headshells like the Stanton and KAB present the cartridge to the record much lower than the Sumiko and SME. I think it's because the Stanton 500 is quite a shallow cartridge height-wise. So you'll probably have to adjust VTA when you change headshells. Again it depends on how serious you want to get.

This is turning into a negative post, it's not. For your 2 78s get a Stanton headshell, 500 with generic 78 tip and experiment. If you want to hear more then it's time to consider an expansion path for your collection and getting some suitable electronics.

The SME3009/12 are very good arms for 78s as the knife edge bearings allow a the arm to track warped records very well.


This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  Signature Sound   [ Signature Sound Lounge ]


Follow Ups Full Thread
Follow Ups

FAQ

Post a Message!

Forgot Password?
Moniker (Username):
Password (Optional):
  Remember my Moniker & Password  (What's this?)    Eat Me
E-Mail (Optional):
Subject:
Message:   (Posts are subject to Content Rules)
Optional Link URL:
Optional Link Title:
Optional Image URL:
Upload Image:
E-mail Replies:  Automagically notify you when someone responds.