Does Yamaha YP-800 need specific headshell?

Jereostereo

Active Member
Hi All. Years-long lurker, first post. I decided that today was the day to actually begin interacting with this wonderful community that has helped me literally hundreds of times with my audio adventures, and that the best way to start would be to just post about the first issue that popped into my mostly empty mind in the course of the day. So here goes. I recently traded three cassette decks for a Yamaha YP-800. Nice trade but no headshell came with the table. I have quite an assortment of headshells with good carts and styli that I have accumulated over the years. I just can't quite get the Yammie to operate smoothly with any of them, and I'm wondering why. There are issues with skipping and cart scraping. If I lower the vertical tonearm adjustment I get scraping, if I raise there seems to be a skipping problem. Have tried heavier and lighter weights. I've adjusted enough TTs to think I should be able to dial in this beautiful table. So is the YP-800 just extremely finicky or does it need the original headshell for proper operation?
 
Your problem lies elsewhere. It takes the the "universal" (SME-type) h'shell. Any variation of that should work. BTW, if you can find the original, grab it — I have one and it has some rare and useful features.

I see this is your first post. You came to the right place. Describe your symptoms a bit more precisely and we'll help you get it working — it's why we're here...
 
Hello, and welcome to AK!

This video is really helpful for setting up your turntable. Once you've balanced your tone arm (zeroed it out so it floats) and then set the proper Vertical Tracking Force (VTF) for your cartridge, see if you are still having the same issue.

 
I had a similar issue with my YP-D8. The original Yamaha headshell has a different offset in the vertical plane than the aftermarket headshells and therefore a VTA adjustment is needed when switching between them. When you make that adjustment be sure that the tonearm is not in contact with cueing arm when lowered. You may need to adjust the height of the cueing arm so that the tonearm lowers all the way down and there is a gap between the tonearm and cueing arm at that point. If it's in contact with the cueing arm, it will skip.

Jon
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom