Low Mass Headshell - Sources
- Thread starter wanders
- Start date
Register to hide this ad
jasonsong86
Super Member
amazon
ETI_5000
Super Member
Keep a look out for used magnesium alloy headshells on eBay – the Denon PCL-5 weighs 6g, and is a fairly common model. I bought two of them a few years ago from a seller in Hong Kong who frequently advertises tonearms, headshells and cartridges. ADC also made a magnesium alloy one designated the LMG-1, which is around the same weight, and also relatively common, although neither it nor the Denon have adjustable azimuth.
wanders
Super Member
Thanks, ETI. Probably going to be tough to find an adjustable azimuth at a low weight.
wanders
Super Member
I bought the PCL-5 from an eBay vendor in Japan (wasn't cheap). It arrived today and I mounted-up the Dl-301 ii. The cart came alive immediately (finally). Thanks for the advice.
wanders
Super Member
Be interested to see one of those.
Wanders unlikely you'll find a under 8gr headshell with adjustable azimuth. There are a few quality headshells that will fit your needs, the Technics 7.5gr headshell without the add on weights is one. The ADC-LMG-1 is around 6-6.5gr, I recently purchased one in excellent condition with original box from HiFiDo for a very reasonable price. Also as mentioned the Denon PCL-5 magnesium 6gr headshell can also be found listed on HiFiDo. Since you have reached the point of knowing that a lighter headshell will be a benefit it isn't a wise move to purchase a no name generic of questionable quality/construction to save a few bucks. You will never loose money or be disappointed with any of the Japan made headshells mentioned, forget about Amazon, Ebay China made headshells, your just throwing your money away on junk.
wanders
Super Member
Thanks for the thoughts, Majick. I did end up with the denon pcl-5 which weighed in at 5.7g and is of quality manufacture.
My goal was to be able to run the higher compliance dl-301 ii on the mid-mass Grace and not have to acquire a different tonearm. Once I was able to reduce headshell mass by 6g, the cart became very happy.
There was just no way find an azimuth adjustable at that weight. The Grace 940 is a challenging arm to setup. It is a silicone damped unipivot without an anti-skate mechanism; it just has a lateral balancing weight which affects azimuth and a/s. Later Grace 940-type arms did have a separate a/s feature. I'll run this setup through the Hi Fi News test record later and see how it fares.
My goal was to be able to run the higher compliance dl-301 ii on the mid-mass Grace and not have to acquire a different tonearm. Once I was able to reduce headshell mass by 6g, the cart became very happy.
There was just no way find an azimuth adjustable at that weight. The Grace 940 is a challenging arm to setup. It is a silicone damped unipivot without an anti-skate mechanism; it just has a lateral balancing weight which affects azimuth and a/s. Later Grace 940-type arms did have a separate a/s feature. I'll run this setup through the Hi Fi News test record later and see how it fares.
Vinylcalle
Active Member
Yamamoto HS-3 is very close (use one myself) 8,2 grams. There is some pretty light AT-shells to but these will only work with non threaded cartridges (have one of those to for spare carts).
