You can improve your sound for nothing . . . thats if you have a blob of BluTack and a 1p pice?
With the advent of the Audiomods Classic arm coming, I have been playing with the' AM' head shell mass weigts, originaly with the idea of compliance matching the arm and cartridge. It turnes out my cartridge matches, however, the compliance window is flexible,
So keeping within the window, I changed my tack, go for an imovable mass, (more weight at the cartridge). The advantages were obvious as one thought about it, the mass does not move so esily as the stylus tracks the groove, therefor transiants are more precise, in fact all infomation is more detailed and precise. Max Townsend has been using the principle for years with the silicon trough and paddle on his Rock TT.
I have spent quite a lot of time fiddling with the mass weights Audiomods supplied, a light 2.6g, a medium one at over 5ozs, a heavy one that I have not tried.
The light one gave subtle improvements, I tried the middle weight . . . big changes, but I was not happy with the sound, it became analitical, erring towards digital and bright and the musicality of my system was gon! Lots more thought :? how would an inbetween mass weight work . . . ?
This was my answere, cut the middle weight down, the picture showes the heavy weight giving the shap of all the weights supplied, it also shows my trimed shape, weighs 4.6gs.
I have been using this setup for a few days now, the improvements are amazing, as compared with cable changes, there is no comparison! Sharper, tighter, musicality, image all a step forwad, the set of 3 cost £20, compared to the claims made for cable, no contest.
OK . . . how to put this over as a post . . . ??? Try it for your self, a 1p coin weighs 3.6gs, BluTack it to the headshell, three tiny, tiny blobs, one between the bolts and two at the back, dont let the coin touch the bolts or the headshell, re ballance the arm, I have found that slightly less down force is required. Mine went from 1.98gs to 1.9gs dead! The reduction of 0.01gs increments showed a change each time, I went to 1.88gs the sound went cold and light.
Jeff at Audiomods, sugested the temporary BluTack method to prove the point, dont take anyones word for it, try it for 1p! The final fixing is solid bolting between the cartridge and headshell, I have yet to try this, when the new arm comes I think
In the meantime, I enjoy the improved smooth musicality and tight base of my system, with a slightly od looking headshell arangement
CJSF