Opinions on AT headshell

My question is: is it worth the money?

Or am I just paying for the "vintage" aspect. Yeah it looks great but still. It would match the weight of my current headshell which I did like and I like the aesthetics but, will there be any bit of sound benefit or am I just crazy.

 

any thoughts?

 

The definitive answer: Perhaps.

A lot depends on your turntable, the cartridge, and the rest of the system. In certain circumstances you might see a bit of an improvement, but it also depends on what you're replacing, and everything else.

By and large, you're mostly paying for the look. Personally, I couldn't see paying that much and counting on a huge improvement. But we need to know the rest of the chain.

Happy trails,
Larry B.

 

Currently I am running an sl1400 with stock headshell, at120e cart soon to be the at150mlx, little bear tube preamp, and the sound system isn't really anything special but it is an Lg 9.1 surround home theater system 1460w. I didn't think I would see much of an improvement but was just curious.

 

One thing about some AT headshells (and it looks like that could be one of them) is they don't use "tracks" for screw holes in favor of pre-set positions.

Here are a couple of the modern ones so you can get a sense of what I mean, and other options in the AT headshell game. You'd want to pick one by weight, relative to your cartridge and tonearm.

http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technic...pebp=1437842368218&perid=0ET77D98MSQFSDWADXH5

http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technic...pebp=1437842447518&perid=0ET77D98MSQFSDWADXH5

 

Actually, this is the magnesium one that I believe is their most coveted one, at 10g not too heavy for your Technics. I think it usually goes for 2x this price: http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technic...sbs_267_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=05BK7YHYGPXXBM7F7HKC

 

I have previously ran one of the newer style generic headshell by AT that had tracks which was a nice setup. It was too light for my tone arm though. the 9.6g seems quite favorable as far as sound goes. I'll start browsing around a bit, I know that the stock headshell on this sl1400mk1 isn't adjustable but it is right about dead on for the technics protractor.

 

I have a couple of their "universal" style headshells that I'd buy when prices of Technics headshells were fluctuating too hight. They're not the best IMO. Odd it was too light for your tonearm as its heavier then the stock Technics at 10g I believe.

 

Everything matters.

 

It may or may not help. I have not heard that headshell. No azimuth adjustment on that one, AFAIK, but it does have easily adjustable overhang. Some vintage AT headshells are a real cut above, like the AT-MS8 and AT-MS9, with their very rigid, non-resonant bodies, and adjustable overhang and azimuth.

 

Why not a Technics headshell? The AT headshell on my LP1240-USB works fine.

 

This D-7 AT headshell looks really crude and cheap-o. Do you have a gold tone arm to match? I use several stock metal AT headshells on my AT LP -120's with different carts in them for different types of records. I also use a black Technics 1200 headshell(surprisingly made of plastic) mounted with a qudraphonic cartridge to differentiate it from the others. Unless you need to differentiate your headshells for some reason, I wouldn't waste your money.

 

I love ATP-H and MG 10 headshells. Then again, I have the tonearm to match them. Which is the redoubtable ATP 12-T (10") and 16-T (12") broadcast workhorses (I own the latter)

 

I think I'll be picking up a few different ones to test out. This one would look very aesthetically pleasing with my at150mlx and I think I would like to pick up that mg10 aswell

 

I'm curious about the MG10 or other magnesium headshells, have never tried one.

I'm spinning an AT33PTG/II on a 1200, and using a stock Technics headshell. I actually am having trouble with getting to the proper alignment, all the way forward in the headshell is not quite far enough (very close) because the stylus on the 33PTG is a bit shorter and back in the body compared to the AT440MLa that I replaced.

Will I be able to hit proper alignment with the MG10, and secondly, with only fixed screw holes, how do you guarantee good alignment at all? Aren't you just kind of stuck with whatever the headshell gives you, just sort of 'in the ballpark'?

The limitations in alignment with the fixed screwholes have stopped me from trying one of these out thus far. Thoughts?

 

I have no issues. But I also own the tonearm for which it was designed.

 

Like McLover said, the AT headshells with fixed mounting holes were originally intended for AT tonearms so there was never any problem with alignment. I've used the MG-10 on my 1200 with the AT440MLa and AT150MLX and, when using the most forward pair of holes, the alignment is very close to the Technics method. Between 15.5 and 16 mm overhang instead of 15, IIRC. That yielded low distortion from beginning to end on an LP, actually slightly lower than the Technics method according to a tracking distortion graph I found. So I'm not sure if the AT33PTG/II would line up properly on an MG-10 given how you described where it sits in the stock headshell. Do you think that extra .5 to 1 mm might be enough?