rocky500 Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 I have noticed some sibilance on the first track or 2 on some of my records that seems to go away as it plays further into later tracks. Mainly female artists. Will see if this headshell may help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyW Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 I'm wondering if I don't hear an issue now, how much difference it could make. BUT, it wouldn't be the first time I didn't hear something objectionable until it was gone Lol. I find that's a quite often the case. Its only ever going back when the difference is noticeable. Definitely the case when I tried maglev feet on my table. Then there are other issues which you can hear that bug you which nobody else can ever seem to hear, like the slight buzz in one of my Polk TSi100 bookshelves.... It doesn't worry me so much anymore since I turned them into some very nice computer speakers though Sent from my HUAWEI MT7-L09 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaspert Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 *****! Use one of your high-priced LOMCs!! Andy Hmmmm......vintage MM first and if I feel brave, might try the LOMC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viognier Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 I think Shane should put his Atlas on it. If it doesn't wreck it then send it on to my place for further testing. [emoji3] 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metal beat Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 I think Shane should put his Atlas on it. If it doesn't wreck it then send it on to my place for further testing. [emoji3] Mark Is that on the Pioneer PLX-1000? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viognier Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 Mark Is that on the Pioneer PLX-1000? No Shane. It would be coming out of the fancy headshell and going straight onto the Spiral Groove. Never to return to the house of metal beat. [emoji3] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hensa Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 The Nasotec headshell has already landed in Oz so hopefully it will be with me for the weekend. Kudos to Nasotec for shipping it so quickly! Pics and thoughts to follow... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Y Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 Not sure if anyone is familiar with this new headshell, the Nasotec Swing. The concept seems so simple, I can't believe it hasn't been done before or has it? As often is the case, not a new idea - some may recall that RS Labs have/had a tonearm employing this concept - self-aligning headshell/cartridge => zero tracking error. It received good reviews : http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0701/rslabs.htm Although the h'shell/cartridge is held only by unipivot pins & is free to rotate in the horiz plane, it can still be 'seen' as 'stationary' by the pickup stylus at grrove modulation freqs. Well worth trying, IMO. (Although the RS Labs implementation looks better IMO, with its rigid top & bott unipivots & the pivot-to-stylus distance is much less, ie. less 'wheel-barrow' effect.) Cheers, Owen Dark Lantern blog - http://darklanternforowen.wordpress.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hensa Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 As often is the case, not a new idea - some may recall that RS Labs have/had a tonearm employing this concept - self-aligning headshell/cartridge => zero tracking error. It received good reviews : http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0701/rslabs.htm Although the h'shell/cartridge is held only by unipivot pins & is free to rotate in the horiz plane, it can still be 'seen' as 'stationary' by the pickup stylus at grrove modulation freqs. Well worth trying, IMO. (Although the RS Labs implementation looks better IMO, with its rigid top & bott unipivots & the pivot-to-stylus distance is much less, ie. less 'wheel-barrow' effect.) rs_a1_tonearm.jpg Cheers, Owen Dark Lantern blog - http://darklanternforowen.wordpress.com/ Thanks for that information, Owen - very interesting and I for one had not heard of this tonearm. Did they also do a detachable headshell employing the same principles by any chance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Y Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 (edited) Thanks for that information, Owen - very interesting and I for one had not heard of this tonearm. Did they also do a detachable headshell employing the same principles by any chance? Hi Hensa - I don't recall seeing this before, but there was a headshell-only product, apparently also made by RS-Labs.(Japan)..... Cheers, Owen Dark Lantern blog - http://darklanternforowen.wordpress.com/ Edited March 2, 2016 by Owen Y Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Y Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 Here's a close-up of the v neat RS-Labs headshell implementation... Cheers, Owen Dark Lantern blog - http://darklanternforowen.wordpress.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Y Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 There were quite a few DIY implementations too....(examples below)... I think the idea has merit, as said, reducing tracking error can't be a bad thing ;-) However skating force would vary with varying h'shell angle & it is interesting to see that the instruction manual suggests normal Overhang & Anti-skating settings - the RS Labs was designed for a substantial underhang setting - I think this was done to minimise or eliminate inward skating force (& no anti-skating) & thus improve tracking stability. Cheers, Owen Dark Lantern blog - http://darklanternforowen.wordpress.com/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hensa Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 There were quite a few DIY implementations too....(examples below)... I think the idea has merit, as said, reducing tracking error can't be a bad thing ;-) However skating force would vary with varying h'shell angle & it is interesting to see that the instruction manual suggests normal Overhang & Anti-skating settings - the RS Labs was designed for a substantial underhang setting - I think this was done to minimise or eliminate inward skating force (& no anti-skating) & thus improve tracking stability. RS Labs headshell 2.jpg RS Labs headshell 13.jpg Cheers, Owen Dark Lantern blog - http://darklanternforowen.wordpress.com/ Good grief! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hensa Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 And the eagle has landed.... I must say, the headshell is very well packaged along with detailed setup instructions, headshell wires (recommended due to their flexibility), cartridge fixing screws and nuts and a hex tool for loosening the azimuth adjustment screw if needed. In the hand, the headshell looks and feels extremely well built. The horizontal 'play' at the pivot joint feels smooth. The setup instructions go to some length describing (and with diagrams) the necessity to attach the headshell wires in a particular fashion in order to ensure the headshell has free horizontal movement without any interference or resistance from the wires. I will take special care with the setup in this regard! More to follow after a test run on the weekend.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 Cool that was amazingly fast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 There were quite a few DIY implementations too....(examples below)... I think the idea has merit, as said, reducing tracking error can't be a bad thing ;-) However skating force would vary with varying h'shell angle & it is interesting to see that the instruction manual suggests normal Overhang & Anti-skating settings - the RS Labs was designed for a substantial underhang setting - I think this was done to minimise or eliminate inward skating force (& no anti-skating) & thus improve tracking stability. RS Labs headshell 2.jpg RS Labs headshell 13.jpg Cheers, Owen Dark Lantern blog - http://darklanternforowen.wordpress.com/ O Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hensa Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 (edited) All set up and running since early this morning and after careful setup, this headshell is really proving to be the business. More detailed comments to follow but the absolute absence of any audible tracking distortion and a not subtle increase in clarity is immediately apparent. If any folk are nearby today, feel free to drop in - I'll be listening for most of the day! PM me if interested. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Edited March 5, 2016 by Hensa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hensa Posted March 6, 2016 Share Posted March 6, 2016 (edited) So after a couple of solid days of testing and a bit of A-B'ing with the Sony carbon-clad headshell, I thought I would put down some thoughts about the Nasotec Swing headshell. The first thing to note is that even more than normal care with setup needs to be taken with this headshell. Rather than just the simple attachment of the cartridge with the scews and nuts, in this case it additionally involves a very specific routing of the cartridge leads to the cartridge. This is critical to the proper operation of the 'swing' aspect of the headshell. Any resistance or interference from the headshell wires, has a direct impact on the free motion of the headshell at the pivot point. Fortunately, a detailed description and diagram means that this is not difficult but patience will be your ally; this is not one to setup in a hurry so make sure you have a bit of time to get it sorted. The second aspect of setup worthy of note is the azimuth setting. If azimuth is out even slightly (with the needle hovering just above the LP surface), the swing end of the headshell will 'lean' to whichever side is lower. Get it just right and the headshell tip will stay centred when positioned there. On the Sony PS-8750, I setup the cartridge using the Loefgren alignment for overhang. Rather than going through the process of aligning at three points, once I had the overhang set, I simply aligned the cartridge square to the headshell as an important premise of this headshell is that this angle, usually so important with setup, will be constantly adjusting at the pivot and so has no relevance. VTA required no adjustment in my case, which was a rare exception to the rule for me. All up, I'd estimate I spent about 30 minutes getting the alignment just right with a tracking weight of 1.6g for the Ortofon OM40, the same weight I'd found to deliver a combination of the best sonics and tracking with this cartridge. I must confess to having a few nervous hesitations, double and triple checking the setup before I pulled out the first slice of black magic in the form of the Telarc pressing of Tchaikovsky's 1815 Overture with its own self-proclaimed marketing banner of "Audio's Toughest Challenge". I know the OM40 on the Sony headshell doesn't track all of the canons that fire gloriously towards the end the work, stumbling with a hop, skip and a jump consistently on three of the blasts. So this was going to be a telling test of the effect of the Swing's pivot mechanism on the tracking ability of the Ortofon. But that was still to come. From the moment the needle hit the groove, two repeating themes kept coming to mind - very low extraneous noise from the grooves and just absolute clarity to the music. The OM40 is a fine MM cartridge, a decent enough tracker and highly dynamic. It just seemed to be a little more of everything when combined with the Nasotec Swing. When the canons arrived, I found myself holding my breath but the cartridge sailed through without doing its usual double-take. And so it did with all of the canon shots. I followed the 1812 with one of my hard-to-track without distortion inner groove numbers, Maria Peripatetica from Ed Kuepper's Serene Machine. Not a hint of a struggle on this occasion. This theme continued throughout the listening over the last two days. Not one moment of distortion and the PS-8750/OM40 combination sounding as good as it ever has. An interesting observation from my listening seat was that whereas I can usually observe the arm moving back and forth as the cartridge tracks the contours of the grooves, it was now difficult to discern any movement other than the gradual journey across the LP. Getting up close, you could see this arm movement had now been replaced by the headshell end pivoting with rapid micro adjustments. So my take on this headshell is that it has combined a couple of features that add up to give excellent results. The isolation from the rest of the tonearm must be delivering some of the benefits I'm hearing. I assume that the vibrations from the cartridge are being absorbed at the pivot point on the headshell and not otherwise being transmitted to the tonearm. This, in combination with the headshell allowing the cartridge to move in sympathy with the groove and in so doing, reducing tracking angle distortion, allows the cartridge to convey improved clarity and tracking. That about wraps it up for me. The headshell will head off to see what it can do in metal beat's system where the bar is set slightly higher than with my vinyl rig but I expect it will perform well as I very much doubt that what I've heard is system dependent. I like to know there's science behind the things I test in my system but best of all is when the actual sonic results back up the theory. Edited March 6, 2016 by Hensa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metal beat Posted March 6, 2016 Share Posted March 6, 2016 @@Hensa excellent Greg. thanks for your thoughts. Sounds like its pretty good. I'll give you a buzz during the week to arrange a suitable day/arvo for me to pop over. btw - keep enjoying it and don't take it off the table yet. I want to have a look and hear it in action Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 6, 2016 Share Posted March 6, 2016 Excellent report/assessment, well done, great read, the pivot head shell sounds like a keeper then Sounds like everyone could have one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soundscape Posted March 6, 2016 Share Posted March 6, 2016 Good write up Greg. I wonder how this thing would handle wow and flutter dealt up by an off-centre pressing. One of my pet hates with vinyl.... Do you have any you could try? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hensa Posted March 6, 2016 Share Posted March 6, 2016 Good write up Greg. I wonder how this thing would handle wow and flutter dealt up by an off-centre pressing. One of my pet hates with vinyl.... Do you have any you could try? Very good point! Theoretically at least, the headshell should reduce the effects of off centre vinyl. I would definitely have some such vinyl but can't recall which ones. I did try it with a warped War of the Worlds and it tracked without issue but also did this with the Sony headshell. Maybe this is a test @ can conduct as I think he has as good a handle on his vinyl collection as anyone I've met and can probably very quickly put his hand on one of his off-centres[emoji106] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metal beat Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 (edited) I have had the Nasotec headshell with Hensa's Super OM 40 and had a lot of fun over the last few days. Not much to add to Hensa's thoughts except to reinforce the need for the headshell to be level with it not pulling either left or right. It does look a bit weird with the angle of the headshell slightly off centre at the beginning and end of any lp, however it does not sound off centre whatsoever. This is a headshell to set and forget - not for the guy who likes to change cartridges ona regular basis imo. You would need several then as it does take a little longer to set up than a normal headshell. Tracked everything perfectly @ 1.5gms on Stevenson. That said I don't have any issues with the last 3rd tracking with any of my tonearm/cartridge combo's, nor do I really notice so-called off centre lp's too much. Highly recommemded. It will be off to the next music lover this week on the Nasotec tour. Edited March 20, 2016 by metal beat 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eltech Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Metal Beat and hensa, I think the true test is if you guys think this headshell is essential and you will be buying one, or if its a "take it or leave it" thing? Both of you concur that it appears to lower distortion and has no downsides apart from having to be level with the LP. I guess this means if you are playing some warped LPs that this headshell might be wobbling around a bit? Can I press you for an answer ? Buying it or not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metal beat Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 (edited) Hi Eltech Hensa is definately buying one, he told me that when I picked up the headshell and had a listen to it in his system. Me, not at this stage. Mainly due to the fact I use my 3 straight arm wands with my two Exclusive tables - they do sound better than the S shaped armwands that use the headshell. I also have two Graham arm wands, so headshells don't really get a lot of time in my system. For those like Hensa and co that use headshells on a regular basis the choice will be easier. cheers Edited March 20, 2016 by metal beat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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