Which screws for headshell?

[sunder]

Hello Phono lovers, headshell screws are made of different metals. It is said: Inspite of light weight, aluminium screws will dull the musical signal. Instead, stainless steel screws to be used. Some people say: Non magnetic screws are the proper thing. Which screws for headshell? Please share your experience. Thank you,
Cheers,
sunder.

 

[mpw]

never really thought of it.... and that says a lot :lol:

just go for screws which match the thread....unless your ear can differentiate between SS screws on a TT shell Vs Brass screws..

you may prefer a softer metal like brass.... not because of its "musicality ' but physical properties.

bet Mr Spock is twitching his ear now

rgds

 

[navinsinha]

Just 3 days back I ordered for special screws for Thorens 160 from Spain through Ebay.

 

[reubensm]

I have always used Shure aluminium screws and found them to be good. Have not got the opportunity to make a comparison though. Not sure if the screws would have any sonic impact if the top of the cart casing fully engages with the headshell under body. Not sure about the carts held by cart-mounts though.

 

[Shivam]

I have always used screws provided with the cartridge that I use. Before packing up my TT I was using a Linn cartridge and it was mounted using the screws it had come with.

I actually never gave a thought to the screws.

 

[Saket]

I am not sure if one can notice any audible difference among different kinds of screws used to mount the cartridge.

And frankly I would say that these are precisely the problems which audiophiles get bumped with while getting too much overboard.

What's next for us? Audiophile air for best sound?

 

[Selvin]

What's next for us? Audiophile air for best sound?

Ha.... Haa... We may use air from Antarctica for better sound...:lol:

 

[dheerajin]

Ha.... Haa... We may use air from Antarctica for better sound...:lol:

or ear can be surgically modified for better(HD) listeninghyeah:

that doctor could be millionaire in one month in india alone..forget about rest of the world..and why not he should be....because it is a one shot solution
for keeping away the bugs of different kind and buying expensive cables..

 

[jls001]

Screw should be non-magnetic material as cartridges contain either magnet or moving coil. Two cartridges I use came with aluminium alloy screws. As I needed longer screws to be able to use headshell spacers, I had bought a bunch of what I thought was stainless steel screws from a hardware store but they seem to be chrome plated brass. Also, I measured the diameter of the screws I bought - they're 2.3 mm. The default screws are all 2.5 mm.

Of course my lead ears can't make out sonic differences in the materials

 

[Hiten]

What's next for us? Audiophile air for best sound?

Ha.... Haa... We may use air from Antarctica for better sound...:lol:

Gentlemen, be careful you might offend some audiophiles.
This is what it means to make money out of thin air.
Regards.

 

[dheerajin]

Thanks for showing the thread..
There are more products on the same line..
IPC - LP Energizer

IPC - Disc Energizer

IPC - Acoustic EQ

But I am really happy that there is no Cable product in that:lol:

But you may be accused of promoting foreign currency outflow...

Gentlemen, be careful you might offend some audiophiles.
This is what it means to make money out of thin air.
Regards.

 

[kuruvilajacob]

The screws have to me non-magnetic. It is always better that the screws do not touch the body of the cartridge.

 

[Fantastic]

You might want to consider that for a given compliance of the stylus assembly and the weight at the tip of the arm ( cartridge + mounting hardware plus tone arm contribution), will result in determining the low frequency resonance of the pick up 'system'. This will affect rumble pickup and other LF noise pickup. It will also affect the LF response. So it can end up making quite a difference to the sound.
The weight of the screws could add significantly to the weight of the cartridge itself. So sometimes you might just 'have' to use nylon screws to control the resonance frequency! In most cases iron/steel screws would be too heavy apart from their magnetic properties.

There has been a LOT written about this a long time ago and plenty of information available now on the NET. Just Google it to understand it fully. I picked up a bit just to get you guys interested !

".....The goal in matching a specific cartridge and arm is to achieve a resonance in the 10 to 14Hz range. Some feel that limiting this range even further, to 9 to 11hZ, is best....." etc.

Taken from

Tonearm/Cartridge Capability

Also note that fluid damping ( usually at the pivot end of the arm......though not always!) can make a really huge difference in some systems. It alters the resonance frequency and it's amplitude. You would need a test disc to fine tune it ! But worth experimenting with!

 

[reubensm]

Gentlemen, be careful you might offend some audiophiles.
This is what it means to make money out of thin air.
Regards.

Working on headshell screws, cables, ceiling fan noise, etc are key for audiophiles. I would also suggest that every audiophile should plan a regular visit to the ENT specialist for a ear clean. Some time ago, I noticed channel imbalance and the root cause after investigation, was my left ear, with a wax-block. I now use waxonil or audiosol on regular basis hyeah:

 

[jls001]

You might want to consider that for a given compliance of the stylus assembly and the weight at the tip of the arm ( cartridge + mounting hardware plus tone arm contribution), will result in determining the low frequency resonance of the pick up 'system'. This will affect rumble pickup and other LF noise pickup. It will also affect the LF response. So it can end up making quite a difference to the sound.
The weight of the screws could add significantly to the weight of the cartridge itself. So sometimes you might just 'have' to use nylon screws to control the resonance frequency! In most cases iron/steel screws would be too heavy apart from their magnetic properties.

A typical headshell screw weighs about 0.5 grams. I have measured various screws - Denon DL103 aluminium screw (2.5 mm dia, 15 mm long) weighs 0.41 grams. Two stainless steel screws of similar length weigh 0.69 and 0.72 grams. A special 20 mm long SS of 2.3 mm weighs 0.92 grams.

I'm writing all these numbers because earlier I used to use the thumb rule of "add 0.5 grams for headshell screws". This should be revised to include "... for each screw...".

1 - 1.5 grams is not unsubstantial when determining tracking weight, but in my experiments with using heavy headshell spacers to tilt a medium mass arm into a heavy mass, I found that at least 5 grams of extra weight is needed to conclusively tilt the balance. I have even used 9 to 11 grams of extra weight, and the Denon 103 loved that extra weight and had a resonance of exactly 10 Hz. So using any conceivable screw of regular or extra length will not be sufficient to shift the arm-cart resonance outside of the desirable range. As 1 to 1.4 grams is way too low (assuming it was within the desirable range, in the first place).

 

[sunder]

You might want to consider that for a given compliance of the stylus assembly and the weight at the tip of the arm ( cartridge + mounting hardware plus tone arm contribution), will result in determining the low frequency resonance of the pick up 'system'. This will affect rumble pickup and other LF noise pickup. It will also affect the LF response. So it can end up making quite a difference to the sound.
The weight of the screws could add significantly to the weight of the cartridge itself. So sometimes you might just 'have' to use nylon screws to control the resonance frequency! In most cases iron/steel screws would be too heavy apart from their magnetic properties.

There has been a LOT written about this a long time ago and plenty of information available now on the NET. Just Google it to understand it fully. I picked up a bit just to get you guys interested !

".....The goal in matching a specific cartridge and arm is to achieve a resonance in the 10 to 14Hz range. Some feel that limiting this range even further, to 9 to 11hZ, is best....." etc.

Taken from

Tonearm/Cartridge Capability

Also note that fluid damping ( usually at the pivot end of the arm......though not always!) can make a really huge difference in some systems. It alters the resonance frequency and it's amplitude. You would need a test disc to fine tune it ! But worth experimenting with!

Fantastic, thank you for the convincing information and the useful link.
Regards,
sunder.

 

[sunder]

A typical headshell screw weighs about 0.5 grams. I have measured various screws - Denon DL103 aluminium screw (2.5 mm dia, 15 mm long) weighs 0.41 grams. Two stainless steel screws of similar length weigh 0.69 and 0.72 grams. A special 20 mm long SS of 2.3 mm weighs 0.92 grams.

I'm writing all these numbers because earlier I used to use the thumb rule of "add 0.5 grams for headshell screws". This should be revised to include "... for each screw...".

1 - 1.5 grams is not unsubstantial when determining tracking weight, but in my experiments with using heavy headshell spacers to tilt a medium mass arm into a heavy mass, I found that at least 5 grams of extra weight is needed to conclusively tilt the balance. I have even used 9 to 11 grams of extra weight, and the Denon 103 loved that extra weight and had a resonance of exactly 10 Hz. So using any conceivable screw of regular or extra length will not be sufficient to shift the arm-cart resonance outside of the desirable range. As 1 to 1.4 grams is way too low (assuming it was within the desirable range, in the first place).

jls001, nice observation. Thank you.
Cheers,
sunder.

 

[Hiten]

Just for the sake of knowing. Here is what I calculated (All specs are from thenet) Lets take light tonearm with high compliance cartridge. Light because resonance influence is more. So I will take SME 3009 (Weight 6.5 gms) Cartridge Ortofon OM 30 (Weight 5 g) Fastners for experiment (0.5g nylon and 2 g metal). Put this figures here
resonance calculator
Results :
Nylon screws Resonance 7.76 hz
Metal screws resonance 7.31 hz
for the sake of increasing resonance lets put in 0.1 g screws (Little exaggerated figures for metal screws :lol
it shows resonance 7.89 hz
well well below 10hz
Conclusion : We are unnecessarily worrying
Need to think of magnetic influence, if at all it alters the sound. Personally I believe it doesn't.

(Offtopic with flame suit on) In all the years I have been on the net D) I see people making extraordinary claims of huge soundstage/clarity/depth/blackness of sound little things make. But we can't even distiguish low level distortion in music we hear (Search for Ethan Winer. Apparently he has come out with new video too if anyone is interested). Above 40 we can't hear high frequencies leave alone harmonics. So when someone says I lifted my speaker cables above ground and it improved things I will not say it is 'impossible' but makes me very little apprehensive about audio stuff for a very short period of time.
Regards

 

[Hiten]

Caution : Do not try this.
As said, sometimes too much emphasis is given to little stuff making huge SQ difference. Please watch/listen following videos I made from mobile camera to my own TT cartridge. (full screen would be better). I attached headphone magnet to the cartridge screws itself and listened to the tracks. Absolutely no difference with or without magnet very very close to the cartridge.
1) Without magnet
2) With magnet
I repeat again This is dangerous do not attempt it with your cartridge.

If one looks one can find many things interesting with solid foundation of science in audio hobby. One only has to look with that perspective. Little 'odd' tweaks are fun now and then, but nothing significant should be made out of it.
Regards.

 

[greenhorn]

I was wondering the same thing. had bought some used cartridges and headshells from ebay which came without the screws. Initially I thought I'd get nylon screws - they were available cheaply here online, but then read that you can't tighten them too much.
Nearly bought brass screws. Eventually bought a nagaoka BN-7 mounting kit. Works fine, and seems good enough value

yes you'll need M2.5 Screws

PS: there are not so magnetic stainless steel screws - You can check with a magnet if you are buying offline, but online, you don't have much of a choice.