anyone have experience with this headshell?

[Beobloke]

The AT headshell linked to by the OP is very good and can be easily adjusted for length and rotation.

However, one warning - it isn’t very big and it can sometimes be difficult to fit a chunky cartridge into it. As an example, the last time one came my way I wanted to use a Denon DL103 and it simply wouldn’t fit and allow the cartridge wires to connect at the same time.

[Barry]

The AT headshell linked to by the OP is very good and can be easily adjusted for length and rotation.

However, one warning - it isn’t very big and it can sometimes be difficult to fit a chunky cartridge into it. As an example, the last time one came my way I wanted to use a Denon DL103 and it simply wouldn’t fit and allow the cartridge wires to connect at the same time.

Agree about the bulky and 'long' body of the DL103. I have a couple, one of which is fitted into an EMT TSD-G headshell to use on my EMT deck. It's a tight fit and the cartridge tags have to be carefully bent and dressed for the cartridge to fit without fouling the headshell connections.

[TKK]

Japanese audio (or other) designers can seem to be one quirky lot, compared with the rest. Underhung tonearms and tapped detachable headshells appear to come from nowhere else.

One big merit of the AT headshell is you can squarely sit the cartridge with less bother than if you had to fiddle with screws and nuts. Obviously this also means you cannot skew the cartridge to compensate for less than accurate tonearm mounting. The two nuts from both ends of the cylinder holding the shell are meant to be loosened to adjust for overhang and azimuth. You most likely will end up with the shell further out than in towards the tonearm. It is my experience that if you precisely set the overhang as determined by the manufacturer, you will naturally end up with the null points the tonearm designer had in mind. If you desire a different set of null points, your overhang will likely have to change.

I use the somewhat special headshell that came with my Audio Technica AT33R on my Alfred Bokrand 12” tonearm that has a Lofgren A set of null points. As I swapped between an Ortofon Royal N and a Denon 103 on the same headshell the alignment has always been perfect that I no longer bother with an alignment protractor. That they are very precisely made cartridges helps, obviously.

To further my point on Japanese unconventionality, my AT headshell comes with two cylinders giving a choice of either a 16gm headshell or one weighing 6gms more. The AT33R is a upper middle compliance design and one would think it unwise to use it on a 16gm headshell which naturally would require quite sizeable counterweights to balance, and therefore a very high-mass tonearm. I never tried the combination at the time I had the AT33R. I remain unconvinced that the quirky lot always have it right.

[Barry]

Fortunately your Denon and Ortofon Royal N must have the same stylus to fixing hole distance. Perhaps they both comply to the IEC standard of 9.5mm +/-1mm when the cartridge is operating at the recommended VTF.

Agree the Audio Technica headshell design is very good; offering both overhang and azimuth adjustment with the minimum of mechanical interfaces.

[TKK]

I think we all like to believe that with easy and low cost access to computer-assisted means that even the low-cost, high-volume makes get to enjoy a high degree of precision manufacture. But we can well imagine certain cottage builders, for all kinds of reason, resisting and rejecting new and able technology. The local agent for a certain make of very high-cost Japanese cartridge revealed to me that he once had a batch of long-awaited cartridges with skewed cantilevers, every single one of half a dozen. He was told not to worry about it.