Headshells and needles

[bartboy]

I am new to turntables and can't find a good article on the upkeep and upgrading of needles and headshells. I have 2 Stanton str8-80's that have what look like normal headshells and Stanton needles.

I would like to upgrade these as the one on the right definately doesn't pickup as good a signal as the one on the left. Do I need to replace both or just the needles? Thanks for filling me in.

[sardu]

do you use them for dvs or analog vinyl playback?

[Sherlock Ohms]

I am new to turntables and can't find a good article on the upkeep and upgrading of needles and headshells. I have 2 Stanton str8-80's that have what look like normal headshells and Stanton needles.

I would like to upgrade these as the one on the right definately doesn't pickup as good a signal as the one on the left. Do I need to replace both or just the needles? Thanks for filling me in.

You can upgrade them one at a time. if you want.

If you're using a DVS as long as you're getting a solid signal, it doesn't matter if they're not a matched pair - if you're playing 'proper' vinyl then you might have a slightly different 'colour' on your sound with non matched needles.

Bear in mind that expensive carts usually mean your replacement needles will be expensive. I use Shure M44-7s myself ...

[djproben]

You really have three things you can replace -- the headshell, the cartridge, and the stylus (needle or "tip"). The headshell you probably don't need to replace unless you smashed one, or you want to switch to Concorde-style cartridges. But it is sometimes easier to replace the whole unit, headshell and all.

The carts are what you want to replace if you are upgrading to a new cartridge -- since a Shure M447 tip won't fit on a Stanton 505, etc., you can't just switch tips. Prices can vary; you can get the Shures for about $65-70 (and the cartridge comes with the needle/tip). You can buy one already installed in the headshell for another $20 which will save you a lot of aggravation and minute hand movements with a tiny screw driver and pliers. But if you just want to replace the tips -- I replace mine every 6-12 months; do it more often if you scratch a lot -- you can replace those on SOME cartridges a lot cheaper than the cartridge itself. On the Shures it's about $30 for a tip and it's an easy installation. I'm not sure if the Stantons you have allow you to just replace the tips.

But before you go through all the trouble, make sure you really want to replace these things -- you might find that your problems are solved by cleaning the contacts between the headshell assembly and the tonearm. As others noted, if you're just using it for DVS, I wouldn't worry too much about having great needles.

[bartboy]

I collect records also so I play a lot of just vinyl without mixing it I try to swap between which deck I'm playing on that week as to wear the needles out evenly. The right deck the tracking wobbles quite a bit when I'm playing DVS. I know it's the needle and not the deck because I switched the headshells to test it and when I switch them the problem deck flips. I don't mind replacing the cartridge myself as I'm pretty handy with electronics.

I just wanna double check that for the M44-7 the replacement needles are the N44-7. That's the only needle I can find that's similar to the M44-7. I'm assuming the N is for Needle.

Thanks DJProben and everyone else for the info this cleared it all up for me.

[manchild]

I just wanna double check that for the M44-7 the replacement needles are the N44-7. That's the only needle I can find that's similar to the M44-7. I'm assuming the N is for Needle.

Taken from the Shure website:

•N44-7 Replacement Needle, Single, w/ Box, User Guide
•N44-7Q Replacement Needle, 4 Pack, Mounted on card
•N44-7Z Replacement Needle, 12 Pack, Mounted on card


http://www.shure.com/americas/produc...record-needles