Universal Turntable Headshell for Magnetic Phono Cartridges

This style of pressed metal head shell has been around for decades and, granted, quality varies from source to source. You can buy this one with confidence.No irregularities as is often the case with the Technics knock-offs. If you have need of a low-mass head shell that isn't expensive, here's the tonic.I have a number of head shells loaded and in use, including OEM Technics, Audio Technica ATP-H ( original to my ATP-12 tonearm), other pressed metal types and a couple of Technics knock-offs. This last item is not something I will buy again. This head shell meets my needs and I may order more of them. Value for money.

Not the most high end or solid headshell you'll find, but inexpensive and does the job if, for example, you have a second cart you want to use from time to time. Connection to the tonearm was clean, so problems.

Having purchasing two of these, I found both to be functional, but both had finishing flaws. One was not fully painted on the underneath side which is purely cosmetic. The other had a mounting slot that was too narrow for standard screws. It also had an almost invisible but easily detectable burr in the slot that you could feel with a very small screwdriver when you ran it along the slot. I was able to push the slot open wide enough to mount a cartridge just fine, but it took a little extra careful finishing on my part with a screwdriver. It's a fine headshell and I'd gladly buy another, but it's not the precision finished product you'd expect from a more expensive headshell.On the pro side, I really like the way it looks. The lift handle is very nice and elegant. The lead wires and tonearm connector all seem to work fine on my two samples. The silver colored lead wires are also reasonably good quality in my opinion. At the price I paid for these headshells, you could reasonably buy them just for the lead wires.In one way, this headshell is actually a superlative product. This is the lightest headshell I've ever seen. If you are interested in reducing the total mass of your tonearm and headshell together, this weighs roughly half of what most other removable headshells do. Low-mass tonearms aren't in fashion anymore. Most cartridges don't work best on low-mass tonearms now, but if you had an old cartridge, or wanted to just try something with a lower overall mass, this is an excellent choice, provided you are willing to accept that the construction may need a little final adjustment at the end when you receive it.

The media could not be loaded. Twice I bought NOS SME headshell that cost at least 150.00 about five years ago. Now, they are difficult to find and probably pricier... I bought these similar looking brandless headshells since I have an old Shure lying around and I have a spare Sumiko blue. This is the Shure N75 playing using this headshell.I also have two Ortofon headshells (also in Amazon) which I paired with Grado 78 and a Shure M78. While they are both good headshells, they have a heavier mass. Paired with my SME 3012 tonearm, the Ortofons come heavy and need to be recalibrated for vertical tracking force to have a lighter force if necessary - especially true for those cartridges that require lighter VTF. The Ortofons could be helpful if you are mounting a cartridge that requires a heavier VTF such as those for playing 78's. 78 tracking forces are usually 1.5 to 3.0 Meanwhile, the Shure V15 and M75 and M91 requires a lower tracking force, about 0.75 to 1.5 Hence if you pair the heavier mass Ortofons with a cartridge that require a heavier tracking force such as those for playing 78s, switching from that to this headshell paired with the cartridge that require lighter tracking force (usually those that play LPs) will not require much VTF adjustment since the extra weight is removed by virtue of the headshell weight.While not the original SME low mass headshell, it certainly performs like it. Very satisfied!!

Very good head shell.....just what I ordered.....definitely like the style and function....put some better wire connections on it and make it perfect. Thanks.

Great headshell for the price. However, be advised that it will not work with many modern tonearms. Perfect for my SME 3009 Series II, but too light to balance on a Fluance RT82

The little decorative silver disc on one of the head shells needed regluing.

quality going down lately. center shiny pieces not glued just laying inside of the packaging.