Fidelity Research FR-64 vs. FR-54

RAUL - I think you have it backwards. It's Not You who listens to Music, but the rest of us. You listen to your System.

If you want (the sterile sound of) zero distortion, just get a Devialet Expert. It's a zero distortion amplifier.

If you want the least distortion in a speaker (driver), then get planar-magnetic speakers. Not sure why you're playing around with dynamic speakers (and subwoofers! :-)  when your goal is to minimize distortion...

I believe you also have a DP-75 in a marble plinth.

Do heavy plinths absorb vibrations?  -No, they Amplify them. Especially rigid ones, like marble.

Should "recreating "live music" be the ultimate goal? - No

Would a zero-distortion system actually be pleasing to the human ear? - No.

And lastly, do FR tonearms (with dynamic VTF) have a ringing problem? - No.

fonoman, You are 8 years late to the party.  Raul is mellowed since then. I now own a 3160 Essential Phonolinepramp, and in my opinion it is the best sounding solid state preamplifier (phono plus linestage) that I have heard. For me it renders the aural distinction between a fine tube preamp and a solid state one, that formerly led me to choose tube over SS most of the time, irrelevant. However, I would never dare to claim that it or anything else in audio, not matter what it is made of, is perfect. I also continue to use and like my FR64S tonearm, especially with my Koetsu Urushi cartridge in an Ortofon LH9000 headshell.  Urushi never sounded as good in any of several other different tonearms.

FR-64S and Koetsu = beautiful.