Thekong, you are right. I goofed and was mistaken an armboard for 777L for 777. Which might as well as another friend has been suggesting that now that I have 66s, I should sell my 64s to him. This way, I need to keep 64s for my 777! |
Hi Suteetat,
I also have an SX777 Air, and have once put in the FR64S with great result! I am interested at your mentioning of an armboard for the FR66s.
If I understand correctly, you can only fit 9"-10" arms on the 777! Actually, not long ago, I missed out on the rare model called 777L (long) which can fit 12" arms! |
As Thuchan has mentioned......the FR-66s is possibly the most 'universal' tonearm ever designed?
The only modern arms which I have found to equal it (and the FR-64s) in this respect......are the Continuum Cobra and Copperhead.
I have directly compared the FR-64s and 66s to the DaVinci 12" Grandezza and the Graham Phantom II on the same turntables with a range of cartridges (both LOMCs and MMs)........and the Fidelity Research arms have a control and authority which is immediately obvious.
The images are stable and pinpoint whilst the soundstage is the widest and deepest you will hear if the vinyl contains this information.
The bass depth and control is quite astonishing.......but the real highlight I find.....is the complete relaxation that one feels when listening.
These arms allow one to forget entirely about the electro-mechanical gymnastics involved in the execution of musical extraction and completely immerse oneself in the music.
You will find it difficult to stop dragging out long forgotten records and re-discovering.
And the DaVinci and Phantom II arms?...........they're gone :-) |
Thanks for the information. It is interesting to know that the FR64/66 can handle such a wide range of cartridges. However, can someone also say a few words about their sonic attributes ? How they sound like in general ? Since it is a vintage tonearm it does not have any reviews published on the internet. Only experienced users can give some idea on its sonics. In fact it will be interesting to know how it sounds compared to a Graham Phantom or SME V. Anyone please ? |
Thanks all for the information.
Nandric, I don't plan to get rid off FR 64s either. Just go on the a different table. I got the FR66s from a good friend. I am not sure what the realistic price or fair price of FR 66s is (is there such thing) but I did pay quite a bit less than ebay usual asking price. I did see that there is an armboard for 66s for SX-777 so I will have to see if I could find one. In the meantime, FR 64s stays on my Micro Seiki.
I bought the FR mainly because all the other arms I have did not play well with Koetsu. Now that I have 2 FRs, I can try other cartridges as well. |
Keep your FR-64 S. To my mind the FR-66s is overpriced but not better. Anyway for the carts you own te FR-64s is as good. I use the Kiseki blue Goldspot as well as the Benz LP s and the Magic Diamond with my FR-64 s. I also prefer the Bearwald geometry: 231,5 mm distance pivot to spindle. |
Pani,
I think there is no general rule for compliance, effective mass of tonearm and superior sonic result. The formula for that is only a formula but you have different Arm materials (steel, titan, wood, aluminum for example) all have totally different energy transfer abilities, you have Unipivot arms, dynamically balanced Designs and so on...and you have different Arm geometries which are also responsible for superior or inferior tracking ability ...
To make a very long story short, you can all strip down to the abilities of the Designer. You will find endless examples for top sounding combinations which are not a 10 in the 8-12 formula range and you will find mediocre sounding combinations which are a 9.9 in the calculation.
FR-64s
the alternative P2S is 231,5mm
I think that thread was deleted based on aggressive posting from a mexican member which had a lot of personal attacks when I remember right. |
Thanks, Syntax and all for information. FR manual and vinyl engine also gave 295 as P2S distance. I just recalled some discussions that some people recommended 296mm. Same go for FR 64 where FR spec and what was discussed in agon was also slightly different. However, for some reason when I tried searching old threads, I could not find that specific thread anymore regarding published spec vs what's some people experieces have been. Was it dertoarm who discussed that? By the way, Micro Seiki fixed armboard only allowed me the mount FR 64s with P2S distance that is the same as FR's published spec so I never did try the alternative P2S.
Now I have both FR64s and FR66s, FR64s on Micro Seiki SX-777 Air, FR66s on TW as SX-777 Air won't take FR 66s as far as I know.
Koetsu will go on FR66s for now. FR64s with a bit less effective mass probably would play better with my other relatively high mass medium compliance as far as resonance is concerned. For Air Tight PC-1 supreme, resonance would be high 7 almost 8Hz with FR-66s, I think that should also be ok.
Right now I use Oyaide carbon fiber headshell with its silver lead. I heard a lot of good things regarding Orsonic headshell as well and I have been thinking of trying that. Otherwise, I have FR headshell, Koetsu headshell(which has only 3 fixed distance I could not use it with FR to mount anything that would get me the right overhang with any protractors that I have) and a phasetech (most were all hand me down from a friend who collects way too many things). |
Pani,
in the case of the FR-66s you may neglect the compliance issue. We made many tests with nearly all available MC carts, MI carts and new as well older MM designs on the FR-66s. No problem at all. It is the most universal arm ever built. |
Syntax, dont you think the effective mass of the tonearm also plays an important role on the sonics given the compliance of the cartridges ? Is it good to use a cartridge with compliance of 15 on a tonearm with 30gram effective mass ? |
P2S:
Mounting Distance is 295mm
Geometry
Well, it will work with whatever you choose or prefer. Most Arms have Problems with Stevenson based on Design flaws, the FR-64s /66s go easy through the most demanding inner tracks.
Cartridges
The energy transfer from that Arm is unique, Cartridges which are designed to move their energy via Headshell into the connected Arm, work very well with that Design. Koetsu also. From my experience, it is THE Arm for Koetsu. Never found a better match with those carts.
Never had a weak result with any - modern - cartridge I used, no reason to worry.
May I suggest to use good cartridge leads for the Headshell you prefer. Most stock leads are inferior, try Oyaide, Orsonic..the performance gain is interesting :-) |
Try looking for information at vinyl engine. I have a friend that uses one with a Koetsu Rosewood |
