2. analog
  3. 119516-43184

Tonearm recommendation

Hello all,
Recently procured a Feickert Blackbird w/ the Jelco 12 inch tonearm.
The table is really good, and its a keeper. The Jelco is also very good, but not as good as my Fidelity Research FR66s. So the Jelco will eventually hit Ebay, and the question remains do I keep the FR66s or sell that and buy something modern in the 5-6 K range. My only point of reference is my old JMW-10 on my Aries MK1, so I don't know how the FR66s would compare to a modern arm. So I'd like to rely on the collective knowledge and experience of this group for a recommendation.

Keep the FR66s, or go modern in the 5-6K range, say a Moerch DP8 or maybe an SME.

Any and all thoughts and opinions are of course much appreciated.

Cheers,      Crazy Bill
wrm0325

Showing 3 responses by analogluvr

analogluvr
859 posts
 
Crazy bill if you have a 66S keep it!  Also have to agree with another poster that you may be well served to audition some other phonostages, no insult intended. If I could humbly recommend the Herron vtph2. Also agree with atmasphere regarding the triplanar. 
A while back I bought a 103r to see what the fuss was about. Had it on an et2 and it is pretty good, just under my reference audioquest 7000nsx. Then I mounted it to an et1 which is a massive affair. Now it matches my reference which was around 3k 25 years ago. Pretty good for a 300$ cartridge. 
analogluvr
859 posts
 
I have wired my ET 2's up with a straight shot wiring as well as my SMEE 3009. Chris is absolutely right you get huge improvements eliminating all those connections. And with regards to rauls comments about the ET's bass, if it is set up properly there is no lack of low frequency information. In fact there is hardly any added extra resonances which I know raul is a huge fan of. Sometimes that may sound like less bass. 
Properly set up (which is very easy) an ET two is a Sota arm. It is different to set up however. Approach it with common sense and you will be fine. 
analogluvr
859 posts
 
Hi raul
i compared it against a vpi 12, micro seiki ma 505, sme3. More importantly when I first got it I did experience a lack of bass. Then I learned how to set it up and it produced at least the equivalent with a better soundstage and detail. 
More to discover