Top 5 Tonearms Newer or Vintage Under 2500 That Will Beat anything above/below 2.5k?

The question is confusing. The question should be:

top 5 vintage tonearms bellow 2500 which will beat

anything above 2,5 K .

My answer Sumiko 800 (the arm) , FR-64S , Micro 505

will beat some of the (new) tonearms above 2.5K.

NB 5 is numerical quantor; anything is universal . We have

no idea what ''anything''  refers to.

@amg56, Is ''Stogi Reference'' made by Kuzma? Can

this tonearm be counted as ''vintage''?

Hi vinny55, I would call ''vintage'' those from the ''golden age''

of analog. Say from the 80is. BTW the ''S'' by FR-64/66 kinds

means steel not silver. However both, copper and silver versions

were available. I should also add Lustre 801 and dgarretson SME

3012 R to my choice. Together we have more than 5 (grin).

Hi vinny 55, Lustre is produced by Koshin (Akos?) before

1980. Also called ''magnetic drive'' because VTF and anti

skate could be adjusted by magnets, without any mechanical

contact. SME started with steel versions of both; SME 309 and

3012 . Later on aluminum was used instead of steel. However

the Japanese wanted ''steel back'' so the series ''R'' were produced

of both kinds. Alas I am not sure if this was before or after 1980?

But I am sure dgarretson knows .

Dear chakster, I also own Reed 3P (12'') but I would like to

try the ''vintage'' Micro Max 282. Hard to find one but those

are certainly above $5000 ?

BTW my problem with Technics EPA 100 and ''variations'' is

that they are not suitable for the most MC cartridges.

@chakster , If I remember well Raul preferred manual VTF

adjustment by Lustre 801.The reason being that the counter-

weight could get nearer to the pivot this way. So those who

own Lustre with defective magnetic VTF adjustment need not

worry. I hope you deed not sell your sample because of this

''imperfection'' (grin).

Considering the (very) attractive price as well so much praise

for the Trans-Fi I am wondering if those ''intensive care connections''

have something to do with sceptical attitude by buyers ?

Chakster, Despite the fact that dgarretson also seems to swear

by (your) PD 444 I wan't part from my SL 1000,mkII with Obsidan

plinth. BTW I also own Kuzma's Stabi Reference.

Everybody knows Van den Hul, some know Van den Dungen

(Kiseki + Prima Luna) but who is familiar with the 3th Dutch

''grand master'' Eddy Driessen? Certainly worth mentioning

by ''vintage tonearms'' . The problem is: if you need to ask for

the price you are not suitable as his customer. His trade mark is

''Pluto'' while all his TT''s and tonearms are hand made by him.

@chymyshin, , Micro SX 8000 with Max 282/237 armwand?

Never thought about never heard about. But probably more

affordable than Max 282. What is wrong with SX 800 armwand?

Dear chakster, If you think of FR-64s and FR-fx without counter

weight and headshell there will be not much difference qua arm

mass. Nobody uses the original  FR- headshell (S/3 19.5 g).

I don't use any FR or Ikeda headshell because they are mediocre.

 Besides FR-64 S has 3 counterweights. Standard (250), light (170g)

and heavy (270g). In my opinion you should buy FR-64s instead

of FR-64 fx.

Dear Lew, This is not the first time that you try to explain ''what

Raul is trying to say''.  Either Raul is no capable to explain what

he thinks or you know better what he thinks than himself.

However by ascribing some thoughts to him it is not clear what

your own are. Have you chosen your tonearms ''in concert with

peculiar carts'' or based on all kinds of sources available to you?

We usually assume many things as known because explicit

enumeration of ''arguments'' would be boring.

I already mentioned that this thread was confusing and used

the opposition between numerical (5) and universal quantors

as example. As is usual the case we got the chance to name and

praise our ''old beloved stuff''' + the new stuff. Raul used this

occasion to point out who according to him  is stupid and ignorant.

I assume that you wanted to save his...  as usual.

Dear Lew, Your ''context'' is not my ''context''. My was expressed

in my statement:'' Raul uses the occasion to point out who

according to him is stupid and ignorant''. He obviously feels

entitled to insult co- members based on his imagined authority.

You obviously missed my ,uh, ''context'' and even ''refused to

take it seriously''. I can't remember that you ever used such

qualifications for any of our members and I am member since

2007.   

The VTA adjuster may be ON the arm but is FOR the cartridge .

Those are supposed to be ''sensitive/critical'' for the VTA adjustment.

But our love for some components can be such that we can't bear

any negative comment. Say the fact that even the SME V misses

the VTA adjuster (grin).

@tkr, The difference between induction and deduction is that

the first mentioned one generalize from limited number of

experience to some ''general rule''. By deduction one combine

different sentences and deduce from them his conclusion. No

experiments whatever are needed. From the fleschler's statement

 about SME V problems with VTA I (wrongly?) deduced

that this arm, despite of its price, has no VTA adjuster. There are

added assumptions needed to grasp why a tonearm with an

VTA adjuster is difficult to ''VTA adjust''.

Anyway you succeeded to correct two members with one single

sentence. Bravo!

vinny55, I ever owned Sony 237 which I remember as having

the best anti-skate provision I have ever seen. That is to say

the only(?) tonearm with different skate force depending from

the record radius. One can find info about this anti-skate kind

on internet.