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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
ochremoon
48 posts
 
@rauliruegas I cannot agree more. It's ridiculous that most tonearm manufacturers do not make an accurate, high quality jig to go with their own arms.
fleib
1,124 posts
 

and we plod on..... Most manufactures do provide a protractor. Best reg. protractors are provided by arm manufacturers. What do you want, a Feikert?  Add that to the cost of your arm and complain about that.

Ct0517, I found other mfg. comments (Re. 507) you posted, interesting.  Thanks. Lewm answered the bit about being able to use a straight run of wire in a pivoting arm. The rest of the quote from the loom maker is bizarre. It's the arm with exposed unshielded wire which is susceptible to RF and a Faraday cage won't help as long as the wires are exposed.

ViV Rigid Float anyone?  Interesting concept there, trading off alignment error for zero offset. This isn't a new concept. Yamaha had a YSA-2 upgrade for the GT2000, and the RS Labs which also had vertical cantilever offset compensation.

griffithds
852 posts
 
Flieb,

A few months back, I had my Lustre 801 arm re-wired by Discovery Cable. 
Excellent results BTW, but that is besides my point.  He asked if I wanted to eliminate the arm plug-in for cables by hard wiring the RCA's into this arm.  Because I had a custom made 20 inch phono cable available for this arm, I said no.  I have often thought since then, that perhaps I was to quick in making that decision.  Lewm seems to concur with my very thoughts at the time!
Regards,
fleib
1,124 posts
 

Griff,

There's a possible downside to any decision like that. I probably would have made the same decision as you. You now have the option to chance cables. The benefit of eliminating solder joints is overrated IMO.

How's the arm working out?

Regards,


ct0517's avatar
ct0517
2,041 posts
 
Lewm / Halcro - do you guys still have the cartridge alignment jig that came with your Dynavector tonearms for the initial setup ?

It can be used with one modification on your FR64s and other tonearms for their initial setups. Have your tried this ?

Lewm - Actually, Herb Papier, the original designer and builder of the Triplanar, is to be credited for being a very early adaptor of the "straight shot" wiring scheme, 15-20 years ago.
Cool. I found out there are owners on the ET2 thread who have been using straight shots for over 30 years, hence my Bird Walking Stories reference earlier. The design allows for 3 or 4 different looms to be swapped out within the hour; if you're good with your hands/eyes (for when audiophilia nervosa really strikes). Linear guys don't have different tonearm alignments to play around with, and straight line alignment can get really boring. So what are they to do ? Cycle looms of course.

Lewm - regarding your thriving DIY community comment; my personal perspective on looms is based on my remaining local audiophile friends ranging in age from about 45 - 55. I am at the older end and they think of me as an old fogey. I believe this age group represents the tail end of this Audiophile wave. Not one of them that I know of would buy a tonearm (regardless of its design) with the intention of changing out the internal wiring. Some of them have no problem working on amplifiers and speakers, but they would rather listen to digital than change out a tonearm's internal wiring. I was on the cusp by age having acquired records before digital kicked on. For the younger members of this group, their only records are the ones they have bought since.So we really are talking apples and oranges when it comes to our points of view. I am however quite curious that you seem to have an aversion to a reliable air pump; but have an interest in vintage Alfa Romeo's. :^)

Fleib - It's the arm with exposed unshielded wire which is susceptible to RF and a Faraday cage won't help as long as the wires are exposed.

If interested Fleib, you may find some answers by doing an AudioGon Forum search on James Bond Maneuvers.

wrm0325
I'm going to look into the ET arms. At this point, anything goes.

@OP - Crazy Bill - I did my best to provide you with some of the good, along with some of the bad, and tried to make it fun.

Asvjerry - words of wisdom around Oil. I have found most of my audiophile friends that have been at this a long time, are trying at this point to get blood from a stone, rather then spend dough on the hobby. Having two + hobbies encourages this. I still have some growing to do. I think I may have, not sure yet,  just acquired a Seaton submersive.

Cheers
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