Fidelity Research FR5e

I have the FR-5, FR-5E and FR-6SE.
My first one was the FR-6SE which I loved......
It is lush and smooth, full-bodied, relaxed, warm and enticing....
The complete 'AntiChrist' to the modern LOMC 'etched and detailed' sound.
It was always obvious though, that one was listening to a 'coloured' cartridge 😎
Not that there's anything wrong with that.....👅

And then Jonathan Carr (in this Forum) wrote that he particularly liked the FR-5E so I bought the FR-5 which, compared to the FR-6SE....went even 'darker'. It eliminated even the remotest soupçon of high-frequency information and added even more 'treacle' to the syrupy bass.
It was like wallowing in molasses.....😱
I fortunately then acquired the FR-5E which was slightly better but still no match for the more 'even-keeled' performance of the 6SE.

All these cartridges are very low-compliance and still retain their stiffness after all the years....so I had no problem with running them exclusively in one of my heavy FR-64S or FR-66S tonearms.

What arm are you intending to use?

Thanks for the info Halcro. I plan to install on my Yamaha GT 2000 with Zupreme 12g headshell, making mass of tonearm 21g. 

is there another cart you would compare the 5e to and what other carts in your collection did you prefer it to. 

Thanks

You’re welcome....
Nice table btw ateal....👍
Uses a similar Victor motor to my TT-101 with bi-directional quartz-locked servo control. Way to go......🎶

The closest cartridges I can think of that sound similar in my system are the Empire 1000ZE/X and the Sony XL-55.
The Sony is closer to the FR-6SE whilst the FR-5E is closer to the Empire.

Will be interesting to see what you hear with it in your system.....?

Regards

One important problem I remember when I first listened to the FR-5E.....was the fact that the plastic ‘yoke’ which attaches the stylus holder to the aluminium cartridge body was loose and wobbled. 😱
This initially made the sound so warm, wooly and undefined that I’m happy I found the problem.
Using Superglue all along the joints, solved this problem.....👌