RE-surfacing an old thread here. Wondering if someone can tell me about head-shell compatibility with these FR64 tone arms?. Can I use regular headshells like I would on a technics 1200g arm for example? . If so what can be said about the native FR headshell eg- is it recommended?. So far I can just assume its a weighty headshell.
I’ve used many headshells with 64fx and 64S. All have worked fine so don’t stress to much:
- Ortofon LH-9000, LH-8000, LH-6000
- Ikeda IS-2, IS-2T
- Koetsu magnesium
- Koetsu vintage wood / metal (1980s?)
- FR RS-141, RS-121 (stock 64fx), RS-10. Also have the stock 64S shell but never used it
The FR are good but I don’t see a need to favor them over others, except for aesthetic. The Ikeda is the best quality but also heaviest at 20g. The LH-8000 and RS-10 are good to shave off some mass. Some of the Ortofons have a tiny bit more rotational play (azimuth) when locking in, so you have to be careful to make sure you’re locking them in to the right azimuth. I like Ortofons the least, honestly, but they still work OK.
For cartridge matching - these arms are ideal with Koetsu. They "wake" the Koetsus up, giving maximum dynamics and the most vibrant midrange (which is the point of a Koetsu). If you want to see how much difference an arm makes, take a Koetsu from an FR64 to a Clearaudio carbon fiber arm (Universal 12" VTA in my case) - on the latter, it sounds completely dead and dull, robbed of all life. I don’t think it’s just the mass matching, either - that carbon fiber arm sounds sterile with many brands of cartridges.
They’re also excellent with top Shelters (Accord, Harmony). The Accord in particular is wonderfully musical and balanced. I like it better than more expensive Harmony, which tries to increase resolution over Accord at the expense of "thinning out" the sound. Still good, but I really prefer the Accord, which was sadly discontinued due to lack of interest.
They’re also excellent with wood-body Benzes. I prefer the iron cross models over ruby plate models, but that’s probably down to me favoring SUTs over active MC gain.
They do OK with Ortofons. But it’s not my favorite. Windfeld (MC and Ti) always ended up leaving me kind of meh. Jubilee MC sucked. A90 is actually really good and interesting sounding, but perhaps a bit more lean in mids and bass than I prefer long term. The Cadenza Bronze is a warmer model than usual for Ortofon, and this one truly matches "100%" A+ with the FR64fx. That Bronze (and its predecessor Kontrapunkt "c") is probably my favorite thing Ortofon made lol.
On a bang-for-buck basis, the FR64fx with Shelter Accord (if you can find one) or Benz Wood S (M or L) or Zebrawood (M or L) or Cadenza Bronze would be my choice. I think I still prefer the Benz and Accord over Bronze, but it’s not far off.
The 64S has been almost permanently occupied with my Koestu Blue Lace since I got it, so I haven’t experimented much on that arm. The Blue Lace is absolutely my best cart, but also the most expensive. When I did arm comparisons with a Koetsu Onyx, the 64S had a slight edge, but the 64fx was still close.
