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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
fleib
1,124 posts
 

Better look out guys, this is getting interesting and you know what that means.....

The FR7 isn't high cu either. A 981 @ 30cu is pretty high, work on the 801?  Maybe some med/high cu?

Maybe there's something about steel, like a mass/ rigidity combo, which boosts arm performance. I don't mind a little mod to adapt an arm. We do it routinely with carts - glue a stylus, pot a 103, etc. but an arm is held to a higher standard. I have a titanium arm which needs a little extra damping. So what? I like the arm, it's a keeper as far as I'm concerned. 

Speaking of standards, an arm is designed with a particular alignment geometry. When mounted at specified distance with mfg. alignment, the plane of the cantilever points directly at the pivot or the intersection of the pivots. To set up or align an arm in some other manner is to defeat the design unless it's coincidental. When you adopt a different alignment you're also changing effective length and offset angle.



fleib
1,124 posts
 

Griff,

Our posts crossed. There is no conversion between 10Hz cu and 100Hz.  100Hz cu is a measure of tracking ability at 100Hz, not compliance. We've converted some AT dynamic cu by measuring resonant frequency on known arms, and have a sliding conversion scale, but it doesn't always hold true, especially at the extremes.

VTF might give a better idea and better yet a test record accurate even for an individual sample of a cart model.

Regards,

griffithds
851 posts
 
Flieb,

  I would not consider a 30cu as 'pretty high'.  That is 'extremely high'! (grin)
Like I said, all depends on where you want to draw the line between what you consider 'high' and what you consider 'low'.  To me, under 10 is low.  Yes, Dover.  If you only look at the numbers, then the FR's would be considered low.  But not if they (the Japanese), were using @100 Hz for measurement.  It would make those FR's closer to 12cu  if they used the 10Hz method.
  I am still at a loss as to why the Sonus works so well on the Lustre.  I was actually worried about mounting it on the high mass Lustre.  It's not like I could easily go out and find a replacement stylus for it if I happened to destroy the suspension by using it on this 'high mass' arm.  
  I did make an armboard just for the Lustre so I can quite easily swap the Lustre for the JVC 7045.  I left the original armboard from the TT-81 attached to the JVC 7045 and I will leave the new armboard attached to the Lustre.  Even left the phono cables attached to each (2ft. Signal Cable Silver Resolution).  So remove 4 arm board screws, and do the quick swap. Piece of cake!  (grin)
This way I can continue to use the JVC 7045 for cartridges like the Sonus. 
That is if I can ever pull myself away from those FR's. (grin)
Regards,
fleib
1,124 posts
 

Griff,

If 30cu is extremely high, what's the Sonus Blue/Gold or some ADC models @ 50cu, the ultimate high?  I thought that description pertained to something else altogether. (chuckle)

I haven't done all of these measurements, but a 103 is about 12cu @ 10Hz. The AT95 or any Clearaudio MM is 15cu, and the 440/150 is 18cu. To confuse things further, Ortofon publishes lateral cu.

You mentioned something about the 801 bearings. Could you be more specific?

Regards,

pryso
1,501 posts
 
Dover, you said "most enthusiasts of the EPA100 replace the ruby bearings with silicone nitride or ceramic balls".

I found that very interesting since it is the first time I've seen it stated.  I have an EPA 100 so I read anything I find mentioning it.

After buying my EPA I discovered the bearings were out of adjustment and some of the rubies may have been damaged.  I happened to have mine repaired with silicone nitride, just as you suggested, because I was told they were better than the original rubies.

Anyway, that was reassuring, even if I never read any reference to it previously.
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