Tonearm recommendation

Lewm,

  My dear friend and comrade Nandric and I have had running arguments in regards to my love for the JVC 7045. He also has one that he hasn't found time to mount.  He's in love with his FR-64.  It was actually him that convinced me that perhaps I should at least try a heavier arm with my FR's.
  I must admit, I was also surprised at just how good the JVC is.  In many regards, it is quite similar to the Lustre. Both have VTF adjustment on the fly. Both, removal head shells.  Both have exceptional bearings.  The only short coming that they both have is lack of azimuth adjustment.  I solved that problem by the exclusive use of the Sumiko/Jelco head shells.  LP/tunes also carries the same head shell but calls it the Supreme. 
In regards to the use of magnetics for the VTF on the Lustre. I still prefer the old fashion method. Balance the arm, then move the counterweights for VTF using a digital scale for verification.  I've been doing it that way for damn near 50 years so I am too old to be changing!  (grin)  I like the magnetic concept but 'blind trust comes into play with that design and considering the arms age, well, I just don't trust 'trust'!  (grin)
  As far as effective mass?  I wish I knew.  I did the typical search but found nothing definitive.  Only speculation.  Considering how it performed in regards to my 'high compliance/low compliance cartridges, I tend to believe it is on the lighter side.  The arm assembly has stainless steel parts, but the arm tube is of an aluminum mix. Mix of 'what' would be an interesting discovery.  This would explain the lack of corrosion that you and I expected to see.  I also though it was stainless but discovered this aluminum mix statement somewhere in regards to its arm tube.  
  My TT-81 came without arm.  I had a spare Graham 2.2 and had thought about mounting it  on the TT-81 but what I really wanted was a arm with a removable head shell.  The Graham has removal arm wands. Those wands  were $800 a piece new, $400 used when you could find someone willing to sell one.  Thanks to the M/M thread, I have more cartridges than I care to admit and to place each of them in their own arm wand would of forced me to sell my house and give the profits to Bob Graham. (grin)
  I did a search to determine what others were using with that table and to see what was recommended by JVC. That 7045 was/is JVC's top arm and considering it was 'the' arm during the legendary production run of both the TT-81 and the TT-101, I went looking for one.  Just so happens that 'Foxtan' had a good one available so I bought it. I now consider that an even better decision than the actual purchase of the TT-81.  
Lewm, you are wondering how much do I really like the JVC 7045.  Let me put it to you this way.  And I am being quite honest when I state this.  I am considering selling my Graham 2.2 and mounting the JVC 7045 in its place on the VPI Aries table.  Those two tables (the VPI Aries and the JVC TT-81) would have excellent arms on each of them with removable head shells.  This would allow the mounting of  low compliant cartridges to  high complaint cartridges when ever I wanted.  No arm changing required. No 'wondering' if a higher mass or lower mass arm would be a better match.  Performance wise, I would loose nothing.  All three of the mentioned arms are 5 star arms in my opinion.  But I gain in versatility.   
  The biggest problem in all of this is the selling of the Graham.  to do this   is to me like selling my beloved dog to a stranger!  It is going to be a tough thing to do. I'm the original owner and have had that arm for many years.  The selling of the dog I couldn't do.  But selling the Graham?  I definitely leaning that way!
Regards,

Thanks, Don.  When I bought the QL10 (which equals a TT101+7045+plinth), the seller admitted that the TT101 was "broken", and I got the whole shebang for about what I estimated to be the value of the 7045 alone.  I was planning on selling the 7045 to recoup my cost and then spending whatever it took to fix the TT101.  However, I have yet to sell the 7045.  Nor have I ever used it.  I will give it a try.
Just for the record, I would never completely trust the markings on the adjuster for VTF on a tonearm that allows for dynamic application of VTF.  I ALWAYS use a digital scale to verify.  With my DV505, I use the dynamic VTF to get to about half of the needed VTF (according to my trusty digital scale), then I apply the remainder by adjusting the counter-wt.  I really should try the DV501, which is a little jewel. It was gifted to me by a dear friend.

Lewm,

  The thought of receiving a TT-101 with plinth and JVC 7045 for the price the arm alone is either a gift from 'heaven' ( if all is working), or a gift from 'hell' ( if the TT is not).  (grin)  
  Have you been following Halcro thread in regards to the TT-101?
  BTW:  Don't underestimate the value of that plinth either!  They are getting hard to find.  The thought 'you scored' with that purchase is a bit of an understatement!
Regards,

Dear don_c55: You have to think that in any tonearm alignment set up choice the distortion levels change ( up and down against where null points are. ) at each recorded groove or minimum playback tonearm movement and no one can detect those so small changing distortion levels.

The people that like to change null points or pivot to spindle tonearm distance can´t detect those distortion levels.

Some people say that with the new tonearm set up things sounds better and this " fact " cab be for two mainly reasons:

that the first set up was non accurate as the new set up or that even that both set up were accurate the person wants to hear the improvement because he think that with the new set up distortions levels gone down but this " gone down " is so tiny/insignificant that in reality can’t be detected!

"""" When you adopt a different alignment you're also changing effective length and offset angle. """"

This kind of sentences speaks of that audiophile mediocrity/low knowledge level where we " audiophiles " are " swiming " through.

You posted something critical: accuracy, and this is the name of the game with overall tonearm/set up. Anything else is only " imagination " not facts.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Don (Griffiths),  Evidently you don't follow Halcro's thread on "living dangerously" with DD turntables.  If you did, you would know that I have had a heck of a time with my TT101 and after more than a year (maybe more than 2 years) I have only recently made some headway in making it work reliably. (That's the key word, "reliably".)  In the process, I have spent nearly $1000, but that's probably a fair price for a refurbished TT101.  So, I didn't really "score" after all, but I went into it with eyes wide open.