Best cartridge for very old worn vinyl

@Howard, good to hear you found a method that works for you. Dieter Brakemeier of Acoustical Systems used to be one of the experts who strongly advised to change the P2S distance of the FR64/66 to facilitate the use of the Baerwald geometry (you can search this forum for his contributions under the moniker dertonarm). Apparently he has now created his own UNI DIN curve, probably a refinement of the Baerwald. Judging from your enthousiasm I might give this geometry a try, as I also have many of those 60's Decca's. Thanks for sharing your experience.

None!!

#edgewear... I tried my newly aligned London Reference this eve on some Monteverdi - a digital recording that just begs to irritate - and literally for the first time ever the great choral crescendos towards the end of the side actually held as music.
Of course these challenging records cause imprecisely aligned, or otherwise just poor, equipment to damage the grooves -which then becomes part of the listening experience even with good kit.
What I appear to get with the UNI DIN on that sort of damaged record is a clear differentiation between what was on the recording and the junk that’s been etched on it over the years.
i maybe haven’t expressed that very well, but what I’m feeling is that the cartridge is now tracking well , but you can’t repair what’s been done.
Before the whole lot was a haze of grain and noise .
So a big thumbs up to the UNI DIN from this Audiogonite ...:)

#chakster #edgewear. tinkering (obviously) continues here in audio OCD land...:)
Essentially I’ve gone with your advice and set the FR66 s2p at 295mm and simply run the fixed headshell carts with that (which is hardly news given they can’t be adjusted).
I’m now going through the process of trying them out. So far the FR7fc sounds really really good. This far into the audio lunacy I didn’t expect to hear stuff on familiar records I hadn’t heard before, but that’s actually the case with the FR7 , not subtle things either.

@howardalex 
I also have a smart tractor. I use a ikeda it407 and i always have to twist the cartridge in the headshell. I don't see how it would be possible to ever use an spu in fixed headshell with it. I see photos of this all the time though. Looking at it starting on the first tract of an lp using the ikeda headshell it’s obviously off. Headshell looks to long if cartridge is mounted straight. I have it at the recommended 295mm.  @chakster  Do you know if the geometry is the same for ikeda it407 and fr66?