Fidelity Research FR-64x


 Fidelity Research FR-64x.....(with silver wire ).  Is this arm still considered  viable today ?

offnon57
@offnon57 

 I bought the Pink Triangle for $150 locally in Hicksville LI back in the days when you could find stuff in Newsday classifieds almost everyday.
The guy I bought it from kept his arm but hooked
me up to another guy for the Fidelity Research, for another $150

Amazing, nowadays they are up to 2k on ebay
yeah...luck o' the Welsh. 
...mulveling,I saw a post of yours on audio karma circa 2011
regarding this arm..you're getting around.
I must say,I'm always impressed with the level of knowledge
on Agon,as well as other sites. For people of lesser smarts 
like me this knowledge is so useful even if much of it eventually
trickles out the other ear. I did get a 96 on my social studies
 Regents though . 

@nandric 

(Slightly off topic)

One should use the weight which can be moved nearest to the pivot. The least inertia is the result.


Is this actually true? As long as what you're balancing doesn't change (i.e., the cartridge & headshell stay the same), doesn't the force on the counterweight side also have to stay the same? So if you use a heavier weight and get it closer, the end result is the same as using a lighter weight further out. In other words, inertia is the product of distance & mass, but you're changing both in order to balance the same thing on the other side.



As indicated by others, $150 for FR64fx is a steal. For these older tonearms and other older products, silver is probably better. For current products, I products I prefer high-quality copper.

@mulveling 

I currently have a Graham Phantom Supreme 10" ($6.7K new) and Clearaudio Universal 12" ($6.5K new) mounted; I expect this FR64fx should easily compete with (if not beat) them.

I really like my FR64fx, but is it really comparable to >$6.5k tonearms? I'm interested in your findings.


IMO, silver is actually better when it comes to tonearm wire because of the low fragile cartridge signal. Tonearms with silver wire sound significantly more alive, dynamic, and louder, but without sounding bright. My favorite wire to use is actually van den Hul MCS150M. Great stuff.

Anyone paying $1000-$2000 for an FR64 variant, should really stop and think about what they're doing. For that price one can get a brand new SME 309 or a used SME V.