Ikeda 407 Tone Arms - New or Vintage

@nandric

It is very simple.

Audiogon provides an excellent forum for audiophiles to discuss and debate all things audio. The issue is that Audiogon can only exist if funding permits, and I assume that some of their funding comes from sales commissions.

If you take a helicopter view, then Audiogon has saved a lot of readers a lot money through access to excellent advice. Therefore is it too much to ask for Forum members to give a little back ?

Dear dover,  I am not sure if ''holy water'' or wine from (Dutch) New Zeeland

made you so altruistic but in the rest of the world prices are still dominant

factor. In Holland, for example, all prices are 5,99; 29,99, etc, sugesting

that diference of 1 cent make the whole euro ''invisible''. That is to say

that that the prices are 5 and 29 euro's while 1 cent does not even

exist as currency.  

The key to using the arm with a high compliance cartridge is to get the counterweight as close to the pivot point as possible, which may require using a heavier counterweight for the higher compliance cartridge. It’s counter intuitive.

W250 black fx counterweight designed for superheavy SPU and FR-7 series (they are over 30g each), for 'normal' cartridges/headshells there are W170 counterweight and even W210 counterweight. I use my FR tonearms with FR-7f and FR-7fz xartridges exclussively (with the right counterweight). For any other cartridges FR-64fx owners can use ONLY small stock counterweight which is small and lightweight, you can;t balance 32g cartridge with such counterweight. BTW I have all types of counterweights in my collection for my FR tonearms (it took a wile to find and buy then NOS).

Hi Raul,

I ended up buying a Glanz MH 1200S.  I am using it with several Miyajima Infinity Cartridges.  I am swapping headshells and 0.7 mil, 1.0 mil, and 3.0 mil for different types of mono records.  Lately, I am also experimenting with using different null points to optimize for 7 inch / 10 inch records (a seperate cartridge / headshell for that).  I think the Glanz was a step up from my FR-64s.  In fact, I might even buy another Glanz for my Ortofon SPU collection.  I have not bought the FM 123 yet, but it remains very high on my list of most wanted upgrades.  I'm not sure if FM would work well in a tube system, such as my Shindo / Devore set up in my living room.  I bought a Thomas Mayer Mono Variable EQ Phono stage and absolutely love it with the Shindo system.  I think the FM will work with my Accuphase / Tannoy Legacy Eaton media room set up.  I like the Eaton, but i'm thinking about upgrading, as I might move to a place with a larger room.  So, FM on hold until I figure out my new media room set up.  Some tonearms seem a bit tough to make work will with the TD-124 (e.g., Ortofon RS-309D / Glanz) owing to low height of the platter, but I was able to mount the FR-64s and get the correct height for my cartridge.  I'd need to spend more time with it to post any worthwhile feedback.  For what it's worth, my first impression is that I liked the FR-64s better on my Garrard 301 which allowed for use of the B60, but the FR-64 still sounded pretty good.  Also, I am upgrading my Devore's to the O/20...waiting for it to be built...so that's where I invested my funds / efforts lately....

All the best,

Mark