I have tried the Orsonic 101, Ikeda, Audiotechnica Technihard, Audiocraft and the original FR headshell in my FR64S with a variety of cartridges including Koetsu, Dynavector Nova 13, Ikeda, FR1mk3, Victor X1 and many others.
With the Koetsu the Orsonic is my preferred choice - smoother and more transparent in the top end than any of the others. Only "downside" is a slightly fat bottom end, but the bottom end is tuneful (timing is not impaired). By comparison the Ikeda & Technihard headshells are more emphatic, tighter, but slightly less resolving. Optimum can be cartridge dependent.
The other suggestion I have for getting the best out of the FR arm is to use a combination of Static and Dynamic balancing for setting the tracking force. I set the VTF Knob to 0.5g and then adjust the counterweight to bring the tracking force up to the required level. This improves speed, resolution and soundstage of all cartridges I have used with the arm. In my experience using Dynamic Balancing ( the VTF Dial) for setting the total tracking force on the FR sucks all the life out of the cartridge.
With the Koetsu the Orsonic is my preferred choice - smoother and more transparent in the top end than any of the others. Only "downside" is a slightly fat bottom end, but the bottom end is tuneful (timing is not impaired). By comparison the Ikeda & Technihard headshells are more emphatic, tighter, but slightly less resolving. Optimum can be cartridge dependent.
The other suggestion I have for getting the best out of the FR arm is to use a combination of Static and Dynamic balancing for setting the tracking force. I set the VTF Knob to 0.5g and then adjust the counterweight to bring the tracking force up to the required level. This improves speed, resolution and soundstage of all cartridges I have used with the arm. In my experience using Dynamic Balancing ( the VTF Dial) for setting the total tracking force on the FR sucks all the life out of the cartridge.