Tonearm recommendation


Hello all,
Recently procured a Feickert Blackbird w/ the Jelco 12 inch tonearm.
The table is really good, and its a keeper. The Jelco is also very good, but not as good as my Fidelity Research FR66s. So the Jelco will eventually hit Ebay, and the question remains do I keep the FR66s or sell that and buy something modern in the 5-6 K range. My only point of reference is my old JMW-10 on my Aries MK1, so I don't know how the FR66s would compare to a modern arm. So I'd like to rely on the collective knowledge and experience of this group for a recommendation.

Keep the FR66s, or go modern in the 5-6K range, say a Moerch DP8 or maybe an SME.

Any and all thoughts and opinions are of course much appreciated.

Cheers,      Crazy Bill
wrm0325
Post removed 
Wrm, I grew up, to age 9, in Woodmont, CT, which is a tiny blue collar suburb of West Haven.  I remember my friend's father digging clams on the beach to feed his family and lobstermen catching lobsters only 50 yards off-shore.  Those were the days, my friend.  We moved to New Haven when I reached 9 years.

I really don't want to get involved in the hostilities here, but in fairness to Raul, and unless I misunderstood his long post, he was not saying that alignment geometry is unimportant; he was instead advocating for Baerwald uber alles.  I disagree with that position, but I don't live and breathe this stuff, nor do I intend to.  I do agree with Dover as regards the issues that are raised when you twist the cartridge/cantilever with respect to the vertical pivot arc of the tonearm, based on my direct experiences.
dover: do you have right now on hand the 505?

If yes just try Baerwald or Löfgren alignment changing the P2S distance from Stevenson. Then listen and listen in between ( B, L and S alignments. ) and return here to share your experiences there.

If not, your post is useless and futile this time.

Through all your posts in this thread and IMHO your contributions helps to no one because you have not today facts on hand.

R.
fleib, for you, and anyone else considering a Dennesen/Feickert type device, allow me to be more precise. Sometimes my mind works faster than my fingers can type! ;^)

My only issue in using an alignment device such as the Dennesen is the need to accurately locate the pivot point of an already mounted arm. Some arms in my experience (EPA-100, Kuzma Stogi Reference, VPI) have a screw or at least an indentation on top of the arm tube or bearing armature so the reference rod can be positioned directly above the pivot point of the arm. This is necessary for both overhang and offset.

When I’ve tried using my Dennesen on any arm without such a reference marking I’m forced to eyeball the position of the vertical reference rod to the "estimated" pivot point and then hold it in that position while I continue with a one-handed alignment. Given the scale of alignment distances that is chancy at best.

My reference to sighting the cantilever for offset alignment meant relative to the lines etched on the Dennesen base plate, NOT back to the pivot point for the arm. That would defeat the offset alignment.

The last time I needed to mark a pivot point to drill a mounting hole for an arm I made a dedicated template. Using a manila file folder I cut out a 2" wide strip of appropriate length. Then with a good quality metal scale I marked off the spindle to pivot distance and precisely marked both. I carefully cut a X over the spindle marking (that allowed a pressure grip by the quadrants around the spindle) and punched the pivot point with a pin. Then inserting a 0.5 Pentel pencil I scribed the arc line to drill for arm placement. I found that easier than using the Dennesen.

Lastly, perhaps I should not have mentioned the DV-505 since I have no personal experience with it.

Crazy Bill, I enjoyed your story. My nickname "Pryso" goes back to high school so that was fun.