Halco and Nandric,
Thank you both so much for your advice. It is greatly appreciated and listened to. Your ( and others ) experience far exceeds my own.
Halcro,
I can assure you that your original assessment of my intent is completely correct. A little history, I guess.
Bought my first real audio system back in 2000 when I got divorced and finally had a little freedom in my life. The analog front end consisted of The VPI Aries MK1, VPI JMW 10, VPI Synchronous Drive, and Grado Statement feeding the Sonic Frontiers Phono 1. I also started buying a lot of vinyl to listen to, mostly older classic rock ( have a GREAT local place w/ extensive used vinyl for sale ), and the re-issue stuff ( MoFi,DCC,etc ). I was in complete audio bliss for about 5 yrs until my audio world was turned on its head.
Turns out that a member of our golfing group that I had just met is a complete audio nut. He also has deep pockets. After we finished playing golf one Sunday morning, he convinces me to follow him to his home about 1/2 hr. away. Upon arrival, we go to a storage area under the stairs, and inside is a Mitch Cotter turntable and his record collection. They had been stored there for 15 yrs. These records are the under 20 cuts I mentioned before, and obviously the source of the FR66s. I still wouldn't have a clue about any of this stuff had I not received these gifts. I started doing some studying because I now possessed them.
I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Purchased the PHONO1 based upon positive reviews and that fact that a local dealer who was a friend carried the SF line. Purchased the VPI and the Grado from an internet retailer based upon reviews and the salesman's recommendations. The fact that everything went together so nicely was just luck, as I certainly had no idea what was going on.
Fast forward a few years, and the Denon part of the Mitch Cotter dies. After extensive efforts to find a repair place and many conversations w/ potential repairers, I decided to abandon repair of the Denon DD. The owner of the now defunct Choir Audio kindly built for me the platter, bearing,motor and speed control from his Choir One table. His website is still up if anyone cares to see what that is. I abandoned the spring loading of the Cotter, but I used the top plate mounted on a bunch of Vibrapods and fastened the bearing assembly to it, hooked up a makeshift motor mount, and now had a belt driven high end turntable mounted to the Cotter baseplate and still using the FR66s. ( I had since sold the VPI stuff. Don't need two tables ) Sounded absolutely glorious, but sure looked like, much to my wife's chagrin, a crude Rube Goldbergh affair.
Well, fast forward some more and my golfing buddy and I have remained best friends since then. I go to his place as often as possible to listen to his headphone based SOTA digital system, and he comes here sporadically to listen to vinyl ( btw, I still get his hand-me-downs, of which the Stax gear I listed is to be included ).
A while back, while here, he said he was tired of looking at my turntable contraption and he wanted to put a new table in my house. He has bought most of his stuff from a dealer in NYC, and since he wanted to buy from him out of loyalty, the Blackbird w/ the Jelco arm and Arche headshell ended up in my living room. Otherwise, w/o question, a new VPI set-up would be here instead, but that dealer did not carry VPI.
The Denon DL103r is my cartridge. I procured the Midas body and fitted it. The Koetsu is from my buddy from the original gift of the records and Cotter. After a couple of years of use on the Cotter, the suspension collapsed. It was from the 80's and was built by the old man. It sat there while I used my Denon until the search for the new table began, when it was sent back to Koetsu for a total rebuild at my friends expense.
So here we are. I compared both arms and the rest is history.
Were it not for the generosity of my friend, I still wouldn't have a clue about the FR,Cotter, or any of his other hand me downs. I'm semi-retired now, and certainly can't afford this kind of stuff and would never have been exposed to it were it not for him.
So, you see, I certainly have a very limited knowledge base compared to you guys, which is why I came here to ask the question.
Regarding that question, it's time to put this to rest. The new tonearm was also going to be courtesy of my buddy. I've informed him that I'll be keeping the FR66s. It's time to get off this bandwagon and spend what little spare time I have listening to music, and not studying what may be a new acquisition instead.
So to all who contributed, my sincerest thanks for your input and advice.
The FR66s stays.
Cheers, Crazy Bill
P.S. Still would like to get a copy of that old thread I mentioned before if anyone may have it.
Thank you both so much for your advice. It is greatly appreciated and listened to. Your ( and others ) experience far exceeds my own.
Halcro,
I can assure you that your original assessment of my intent is completely correct. A little history, I guess.
Bought my first real audio system back in 2000 when I got divorced and finally had a little freedom in my life. The analog front end consisted of The VPI Aries MK1, VPI JMW 10, VPI Synchronous Drive, and Grado Statement feeding the Sonic Frontiers Phono 1. I also started buying a lot of vinyl to listen to, mostly older classic rock ( have a GREAT local place w/ extensive used vinyl for sale ), and the re-issue stuff ( MoFi,DCC,etc ). I was in complete audio bliss for about 5 yrs until my audio world was turned on its head.
Turns out that a member of our golfing group that I had just met is a complete audio nut. He also has deep pockets. After we finished playing golf one Sunday morning, he convinces me to follow him to his home about 1/2 hr. away. Upon arrival, we go to a storage area under the stairs, and inside is a Mitch Cotter turntable and his record collection. They had been stored there for 15 yrs. These records are the under 20 cuts I mentioned before, and obviously the source of the FR66s. I still wouldn't have a clue about any of this stuff had I not received these gifts. I started doing some studying because I now possessed them.
I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Purchased the PHONO1 based upon positive reviews and that fact that a local dealer who was a friend carried the SF line. Purchased the VPI and the Grado from an internet retailer based upon reviews and the salesman's recommendations. The fact that everything went together so nicely was just luck, as I certainly had no idea what was going on.
Fast forward a few years, and the Denon part of the Mitch Cotter dies. After extensive efforts to find a repair place and many conversations w/ potential repairers, I decided to abandon repair of the Denon DD. The owner of the now defunct Choir Audio kindly built for me the platter, bearing,motor and speed control from his Choir One table. His website is still up if anyone cares to see what that is. I abandoned the spring loading of the Cotter, but I used the top plate mounted on a bunch of Vibrapods and fastened the bearing assembly to it, hooked up a makeshift motor mount, and now had a belt driven high end turntable mounted to the Cotter baseplate and still using the FR66s. ( I had since sold the VPI stuff. Don't need two tables ) Sounded absolutely glorious, but sure looked like, much to my wife's chagrin, a crude Rube Goldbergh affair.
Well, fast forward some more and my golfing buddy and I have remained best friends since then. I go to his place as often as possible to listen to his headphone based SOTA digital system, and he comes here sporadically to listen to vinyl ( btw, I still get his hand-me-downs, of which the Stax gear I listed is to be included ).
A while back, while here, he said he was tired of looking at my turntable contraption and he wanted to put a new table in my house. He has bought most of his stuff from a dealer in NYC, and since he wanted to buy from him out of loyalty, the Blackbird w/ the Jelco arm and Arche headshell ended up in my living room. Otherwise, w/o question, a new VPI set-up would be here instead, but that dealer did not carry VPI.
The Denon DL103r is my cartridge. I procured the Midas body and fitted it. The Koetsu is from my buddy from the original gift of the records and Cotter. After a couple of years of use on the Cotter, the suspension collapsed. It was from the 80's and was built by the old man. It sat there while I used my Denon until the search for the new table began, when it was sent back to Koetsu for a total rebuild at my friends expense.
So here we are. I compared both arms and the rest is history.
Were it not for the generosity of my friend, I still wouldn't have a clue about the FR,Cotter, or any of his other hand me downs. I'm semi-retired now, and certainly can't afford this kind of stuff and would never have been exposed to it were it not for him.
So, you see, I certainly have a very limited knowledge base compared to you guys, which is why I came here to ask the question.
Regarding that question, it's time to put this to rest. The new tonearm was also going to be courtesy of my buddy. I've informed him that I'll be keeping the FR66s. It's time to get off this bandwagon and spend what little spare time I have listening to music, and not studying what may be a new acquisition instead.
So to all who contributed, my sincerest thanks for your input and advice.
The FR66s stays.
Cheers, Crazy Bill
P.S. Still would like to get a copy of that old thread I mentioned before if anyone may have it.