Who owns/owned a Fidelity Research FR1 MK3F & what is similar but better


To say that I love, love, love this cartridge is a gross understatement. In fact I love it so much I now own 2 - one I had rebuilt and one I just bought which is virtually unused.

The sweet tone of the music and the life like performance of both instruments and vocals is outstanding. The delivery of music is totally immersive and mesmerizing. Whilst the high frequencies are detailed yet silky smooth and the bass is low reaching but solid, it is the midrange where everything comes alive.

It is in this midrange zone that the voices of Nancy Wilson, Jacintha, Vanessa Fernandez, amongst others, become incredibly real, intoxicating and seductive. It is also in this range where trumpets, saxophones, snare drums, bass guitar & piano sound so palpable you feel like you can reach out and touch them.

To give the above statements some context I should point out that I have owned and / or demo'd some reasonably desirable cartridges such as Technics EPC-310MC, Audio Technica OC9 III, AT 32e II, AT 150 MLX, Denon 103 with aluminum body and soundsmith rebuild, Signet TK 100LC, Linn Adikt & Grado F1+, and I can honestly say that based on my taste, none of these cartridges come anywhere close to providing the sheer enjoyment I get from the Fidelity Research.

So what do I do now??? Have I reached vinyl nirvana???? In the short to medium term I say yes wholeheartedly and I am content to focus my $$$ on expanding my record collection with a massive smile on my face.

However, and there is always a "however", what happens when I am ready to consider going to the next level or I get that itch that we all get no matter how high up the food chain we get. What cartridge, (vintage preferably), would offer a similar sonic flavor but provide a little more of everything I love about this magical cart.

This request for information is purely out of curiosity at this stage as I have no desire to spend more $$$, but I am keen hear from those members who have owned the F version of this cartridge and find out what they did to take it to the next level. 

Thanks in advance for any observations y'all may have.


 
ateal
Ateal...excellent choice with the FR1-mk3f cartridges; "exceptional performer,"a good choice of words!

Nany...Raul, he is okay, even an honest fellow; try it, you'll like it, really!

Cheers!

Have a pair of FR MC 202 carts. Just for fun I have tried about 4-5 other carts only to promptly return to the FR. Smooth music when the music is smooth but it rocks out without a hitch. Bought the backup as soon as I saw it. The first one was bought NOS, so as long as the second one is performing great that NOS sits in the box ready for it's time.

t_bone started the thread ''Fidelity reasearch carts'' in 2009.

(see FR-7 on the net) . In the discussion JCarr recomended PMC 3

while his own preference was the ''fz'' and the ''f''. Does anyone know

what happened with t_bone?  

Yes, this is a LINK to t_bone's Fidelity Reasearch thread. 

And this is what J Carr said:

"The PMC-3 is far less popular than the FR-1 or 7, but was influenced by the FR-7's thinking, and is certainly worth searching out."  - J.Carr

FR also had quite interesting MM designs. I'm not too fond of the electrical characteristics of most MMs (nor how they sound), but the low-inductance FR-5E is a notable exception." - J.Carr