FR64s & Orsonic Av-1s Effective mass ?

CLeeds, In all fairness to Raul, where do you go these days to buy a NEW FR64S?  In fact, so far as I know, Raul has owned his FR64S for a much longer period of time than I have owned mine; there's at least a chance that he DID buy his FR64S new.  I would wager that nearly all of us who have commented on this thread bought their FR tonearms as used items. I bought mine off eBay about 3-4 years ago, with "silver inside", from either 2juki or one of the other regular Japanese eBay sellers.  When I got it, the bearing was a little stiff.  Dertonearm advised me to just leave it in a warm place so as to allow the bearing lubricant to warm up, and indeed he was right; the problem just disappeared while the FR64S was sitting at room temperature in my house.  Other than a broken internal wire or a very stiff bearing that does not "thaw out", I don't know what else could go wrong with an FR64S that would not be immediately apparent.  Thus I conclude that Raul's opinion, whether we like it or not, is based on listening to a fully OK sample of the tonearm.
By the way, I am wondering whether the lubricant that evidently surrounds the bearing in fact does constitute a form of damping

@lewm I'd purchased my FR64S brand new back when I also bought the Oracle Delphi Mk. III that I mounted it on. That was a great combination and, as I've mentioned, I sold it to a friend who still uses it. It sounds great in his system. As for what might be wrong with a used arm, I suppose any form of abuse could have a negative effect on it. I don't mind at all that Raul doesn't like the arm, only that he thinks those who do are somehow "wrong" and subject to his derision. It seems to me that it's really a matter of preference, so there can be be no "wrong" choice. And of course the sound of a pickup arm is highly dependent on what it is mounted on, how it is mounted and for that matter who mounted it - because it's easy to get pickup arm alignment wrong.

Raul has proclaimed earlier in this thread that he loves distortion, so that may be another explanation for why he doesn't like the FR64S, because it is a relatively neutral pickup arm ... or at least it is the way I set it up.

I notice that these arms command quite a good price on the used market. That suggests that others, too, find it to be a good pickup arm.

Like you, I think there's more than one kind of damping. I think it's not quite accurate to consider an FR64 that's properly installed on its heavy VTA base and then mounted on a serious armboard as "undamped," but I'm certainly not going to argue with Raul about that or, for that matter, anything else.

@cleeds : """  It seems to me that it's really a matter of preference,  .."""

that's exactly where started your misunderstood on what I'm talking about.

I'm not talking about any one preferences or what we like but what is wrong or good that has no relationship with each one preferences and that's all. I posted that premise more than 4 times in this thread for no one could has a misunderstood on the subject as you did it.

I can't argue against your or any one preferences, that's untoachable by any one but, again, that's not what I'm talking about. Got it?

@lewm , I can't think to listen any single tonearm that present a bearing problem as yours where the tonearm bearing condition in 100% status is a must to have, a crucial parameter/characteristic/target for a good tonearm/cartridge quality performance level. Was a " surprise " to me when I read your post. Anyway, was your call and you like what you hear and this is your privilege.


Regards and enjoy the music,
R.