Fidelity Research FR-64x

@rauliruegas

Well, 99.9999% of the audiophiles in the world always listen the normal LPs not 7"inch records.

I don’t care about audiophiles with their reissues, CDs or files.
There is a certain kind of record collectors who’re mainly into 45s (7inch singles), because most of the music from the 60s/70s on 45s (7 inch) never released on LPs.

I also like LPs, but i’m not a typical audiophile, i believe. I came from record collectors world and i used to play my records in public for 20 years, also on radiostations. The 45s is my main format when i’m playing here or abroad, they are easy to carry (one song per side).

BTW the old Technics standard is very close to Stevenson, i think they are still using the same 52mm plastic gause for the GAE tonerms? If the arm geometry is the same as the old SL1200mkII series, then we got almost Stevenson on GAE? Or did they change it to Baerwald?

Dear @chakster @mulveling : You can try the cartridge/tonearm alignment in that FR with these parameters:

overhang: 16.5mm, offset angle: 21.95° and P2S: 233.5mm. The distortion levels goes down again as tracking error. That is Löfgren A/Baerwald alignment but now with and EL: 250mm.

@lewm you can try too. Of course if the headshell and tonearm permit it, my unit is not mounted so I can’t test if works but if works with no problem with the cartridge alignment then is a true improvement. improvement.

R.

@chakster : I'm not against which alignment is what you choosed. What I'm against it is that you posted " no prlem with Stevenson A alignment ", could be no problem for you but for almost all audiophiles exist a huge problem when in any tonearm the choice is Stevenson A alignment.

Btw, if Technics is what is using then they are ignorant of the real problems in that Stevenson A regards.

Btw, 20grs. on effective mass is not " low mass " tonearm as you said.

R.

@karl_desch
I actually already have an LH-8000; I’ve had it for several years now! That’s impressive that you preferred its sound to the Yamamatos. I never did sound-quality headshell comparisons on the FR64fx, but I do know that the LH-8000 certainly sounds very good, especially with Ortofon silver leads. I’m actually interested in trying out the LH-9000 (carbon fiber + magnesium). There’s nothing else out there, really, that looks "normal" and is made from higher-end materials (how did you cope with the Titanium Yamamoto’s mounting holes vs. slits?).

I enjoy the debate on alignments. I’m probably gonna splash out for a SMARTractor, and go with a Baerwald alignment (maybe with the longer than 230mm S-P distances, as has been suggested). Fortunately the CA turntable facilitates easy adjustment of S-P distance. And I never play any 7" discs, and I don’t want to cater to inner grooves at the expense of the rest of the record, so no Stevenson for me.