Fidelity Research cartridges

I don't believe Ikeda himself was as dogmatic as our friends
chakster and edgewear. I am not sure about other FR- 7kinds
but I owned this ''rare''  FR-702. According to Syntax this one
is made for European market. I am also not sure about that but
well that this one has shorter cantilever than the rest.  In one
of my contribution I even guessed that this was his ''evolution''
to cantileverless series 9 C. The number 702 is mysterious but
not its looks. This cart looks exactly the same as other FR-7
kinds. 

Dear Nandric,

Agnostic? Yes. Dogmatic? Hell no! But I do own 4 different FR-7 types, including the MC-702 which I regards as FR-7. I suppose this borders on ’religious’ or at least on being a strong believer. So I’m ’allowed’, thank goodness. 😋

On visual inspection the cantilever of the MC-702 doesn’t appear to be any shorter. This can be deceptive, but it is confirmed by the fact that it exactly hits the three ’o’ points of the Stevenson alignment on the Feickert protractor, just like the other three. I’m not at all suggesting Ikeda was ’dogmatic’, but he definitely was consistent.

As for that elusive Miyabi Ivory, I’ve actually seen it for sale twice this past years. Once on eBay by a Russian seller and once here on Audiogon by grgaudio, as part of a Miyabi ’wholesale’ with all the incarnations except the MoFi Carbon. I was outbid on eBay and the asking price of grgaudio was too steep for me at that time, but the Ivory is still on my radar......

Dear endgewear, Ikeda produced at least 4 different tonearms.
To know if he was consistent one should know geometry of
each of them. I do remember ( vague) that some Russian cart
producer uses ivory for his cart bodies . The ''theory'' seems
to be based on acoustic properties of, say, ''bones'' . I think that
I have some ''hammer'' mede from bone in my ear. But this is
my limited medical knowledge. Besides I have seen so many
different materials for the bodies , even naked (aka without body)
kinds that I have no idea what or whom to believe(grin). Alas I
sold all other FR-7 kinds except FR-7 fz. So no chance to check. Besides I moved on to those cantileverless kinds with 9 REX as my latest purchase. 
 

Dear Nandric, if you mean Aidas brand cartridge, he's not Russian (I mean master) and it's mammoth tusk.  If you do mentioned 9REX could you compare it with FR-7fz? Which VTF you use for 9REX? 

I will try to revive Ikeda 9EM soon.  

Dear bukanonas, Probably because mammoth tusk are found in 
Russia I confused the producers (grin). I love FR-fz as much as
the 9 REX. The REX is latest in the series 9 cantileverless kinds 
with unbelievable compliance. Recommended VTF 1.5 g. I use
1.7 g. Wish you luck with 9EM.