FR66S vs Ikeda IT-407 vs FR66FX


Which is the better one?
I listened to reed 3p with Van Den Hul Crimson XGW Stradivarius and it was amazing. Are they better than Reed 3p?
I am planning to pair it with Garrard 301. 

Thanks
Nanda
kanchi647
@dover is tracking force equivalent to compliance. Low tracking force means high compliance and vice versa. 
I also have a Thorens MCH II van den hul cartridge which tracks at 2-3 g. So I can use a heavy tone arm for that I guess. 


is tracking force equivalent to compliance. Low tracking force means high compliance and vice versa.
No they are not equivalent, but generally low compliance cartridges tend to track better at higher tracking forces and vice versa.

Some folk like Halcro are using heavy arms with MM's with medium compliance and get away with it, but the top van den hul's high compliance as well as their short cantilever's like on the colibri are a recipe for disaster with heavy arms as noted on van den hul's website ( see Q&A section )..

So it comes back to whether you want to run the van den hul on your 301 as to whether you choose one of these arms.

fwiw amongst many tablesin my collection, I have a 301 with FR64S giving excellent results with suitable cartridges. I have heard the EMTvdh/FR64S combo giving great results, particularly on large scale classical music. SPU's and Koetsu's will of course work well with the 66s/407/66fx.

You might be able to ask van den hul to tweak your cartridge to suit the heavier arms but I suspect he would advise against it. I certainly would never run a VDH on my FR64S. Van den huls own reference for listening  is the SME V  @ 12g effective mass and he tests the cartridges in his workshop on the Technics EPA100.






@dover Thank you.
How about the difference between FR64S vs 66s vs 66FX vs IT-407 cartridge and rest of the set up being the same. 
FR64S is best bang for the buck. FR66 is better, but expensive to buy.
66FX I have never heard, but is lighter mass and costs less to buy than 66S. 407 has mixed reviews - most folk believe the FR64S/66 are the best built, and sounding. There have been some reports of quality issues with the Ikeda range ( not built by Ikeda, founder of FR ). The FR’s have the lateral weight balance on the side to balance the whole arm/cartridge, which was omitted on the Ikeda series arms.
One advantage with the longer arms is that you will have lower tracking error with the fixed headshell cartridges such as the EMT/SPU where you cannot alter the tracking angle.
I have had 2 FR64S with no problems.