The Ortofon MC2000 is a high compliance cartridge that would never be paired with an FR64S, at least not by me. In his original review, J Gordon Holt noted that if one were to try to keep the calculated resonant frequency of the MC2000 cartridge within an acceptable range, it needs a 5-gram tonearm, in fact, because of its high compliance coupled with its own rather heavy weight. There have only been a very few tonearms ever made that qualify purely on that criterion. Yet, humans do enjoy the MC2000, somehow.
I, for one, never said that the FR64S might be sufficiently damped by its own high effective mass. My point was that if you add the B60 and a very massive tonearm mounting apparatus made from materials that transfer energy from the tonearm base, you can achieve some degree of mass damping. I use a B60 plus about 5 lbs of tonearm mount, none of which adds to the effective mass. If you then dismiss the heavy FR headshells (20g is typical) and use a lightweight rigid headshell (less than 10g), you can expand the useful range of the tonearm. Finally, in general I have agreed over and over again that damping is beneficial.
I, for one, never said that the FR64S might be sufficiently damped by its own high effective mass. My point was that if you add the B60 and a very massive tonearm mounting apparatus made from materials that transfer energy from the tonearm base, you can achieve some degree of mass damping. I use a B60 plus about 5 lbs of tonearm mount, none of which adds to the effective mass. If you then dismiss the heavy FR headshells (20g is typical) and use a lightweight rigid headshell (less than 10g), you can expand the useful range of the tonearm. Finally, in general I have agreed over and over again that damping is beneficial.