Tonearms that work well with better Koetsu stone body cartridges
Here's a good read... https://www.gcaudio.com/tips-tricks/tonearm-cartridge-compatability/ I've seen the 407 described as being in the low/mid 30's, which would definitely put it in the high mass category (if true). DeKay |
The FR64S sounds phenomenal with Koetsu stones; any one who’s had that combo will tell you the same. The FR64fx is also quite good if you’re on a budget. Silver vs. copper versions on these arms doesn’t matter too much; don’t stress over it. The stock 64fx base is quite good but a B-60 or Ikeda VTA-06 base is recommended for the 64S. The stock FR headshells are all pretty bad. The Koetsu deserves better. I'm partial to the Ikeda headshells (20g, very thick aluminum). Also a Graham Phantom is quite serviceable for Koetsu stones (but not as good sounding as the FRs) if that’s what you’ve got on hand. I tried a Jade once on a Clearaudio Universal 12" and it was an awful match lol. I don't know how much of that was compliance/mass matching versus the carbon fiber arm tube material, but the Koetsu sounded like it wasn't happy. That same arm sounds GREAT with a Shelter Harmony (carbon fiber body), so there is definitely something to the arm/cart matching thing. The Ikeda seem like they’d be a great match too, and share lineage with the FR arms, but they will cost you a good bit more than a used FR64 series arm. |
Not that you are going to go out and buy one, but the stone bodies work really well on my Kuzma Airline linear tracker. Yes, the arm has high horizontal but not vertical mass, though according to Franc, the design should not cause undue stress on the cartridge. The arm seems to like a lower compliance cartridge based on my experience using some pretty high end cartridges from the likes of Lyra and Airtight. I’ve had the arm a long time. Not sure if this applies to other linear trackers, including the ET2 and Trans-Fi, which are probably easier to get into financially. The stone body (I have two) really made the difference in my system-bringing up the bottom end (and of course that famous midrange). |
