New 55,000 Euro tonearm

!2" arms are like a bad joke. They fail on any number of levels.

The FCL arm is another bad joke. How many of you have played with wooden dowels? Hint, they are very easy to bend, even resin loaded. A tonearm should have no sound of it's own. Anything added is distortion, euphonic or not. 

@rsf507 , There are many great arms selling for reasonable prices including the 4 Point 9, the Reed 2G, the Schroder CB (which I own), the SME V and the Tri Planar. My all time favorite arm is the Schroder LT. It costs $12,000. In other words there is no excuse for spending more than $12,000 on an arm. The only expensive arm that gets my attention is the Reed 5T, but the Schroder LT does exactly the samething in a less complicated more elegant fashion.

Mijo, you’re criticizing the FCL because the wand is made of wood? If I’m correct, then what about Schroeder and Reed? Both of which brands you seem to approve. I like them too. History suggests wood tonearms deserve to be evaluated on a case by case basis, just as one would do for any other type.

@lewm, yes, I am because that particular design is a horrible application for wood. It is too long, thin and is the same diameter all along the shaft. Wood's major advantage is that it is intrinsically well dampened. In the case of the Schroder and Reed arms the wood is resin impregnated, the wooden section is relatively short and the shaft is tapered. All this makes the arm much stiffer. The FCL has other serious issues also. 

Dear @mijostyn : Yes, 12" could be for " sex " not for tonearms. I was really satisfied with all of my over 6-8 12" tonearms including the bs of FR66, SAEC’s and the like till I learned.

M.Gomez was very clear about stiffness and rigidity as a main primary target of any tonearm designer . As you said and I know that you don’t need to listen to it the FCL goes against not only the main tonearms design targets but as you said has other issues.

I understand why gentlemans like the unipivots and it’s mainly because its aliveness characteristic that it’s not other thing that higher distortions/colorations. Fine with me but thank you:no any more.

@rsf507 the tonearms posted by mijostyn are all good alternatives for you. Now, exist a TT/tonearm very good alternative and that’s is the Rega RP10 that comes with the new RP2000 tonearm that as no one tonearms is a perfect one but a challenge for any other tonearm and I don’t know if Rega has on sale as a stand alone item. As everything in audio analog always exist trade-offs in all audio items but this Rega is a winner and for that price TT/tonearm combination I could say is the century bargain.

Btw, that Glanz review comes for a reviewer where his reference is the FR66, go figure but additional to that is a long tonearm 12" and I can say expensive for.

ere reviews of the Rega that I think are interestings for almost all of us:

https://www.tonepublications.com/review/rega-rp10-turntable/

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

R

@rauliruegas , I always forget about the RB2000. It is a lot of arm for the money and yes, you can buy it individually. Another great arm for the money is the Audimods Series 6.