Why is the price of new tonearms so high

So D. for the final piece of the puzzle what phono stage do you use with the FR-7f? Thanks Pär

Dear Axelwahl, I own,inter alia,the Reed and the Micro
MA-505. The Micro is,for the price mentioned,a bargain.
Period. But on my Kuzma S.R. there is just place for one
tonearm and this place is occupied by the Triplanar VII.
So I needed one tonearm to put next to my TT and the fellows from Lithuania made for me one 12" tonearm with a
base ('turret'). I am very satisfied with the Reed but the
only 'quibble'I had was the absent of 'slots' on the headshell and the absent of the azimuth adjustment.
Meanwhile there is a new version named Reed 2A with both
provisions. I expect to get this new version next week and
hope to inform the 'Goners' about one month later. So keep
looking at www.turntables.lt.
Regards,
Nandric

Dear Perrew, I do use an all tube design fully balanced differential phono stage with high gain.
Its my design - not a market product.
Syntax, Heradot, 7 other friends of mine and me we have had all very good experiences with the Lamm LP2 (stock and modified), Klyne, Cotter Phono, Tom Evans and a Kaneda design in various set-ups.
The virtues of the FR-7x/FR-60 steel tonearm combination were apparent in all these set-ups - different, but always clearly audible.
Among these I would favourite the LP2 but with several important modifications (the very first step being replacing the standard tubes with WE 417a - and putting a 1950ies black plate RCA rectifier into the LP2).
Hope this info is of any worth.
Cheers,
D.

Always worth a lot thanks for taking the time to answer, would you consider building a unit?

Dear Halcro: The main FR tonearm subject is something not system dependent, geometry dependent, set-up dependent and the like.

The main subject is that resonances/distortions on the steel build material of those tonearms. Those distortions not only exist ( a fact ) but are worst than in other tonearms.
Dertonarm that is a wise guy knows that steel bad resonances/distortions but if anyone read to its posts he not oly does not speaks in a precise manner on the subject but he put and made a lot of noise/dust around ( he put like a smoke curtain. ) " trying " to distract the attention from that main subject and that's why he always is talking ( making noise ) about: Sea Cliff, his beloved friends, Cotter, telling hystories etc, etc.

He preach ( somewhere ) about neutrality like a goal in TT and tonearms but he defend a non-neutral tonearm due to the Mr. Ikeda choosen build material ( undamped steel. ). There is no coherence here and he knows.

Now, he says ( somewhere ) that through his hands already pass something like 60 FR tonearms where the majority were for sale. He is a wise man and IMHO he has a " private " interest in preserve the FR-64/66 myth.

I'm not using anymore those FR tonearms ( I own the FR especial base for the VTA on the fly that match the FR and Ikeda tonearms if any one is interested on it please email me because I don't need it anymore. ) due to its inherent distortions ( I repeat again and again due to that steel build material. ) and this is the main subject that he does not like to speak.
Maybe in reallity your ears are totally equalized to those FR heavy distortions and if is in that way it could be a frustation can't discern other superior and great alternatives to enjoy the music.
Daniel please no more noise/dust on the subject or go a head and take the " bull by its horns ".

Btw, Dertonarm of course that almost any person with the right experiences and knowing how an audio items sounds can has an opinion on an audio system only through the system description, I'm sure you can do it: that you don't want to do it does not means you can't or any one can't do it.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.