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Question on FR 66s

For some reason, search on FR 66s in agon did not turn up anything much. I recalled that recommended S2P distance is 296mm rather than 295mm and Stevenson geometry seems to work best. Is this correct? I already have FR 64s which works very nicely with Koetsu. In general, does FR 66s works well with the more modern cartridges, Lyra, Air Tight, Dynavector etc.
I am kind of curious to try it but not sure what to try it with. Beside those mentioned on my system page, I have Kiseki Blue, XV-1s and Miyajima Zero on hand currently.

Thanks for any suggestion.
suteetat
thuchan
1,009 posts
 
Pani,
in the case of the FR-66s you may neglect the compliance issue. We made many tests with nearly all available MC carts, MI carts and new as well older MM designs on the FR-66s. No problem at all. It is the most universal arm ever built.
syntax's avatar
syntax
2,193 posts
 
Pani,
I think there is no general rule for compliance, effective mass of tonearm and superior sonic result. The formula for that is only a formula but you have different Arm materials (steel, titan, wood, aluminum for example) all have totally different energy transfer abilities, you have Unipivot arms, dynamically balanced Designs and so on...and you have different Arm geometries which are also responsible for superior or inferior tracking ability ...
To make a very long story short, you can all strip down to the abilities of the Designer. You will find endless examples for top sounding combinations which are not a 10 in the 8-12 formula range and you will find mediocre sounding combinations which are a 9.9 in the calculation.

FR-64s
the alternative P2S is 231,5mm

I think that thread was deleted based on aggressive posting from a mexican member which had a lot of personal attacks when I remember right.
suteetat OP
435 posts
 
Thanks all for the information.
Nandric, I don't plan to get rid off FR 64s either. Just go on the a different table. I got the FR66s from a good friend. I am not sure what the realistic price or fair price of FR 66s is (is there such thing) but I did pay quite a bit less than ebay usual asking price. I did see that there is an armboard for 66s for SX-777 so I will have to see if I could find one. In the meantime, FR 64s stays on my Micro Seiki.
I bought the FR mainly because all the other arms I have did not play well with Koetsu. Now that I have 2 FRs, I can try other cartridges as well.
pani
1,220 posts
 
Thanks for the information. It is interesting to know that the FR64/66 can handle such a wide range of cartridges. However, can someone also say a few words about their sonic attributes ? How they sound like in general ? Since it is a vintage tonearm it does not have any reviews published on the internet. Only experienced users can give some idea on its sonics. In fact it will be interesting to know how it sounds compared to a Graham Phantom or SME V. Anyone please ?
halcro's avatar
halcro
2,664 posts
 
As Thuchan has mentioned......the FR-66s is possibly the most 'universal' tonearm ever designed?
The only modern arms which I have found to equal it (and the FR-64s) in this respect......are the Continuum Cobra and Copperhead.
I have directly compared the FR-64s and 66s to the DaVinci 12" Grandezza and the Graham Phantom II on the same turntables with a range of cartridges (both LOMCs and MMs)........and the Fidelity Research arms have a control and authority which is immediately obvious.
The images are stable and pinpoint whilst the soundstage is the widest and deepest you will hear if the vinyl contains this information.
The bass depth and control is quite astonishing.......but the real highlight I find.....is the complete relaxation that one feels when listening.
These arms allow one to forget entirely about the electro-mechanical gymnastics involved in the execution of musical extraction and completely immerse oneself in the music.
You will find it difficult to stop dragging out long forgotten records and re-discovering.
And the DaVinci and Phantom II arms?...........they're gone :-)
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