Fidelity Research cartridges

Raul is right, the FR-7Fc has 0.65mm conical stylus tip according to the answer from the two japanese sellers i’ve been chatted with.

Now i am a proud owner of the fully original Fidelity-Research FR-7fz (LineContact tip), thanks @nandric who motivated me to buy it and @syntax who helped me with some info too. It’s hard to imagine, but i bought it from the local guy in my town and the price was nice (i had to be quick).

Now i’m trying to find documentations for this model to make sure about the specs. There is a link with the specs, i hope this is correct specs.

Fidelity-Research FR-7fz specs:

■ Price in 1984 was 80,000 yen
■ Power generation method: MC type
■ Output voltage: 0.24 mV (5 cm / sec 45 °)
■ Needle pressure: 2.0 ~ 3.0g
■ Load resistance: 5 Ω
■ Playback frequency: 10 - 45,000 Hz
■ Channel separation: 20 dB / 1 kHz
■ Channel balance: 1 dB / 1 kHz
■ Compliance: 7 × 10 - 6 cm / dyne
■ Tip: contact type
■ Weight: 30g
■ Exchange needle unit replacement: (60,000 yen)
■ Release: 1984
■ End of sale: 1989
■ Shell integrated type.

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and for comparison Fidelity-Research FR-7f specs:

■ Price in 1980 was 77,000 yen
■ Power generation method: MC type cartridge
■ Output voltage: 0.15 mV (3.54 cm / sec., 45 °)
■ Output voltage: 0.2 mV (5 cm / sec., 45 °)
■ Output power: 2 × 10 -8 W (5 cm / sec 45 °)
■ Needle pressure: 2 g to 3 g
■ Load impedance: 3 Ω
■ Coil impedance: 2 Ω
■ Playback frequency: 10 Hz to 45 kHz
■ Channel separation: 28 dB (1 kHz)
■ Channel balance: 1 dB (1 kHz)
■ Compliance: 7 × 10 -6 cm / dyne (100 Hz, 20 ° C.)
■ Tip: 0.15 mm square Refined contact, Solid Diamond needle
■ Weight: 30 g
■ Exchange needle unit replacement: (¥ 54,000)

It was hard to find that topic, but to make it easier for every FR user i will copy his "mini-shootout: SPU, Koetsu, FR, Ikeda" right here:


"Finally had a chance to do a shootout of some of my MC cartridges. We compared 3 SPU’s (Silver Meister GM, Gold GM, Royal GM), Ikeda 9CIII (cantileverless), Fidelity Research FR7fz, Koetsu Onyx Platinum and Koetsu Coralstone Platinum. All cartridges except the Koetsu Coralstone Plt was bought used and hence runned-in. The cartridges were tested on my friend Kel’s system (Art Audio Carissa 845 amps, AR LS27 pre, Hagerman Trumpet phonostage + Cinemag Blue SUT, Hagerman Bugle fully modded + Hashimoto HM-7 SUT and Kudos speakers). We used 2 TT’s: Garrard 401 with Schick 12" arm and a Garrard 301 with Ikeda IT407 12" arm. Both Garrards have upgraded plinths. Most of the comparison was finally done with the Garrard 301/Ikeda combo. We used different headshells for the Ikeda 9CIII (Ikeda Rhodium headshell/cheap leads), Koetsu Onyx Plt (Yamamoto Ebony/Ortofon Silver leads) and Koetsu Coralstone Plt (Sumiko headshell/Ikeda Hybrid Cu leads). We started with the SPU’s. Amongst the 3 SPU, the consensus was that the SPU Gold was the best. It was between the Silver Meister which has more treble extension and the Royal which was the most laid back. The Royal have all the SPU attributes but has detail, refinement, soundstage, smoothness and musicality but more punch and dynamics than the Royal and without some of the leading edge and treble extension of the Silver Meister. Mind you, all 3 had a similar SPU house sound. We then tried the FR7fz which sounded more balance, more PRAT than the SPU’s while remaining smooth, warm, detailed and musical. 2 of our group (50%) liked the FR7fz the best. We then tried the Ikeda 9CIII which was very difficult to setup. We initially tried Ikeda’s silver headshell leads but could not get one channel to work and finally had to settle for some basic cheap leads (unknown conductor) which did reduce the sonics somewhat. But we did hear what cantileverless brings to the party. A very direct, dynamic, detail, good micro and macrodynamics, very good PART. It does have a similar house sound like the FR7fz. But probably let down by the cheap leads we had to use. All favoured the FR7f over the Ikeda9CIII as a result. But it certainly wetted my appetite to try a higher end and later model Ikeda 9 REX or MUSA. Finally, we tried the Koetsu’s. We were not expecting much. We thought we would get good mids but soft bass and treble extension. We tried the Onyx Plt and we were shocked. This is not the typical Koetsu wood body sound. Great dynamic and realistic bass. Kel and I thought it had the best bass of all. Very palpable mids. Seems like the musicians are there in the room. Dynamic, detail, airy and very musical. And mind you, my Koetsu Onyx Plt has a hairline crack on the body. I bought it that way at a low price. This was the only way I could afford a stone body Koetsu (or so I thought). In fact, the sound was so good that I then bought a new Coralstone Plt so that we can put it into the shootout. We then tried the Coralstone Plt. It was even better than the Onyx Plt even though it was brand new. More bass, more dynamics, more musical than the Onyx. And strangely more gain than the Onyx. So it could be something to do with the Onyx’s cracked body. We ran it in for a few more days. We did hear some sonic changes in the Koetsu Coralstone as it was running in, so it was obviously not performing at its best. I was told by the dealer that it needed about 100 hours of run-in. In the end, we had 2 members prefer the FR7fz and 2 others preferring the Koetsu Coralstone Platinum. Obviously this is not a formal review, not same headsells etc, but just a quick shootout over 3 days to get a flavor of these cartridges. A key take away is that these vintage cartridges SPU Gold, FR7fz and Ikeda 9CIII have a lot to offer and surprised us all. Kel has a DPS turntable/arm with Transfiguration Proteus cartridge as his reference TT. I would say that all the cartridges gave the DPS/Proteus combo a good run for the money. As for me, the Coralstone Platinum is my new reference. " - @ddriveman ( 09-28-2014 ) 

Long time ago i’ve come across this page in japanese, revisited it last week i realized the price for Fr-7fc is the highest among all of them (100 000 Yen in 1981), even higher than FR-7fz with refined LineContact tip (80 000 Yen in 1981) for some reason. But the "fc" has a conical tip, what is the reason for higher price?

Ok, time to give some update since this thread has been revived and almost 4 years have passed since my vintage MC Cartridge mini-shootout review. Thanks to Chakster for finding that review.
Firstly, I was able to listen to the Ikeda 9C III again with Ikeda headshell and Ikeda headshell wires. This time, I preferred the 9C III to the FR7fz.
I've also added a SPU 85th Anniversary which is now the best SPU in my inventory. Finally, I moved from the Koetsu Coralstone Platinum to the Koetsu Coralstone Diamond Platinum which has a diamond cantilever. This is now my reference cartridge. All of the attributes of the original Coralstone Platinum but with more detail and PRAT. 
I'm still hunting for a Ikeda 9R, 9REX or 9 MUSA as I really like the cantileverless Ikeda 9 sound.
Additionally, I also have a Sony XL-55 Pro. It was nice but not better than the FR7fz in my system. If anyone is interested, I'm willing to part with it.
Finally, the cartridges that get most used in my system are :
- Koetsu Coral Diamond Platinum
- Ikeda 9C III
- FR7fz
- SPU 85th Anniversary
- Acoustical Systems Archon Cartridge
- Technics EPC100 Mk IV

FWIW