Tonearm recommendation


Hello all,
Recently procured a Feickert Blackbird w/ the Jelco 12 inch tonearm.
The table is really good, and its a keeper. The Jelco is also very good, but not as good as my Fidelity Research FR66s. So the Jelco will eventually hit Ebay, and the question remains do I keep the FR66s or sell that and buy something modern in the 5-6 K range. My only point of reference is my old JMW-10 on my Aries MK1, so I don't know how the FR66s would compare to a modern arm. So I'd like to rely on the collective knowledge and experience of this group for a recommendation.

Keep the FR66s, or go modern in the 5-6K range, say a Moerch DP8 or maybe an SME.

Any and all thoughts and opinions are of course much appreciated.

Cheers,      Crazy Bill
wrm0325

Showing 8 responses by chakster

Have you tried Thomas Schick "12 inch tonearm with your Denon 103r?
It's a beautiful modern high mass tonearm made especially for low compliance Denon and Ortofon SPU ... and the price is great. Definitely one of the most ellegant tonearm available today under $2000. I have one for sale after upgraded to more expensive Reed 3P. Schick is German build quality and top class bearing.  I would recommend you to look and read for customers feedbacks, denon 103r users are happy. 


Pryso
No, i don’t want Jelco since i’m looking for the arm for high compliance cartrigdes (30cu @10Hz). Jelco is not designed for high compliance as far as i know.
Hi all
I’m looking for budged arm for mid and high compliance MM cartridges for second system (technics sp20).

Those 3 below are from Raul’s list along with Technics EPA-100 mk2 (i wish i could find one).

Anyone elase can say anything about these vintage arms (below) ?

-Stax UA-7 vs. UA-7-CF (carbon fiber) vs. Stax UA-70
-Lustre GST 801
-Denon DA-401


@rauliruegas thanks for your advice.

Sold my EPA-100 last year, now thinking about EPA-100 mk2 (at least) or some other budged arms you have recommended in the past here. My ex EPA-100 from seller Foxtan was deffected (loose bearing) from the start, returned to the seller to fix the problem. I got it bask soon with no problem but i can not verify is that original ruby bearing or replaced one by his vendor. He told me the vendor should add silicone fluid in the bearing part (someone has mentioned this here). Later someone told me it can be tricky as the original ruby ball can be also replaced by cheaper bearing from sl1210 arm instead. So i was not sure about my arm after his service. I just decided to get rid of it.

Later for my main system (sp10 mk2) i just bought demo Reed 3P "12 cocobolo directly from Lithuania from the manufacturer and i’m happy. I’ve met people at Reed in person, they are very friendly and provided top class service and price for me for their used early version of Reed 3P (great arm imho).

I wonder what is the fair price for Lustere GST 801 nowadays?

P.S. i have Shcick "12 tonearm but it’s for low compliacne carts mainly. I have some mid - high compliacne MM cartridges (including Stanton 980 LZS) now and i want some decent arm for second system.








@pryso you're right, forgive my english. I believe any tonearms under $1500 considering a budget arms in hi-end business. Vintage Stax and Denon from Raul's list cost only $500-700 normally which is really cheap. Ebay is not the right place for vintage japanese stuff (tonearms or cartridges) imho.

I'm looking for light effective mass vintage tonearm for second system for high compliance mm cartridges. 

I already have Reed 3p for mid compliance carts and Schick for very low compliance cartridges.  


@pryso

I will offer arm suggestions specifically for high compliance cartridges as all were introduced during their peak popularity (no particular order).
- Infinity/ADC
- Mayware Formula IV or others in this series (I adapted one to an AR-XA table)
- SME 3009 Series III

I was thinking about Infinity Black Widown latest version with graphite armtube. Never tried it myself, so i need some feedbacks from experienced users. Anyone?
Let’s talk about tonearms

@rauliruegas as could you please explain me what is the real advantage of boron EPA-100 MK2 over classic titanium EPA 100 based on your experience with both ?
Reed 3P tonearms are amazing and fully adjustable on the fly (even azimuth) and works well on Feickert Blackbird. I use Reed 3P "12 as a reference, but i do love vintage tonearms as well, for MC cartridges the standalone SONY PUA-7, Lustre GST-801 are very good and will put a Jelco in a shame.

oops, i just realized i'm too late as the original post if from the last year.