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
Hello Henry,
It'll take me a while to report.
I still need to spend some time with the AT to get a good baseline.
After I've got a good fix on the AT, I'll switch to the Shure and take a listen with the stock stylus and report back.

Then I'll switch to the Jico and report back.

Have great hopes as to where this may end up.

Cheers,                        Crazy Bill
Hello Henry ( and others )
I'm back.

FINALLY have some time to play and a lot has happened in the past couple of months.

First, made an armboard to mount the 66s on the Amazon. Procured a Yammamoto ebony headshell to add to the mix. Started mixing and matching headshells and cartridges on the FR66s. Initial findings after a lot of playing had the Grado Statement on the Yammamoto headshell and the Shure V15lll ( on the Supex headshell ) w/original stylus very close, with the edge going to the Grado. Then I remembered ( getting old is a bitch ), that I had the JICO SAS stylus for the Shure, and I put it on.
No contest anymore. The Shure with this stylus is simply making music the likes of which I've never heard before on anything in my system. The biggest improvement is in the upper registers. A mammoth detail increase with absolutely no stridency or congestion at all. SMOOTH and extended with detail.
  
I'm impressed and immensely happy with this cart. Thanks Henry. I NEVER would have looked this way without your recommendation.

That said, I am making a tonearm change. Both the Moerch DP8 and the FR66s will be listed here soon. Something about the Riggle Woody calls me. I've made the deposit to Pete and I've decided on the Woody SPU. I've got some good headshells and want to be able to swap in a mono cartridge when the mood strikes me. I've got a fair share of good mono pressings and I want to do them justice. I'm thinking one of the Ortofon SPU mono cartridges would be a good way to go. But I'll come back later after I've got the arm mounted and set-up.

Thanks again Henry.

Crazy Bill
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. 
@lewm,

I have been an owner of a Pete Riggle Woody arm for about 2 years.  It is the most convenient and easy to use arm I'm ever had and it sounds as good as anything I've heard at Axpona during the last 8 years.  The arm has OTF adjusting of most everything except VTF.  You can easily hear the changes as you adjust.  Nothing needs a tool to get done--all easily turned small knobs.  It looks very nice, too.  I finally have my extreme Lenco project done and it now runs to perfection--dead quiet and the speed is rock solid with the strobe light and disc.  The Lenco has more upgrades and mods than anything short of the Artisan Fidelity all out efforts.  The addition of AF's copper platter on top of the Lenco platter and an on/off switch together with getting the motor spring orientation correct so the motor sits perpendicular to the chassis has made the Lenco a powerhouse of great sound.  I use a Benz Micro Ruby 3 myrtlewood body w/ Soundsmith level 3 rebuild.  I had a Whest 3.0 RDT SE phono pre, but am switching to a custom built and adjusted for the Benz Micro Ruby 3 phono pre--Audio Horizons TP 8.13.  It is dynamic, lucid, with a hint of beauty to the sound.  Joseph Chow is adding 6db of gain to the unit to bring it up to 67db.

The sound of these combined is way above anything I've ever had in my system--used to have a Maplenoll Ariadne for about 8 years.  Finding it's equal in sound was a full time job and I was losing until now.  The combo I'm now using is much more dynamic, with greater drive, pace, clarity, and no noticeable detrimental artifacts.   I was running the Lenco with a Trans-Fi Terminator that was a step up from it's predecessor, the Origin Live Silver II arm.  I'm back to enjoying the sound of my analog setup like when I had the 'Noll--except no air supply issues and even better, more involving sound.

Bob
Now, I owned almost all FR tonearm models including the 66 

That's not true.....
Raul NEVER owned an FR-66S nor heard one in his system 👺
The 66 is a non-damped tonearm and builded from metal that as a metal is extremely resonant and instead to damps the cartridge/LP/TT self vibrations/resonances/distortions only magnify it.

Raul has been making claims like this 
for a decade without any supporting evidence, believing that if he says it enough times.....people will believe him 🧐
Here are two YouTube videos showing the FR-64S playing the same piece as the Dynavector DV-507II......a magnetically damped tonearm.
It should be obvious in this direct comparison....to definitively pinpoint the exact occasions (via the timeline) where these claimed "vibrations/resonances" are occurring.....
Time to face the EVIDENCE Mr. Kraken.......😎