Sorry just remembered you're tired. Carts another day...
Printable View
Sorry just remembered you're tired. Carts another day...
Had one and sold it to SpeedySteve - it has its fans but it was a bit too detailed for my taste .. silver coils ... I preferred the Royal N which I think has gold coils, softer and less detailed but more musical to my ears .. Steve loves the Silver Meister though and he has a Royal N too.
Ortofon are out of stock of the Royal N - trying to find one in Spain.
Would you recommend the heavier titanium wand of the Audio Creative Tom?
If you can find an FR-64S, that's about as good as it gets.
Yes if I was going for that over the Jelco TK 950L I'd definitely go titanium and get the movable base for good measure.
Do look at the Jelco, it's far and away the best arm they've ever sold under their own brand. Hugo (Ammonite) here has them in stock.
Agreed ... but only if you get a good one. The youngest of them is going to be 30 years old. Most at a minimum need rewiring these days and many have shot bearings and even rusty springs on the dynamic balance. I've had a couple, a good one and a bad one! My Ikeda IT-345, that is similar in most ways including all dimensions, also doubles up on bearings (vertical motion is only supported on one side of the FR vs a pair on the Ikeda). Having said that Angus (phonomac) has figured out how to service them, many tonearm people won't touch them, too complicated.
I run an Audio Creative Groovemaster II with Arche headshell and Shilabe cart. Had a Moerch dp6 before it and prefer the A.C. They are modelled on the EMT arm and were made for use with SPUs as explained on the website, and A.C. are SPU dealers. My next move cart wise will be a Royal N (would love the GM for the looks alone but already have the Arche headshell and £650ish for the "grinded , wood" headshell grates (grinds) a bit). Would stick with the Shilabe if it was not for their ridiculous price now. £1100 for the Royal N is a bargain although I would forgo the Arche headshell for the A95GM!
Back to arms and I think no higher recommendation for the A.C. can be made than Matt / Audio Grail uses one on his Garrards to run high zoot Koetsus and an Audio Note Io Ltd. and it does them justice.
KR
Keith
Deleted after doing a little research!