FR64 FX arm - your thoughts on this dilemma

[mikeyb]

NOOOOOO!!!! It's my experience when setting these things up for a living that too much effing damping KILLS this arm, slugging the bass and making the whole thing tuneless - tried on several decks when this arm was new! Lord I set up enough of these damned things and acted as tonearm bearing quality control in the early days as we sold so many, a sizeable number from each batch we had delivered had to be returned due to notchy or sticky bearings - it's a shit rough tat of a thing yet you peeps wank yourselves silly over them today and get all manner of high prices for them when passing them round the community

Seriously, my suggestion for damping on a 774 is the smallest paddle just scraping the surface of the fluid. I like my vinyl musical dynamics free and unfettered you see, not smothered and overly controlled.

YMMV of course today

Dinnae worry I'm still tweaking

[karma67]

you peeps wank yourselves silly over them today and get all manner of high prices for them when passing them round the community

is that what you do geoff over your 3?

[mikeyb]

is that what you do geoff over your 3?

For once I hope Marco and the Mods don't demand photos

[Chas B]

My 64fx sounds lovely with a 103R, certainly nothing I would describe as glare or brightness. It's not a silver wired model though. I had thought about a rewire but silver does seem to provoke divided opinions, would be interesting to know if yours is definitely a silver wired version.

[mikeyb]

My 64fx sounds lovely with a 103R, certainly nothing I would describe as glare or brightness. It's not a silver wired model though. I had thought about a rewire but silver does seem to provoke divided opinions, would be interesting to know if yours is definitely a silver wired version.

me too, the box definitely states silver but that proves nothing, must be some way of telling on the arm but the sticker that i see on others is missing, hardly surprising given the age.

My ears might be wrong but I once tried a Tisbury silver wired Pre and fingernails on a blackboard screeched less

[Bigman80]

me too, the box definitely states silver but that proves nothing, must be some way of telling on the arm but the sticker that i see on others is missing, hardly surprising given the age.

My ears might be wrong but I once tried a Tisbury silver wired Pre and fingernails on a blackboard screeched less

Your ears aren't wrong. Unless you use the best silver wire, you get that edge and glare. I have tried multiple silver cable and wires and only the really expensive stuff starts to sound as good as the best Copper.

This may be controversial to some but that my opinion and its been formed by trying over 25 sets of cable and wire.

You need the best silver to get the fluidity that even the cheaper copper does well.

Mundorf do a silver/gold blend and its superb BUT it could be described as being a bit lightweight sounding. That said, is was a smooth as butter. Lovely stuff but I missed the weight and felt I'd lost more in Timbre than I'd gained from anything else.

You need OCC Silver and the best stuff is in Japan. Good luck getting a supplier to send it here without a Vat number and minimum order quantity!!!!

[mikeyb]

Your ears aren't wrong. Unless you use the best silver wire, you get that edge and glare. I have tried multiple silver cable and wires and only the really expensive stuff starts to sound as good as the best Copper.

This may be controversial to some but that my opinion and its been formed by trying over 25 sets of cable and wire.

You need the best silver to get the fluidity that even the cheaper copper does well.

Mundorf do a silver/gold blend and its superb BUT it could be described as being a bit lightweight sounding. That said, is was a smooth as butter. Lovely stuff but I missed the weight and felt I'd lost more in Timbre than I'd gained from anything else.

You need OCC Silver and the best stuff is in Japan. Good luck getting a supplier to send it here without a Vat number and minimum order quantity!!!!

Thing is I could try a new RCA cable but that won't overcome the internal wiring ( won't be much in there though ) and I'm loathe to muck about with the arm if I decide to sell it, BUT it is definitely better than the 774 so it IS worth keeping and getting right too

[Bigman80]

Thing is I could try a new RCA cable but that won't overcome the internal wiring ( won't be much in there though ) and I'm loathe to muck about with the arm if I decide to sell it, BUT it is definitely better than the 774 so it IS worth keeping and getting right too

Well if you're going to keep the arm, get Angus to rewire it with the superflex stuff.

Then we can get you a nice arm cable and see where you're at.

[mikeyb]

Ok so a new cartridge arriving tomorrow, the FR arm will be put back on Friday sometime and we'll see how that goes.

I'll try the new cart in the 774 first mind you, just to get a comparison

[mikeyb]

New cartridge fitted along with a borrowed RCA cable, let the run in begin..... I don't have it setup 100%, that's for tomorrow when my SmarTactor returns