| Search | Login/Register
   Home » Analog Playback» Fidelity Research FR-7 (43 posts, 3 pages)
  Print Thread | 1st Post |  
Page 2 of 3 (43 items) Select Pages:  « 1 2 3 »
08-12-2012 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Paul S
San Diego, California, USA
Posts 2,658
Joined on 10-12-2006
Post #: 21
Post ID: 18514
Reply to: 18513
Ducklings, TTs, and Phono Cartridges
fiogf49gjkf0d
Way back when I was an undergraduate, we studied about baby ducklings that some maniac made to follow a "surrogate mother" around a moving turntable.  To make a horrifying story short, the "study" concluded that the harder the ducklings were made to work to keep up with the dummy, the more stongly they "bonded" with it.

Best regards,
Paul S
03-02-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
N-set
Gdansk, Poland
Posts 617
Joined on 01-07-2006
Post #: 22
Post ID: 19059
Reply to: 18481
I shake my head in disbelief
fiogf49gjkf0d
 Paul S wrote:
Shake yourself, N-set!
.....
Sealed suspension, new stylus, my ass...

Best regards,
Paul S


Well Paul, I did not shake myself and given your list above I risked with the first two positions, skipping your ass ;-)
I got a Bavarian, Weizenbier marinated FR7f, 6 digit S/N, Namiki quadrophonic Q4 stylus+boron super thin
cantilever, super low hours...blahblablah....wank wank wank....
Hm...I put into SME3012R on my EMT930. A very crazy stuff! I'm far away from any serious optimization yet, 97R load results
in the hyperresolving, atomized mode, briliantly described here:

http://www.goodsoundclub.com/Forums/ShowPost.aspx?PageIndex=2&postID=11177#11177

VTA set so-s0, 2.6g VTF (Vhat The Fuck), 1:10 SUT which is not enough...
but even non-optimized, the interesting moments it's able to paint, are just plain crazy in their naturalness, dynamical and
tonal picture, emotional engagement...at least to my non-existent sonic intelligence and deaf ears...I touch my stupid headpones
trying to touch that Sound I'm being exposed to...quite hallucynogenic
Still those moments are a bit discontinously separated by less interesting ones, lowering the emotional attention.
I'm working to ameliorate that (the first culprint is too low load) and get a more stable emotional output.

Loosely comparig to the London Jubilee I auditioned in my setup some months ago, London was putting a very nice and constant,
creamy flow, which at beginning catchy, with some LP's became too predictable. Nothing like that here, so far.





Cheers,
Jarek
STACORE
03-02-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Paul S
San Diego, California, USA
Posts 2,658
Joined on 10-12-2006
Post #: 23
Post ID: 19060
Reply to: 19059
Good To Go
fiogf49gjkf0d
I love the "meaty" sound of those cartridges!  But it isn't enough for me.

If you like it, it doesn't matter at all whether it is anything like the "original", and hopefully it will at least remain viable for you.

In 6-8 weeks I hope to continue where I left off with my own cartridge, which I now realize took me about 7 years to really figure out, and most of that time spent before the "light" even went on!

YMMV, of course...

Prost,
Paul S
03-02-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
N-set
Gdansk, Poland
Posts 617
Joined on 01-07-2006
Post #: 24
Post ID: 19061
Reply to: 19060
Meaty
fiogf49gjkf0d
 Paul S wrote:
I love the "meaty" sound of those cartridges!  But it isn't enough for me.


I'd would not call it "meaty" at all at this stage of my aquintance with it (all the caveats from my above post re optimization apply).
My TSD15SPH would be meaty.
"Transparent" would be probably more suitable if anyone forces me to choose one world from the common
audiopedofile (poor) dictionry. But the cart, to my ears, does show it's own reproducing intelligence and, so far, it
doesn't seem to put too much of it's own ego upfront...so far so good. Let's see how it changes when we evolve in our relationship.


Cheers,
Jarek
STACORE
03-02-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Paul S
San Diego, California, USA
Posts 2,658
Joined on 10-12-2006
Post #: 25
Post ID: 19064
Reply to: 19061
Only the Good Parts
fiogf49gjkf0d
N-set, I was somehow thinking of the (German...) EMTs when I "remembered" "meaty".  Sorry.  I have no idea how your newly modified cartridge might sound.

The rest, if generic, remains apropos, I think.

Good luck.

Best regards,
Paul
09-08-2015 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Paul S
San Diego, California, USA
Posts 2,658
Joined on 10-12-2006
Post #: 26
Post ID: 21962
Reply to: 19061
Well???
fiogf49gjkf0d
N-set. you dropped this thread. How did the Mafia-endorsed FR cartridge wind up working out over time?

Best regards,
Paul
09-09-2015 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
N-set
Gdansk, Poland
Posts 617
Joined on 01-07-2006
Post #: 27
Post ID: 21963
Reply to: 21962
War imbalance
fiogf49gjkf0d
Paul,

I haven't done much audio in the past 1,5 year. The main reason is a war in my motherland which got me pretty out of balance,
but I'm coming slowly back.  To try the Fr7, I made a slate/lead tower for the SME3012 caring it. Now I need to convince
Tribute Pieter to use the silver wire we have to finally wind me a dedicated SUT and after some soldering within my RIAA (oh, how I love it!).
I should be listening the fr7. Hope somewhere within a couple of months.

Cheers,
N-set


Cheers,
Jarek
STACORE
09-09-2015 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Paul S
San Diego, California, USA
Posts 2,658
Joined on 10-12-2006
Post #: 28
Post ID: 21964
Reply to: 21963
Serious Stuff
fiogf49gjkf0d
N-set. I am sorry to hear that you have in any way been itouched by the greedy, filthy, heartless assholes who keep coming up with justifications for wars. May thay live forever where everyone is exactly like they are.

As for the SUT, this seems like a great opportunity to match input and output as you like, rather than compromising on a "one-size-fits-all" "solution". However, if you go with Pieter, it might be another LONG wait before you get to listen to your ideas. I was also thinking it would be nice to make a "stand alone" SUT, and you could add to that dedicated, hard-wired input and output wiring. My own Ortofon T-3000 is quite heavy, and it has a nice Mu metal case, but I have not wanted to crack the case to hard wire it, because the silver wire inside is VERY thin. I suppose only some Japanese would know if Ikedasan made "dedicated" transformers for the FR7 series, the way Ortofon once did for their highline cartridges. I do know that the "Japanese market" offers a whole range of SUTs that we never see in USA. Perhaps you will just buy a top Cinemag (Bob's), Auditorium, or Audio Note SUT - or something - to play with while you wait for the Tribute SUT?


Best regards,
Paul S
09-10-2015 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
N-set
Gdansk, Poland
Posts 617
Joined on 01-07-2006
Post #: 29
Post ID: 21969
Reply to: 21964
Power war
fiogf49gjkf0d
The most terryfying thing is that the war was still possible in Europe...and this kind of war with heavy indiscriminative shellings...

Yes Pieter needs time, but I haven't been pushing too much. We have bought silver wire so it sits there and waits. I was also thinking about hardwiring with bell ends but Peter says no way with 0.17mm silver. Having a cheaper SUT may be an option for teh moment, however I firts have sometjing differet on my agenda: dedicated power lines. After hearing what vibration controll can do, I want to have +/- clear power before proceeding with FR7.

Cheers,
Nset 


Cheers,
Jarek
STACORE
03-18-2018 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Paul S
San Diego, California, USA
Posts 2,658
Joined on 10-12-2006
Post #: 30
Post ID: 24757
Reply to: 21969
2 1/2 years later?
Jarek, did you ever use/develop the cartridge?  If not, WTF?  If you did, surely you are obliged to share?


Best regards,
Paul S
03-18-2018 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
N-set
Gdansk, Poland
Posts 617
Joined on 01-07-2006
Post #: 31
Post ID: 24758
Reply to: 24757
Comming soon
Hi Paul,
WTF is probably the right question. The time has been the problem - in the past 2,5yrs Ive set up my own audio company and only recently came back to working on the front end of my system.I changed the concept and bought the FR64S arm together with a custom silver wound SUT from Tribute Audio. I'm now getting together last the bits - the cable, protraktor (thanks Syntax for the help) and the mouting collar that I have to machine myself to fit my EMT930. Then some soldering to install a sut switch in the phono pre and should be done. It will be compared against my current setup: spu meister silver on 3012R.
CheersJarek

Cheers,
Jarek
STACORE
07-03-2018 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
N-set
Gdansk, Poland
Posts 617
Joined on 01-07-2006
Post #: 32
Post ID: 24945
Reply to: 24758
FR7f journey started again!
Fi-analy started listening the FR combo! The setup is somewhat haphazard:

* P2S unknown - trying to get 231.5mm recommended by the Germans, took the pains and the cost to design and make a special collar but missing a laser engraved protractor to see where am I

* VTA the lowest possible again as recommended; managed to get the tail slightly down, using 6mm acrylic disc on EMT, moving the arm up by one division seem to lose some of the bass detail in complex passages (using an operatic duo Caballe with someone EMI LP from 1971)

* azimuth crap with 6.4dB unbalance, no idea how to  set azimuth on FR64s, waiting for some help here
* load now at 26.4R (3R cart impedance)
*2.60g VTF

The initial impressions: There is a certain magic to this combo (I'm directly comparing to my other arm 3012R+SPU Silver Meister). This presence I came across  some years ago when using the cart on the SME briefly. Very convincing, direct picture but not through an orgy of details. Through something else I cannot name. The upper mids and heights a class in its own: liquid, detailed, refined. Bass so far a bit shy, perhaps need a yet lower load. I keep listening and optimizing with the azimuth being the most important now.

Cheers,
Jarek


Cheers,
Jarek
STACORE
07-03-2018 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Paul S
San Diego, California, USA
Posts 2,658
Joined on 10-12-2006
Post #: 33
Post ID: 24946
Reply to: 24945
Alignment
Here's a link to a copy cat alignment tool:

https://www.audioadvice.com/pro-ject-align-it-cartridge-aligment-tool-black.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-ZSy3ZmE3AIVxF5-Ch3G2QttEAQYBSABEgLQ3vD_BwE

Don't know if it's any good, but it appears to be the "correct type"

Here's the one I use.  Not as easy, but accurate enough if you go into it with a clue:

http://www.tweakshop.com/dBProtrac.html


Keep us posted!


Best regards,
Paul S
07-04-2018 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
N-set
Gdansk, Poland
Posts 617
Joined on 01-07-2006
Post #: 34
Post ID: 24947
Reply to: 24946
No use
Paul, thank you but it's of no use. Pls look at the FR combo. The only thing I can do is P2S. To set it correctly the best is laser engraved arc on a mirror surface - waiting for one. And I have a copy of the Dennesen too. But the big problem is the azimuth, apparently the arm does not allow for a correction :/
Cheers


Cheers,
Jarek
STACORE
07-04-2018 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
N-set
Gdansk, Poland
Posts 617
Joined on 01-07-2006
Post #: 35
Post ID: 24951
Reply to: 24947
Continued
Today I continued exploration despite the azimuth problem which starts to look serious (either the arm or the cart has a problem and no az adjustment, researching this). Added some VTF to reach 2.70g to give it a bit better tracking conditions despite skewed azimuth. Lowered the load from 26.4R to 21.8R. Great! No big change but the bass articulation is now  easily comprehensive (HM Bruckner).  This presence element is freaking fantastic! So are the operatic coloraturas (Caballe, Sutherland). I still have to digest what I'm hearing as it's all very complex and refined. Sutherland (Decca 1965) has this HF glare to her highest notes, prob the VTA is too low for this old record but cannot lower the arm more due to contraints on EMT930. In light of this, the idea is to optimize it for post 70's LP's.

Alignment - I want to try two options 1st the Germans 231.5mm. I'm waiting for the MintLP arc to see how far am I from it. 2nd a custom Wally Malewicz he developed for me (229mm P2S, Baerewald). Unfortunately this turned out to be his last work before he passed away a month ago.

Cheers,
Jarek


Cheers,
Jarek
STACORE
07-04-2018 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Paul S
San Diego, California, USA
Posts 2,658
Joined on 10-12-2006
Post #: 36
Post ID: 24952
Reply to: 24951
Baerwald vs Lofgren vs Schwarzwald
Sorry to hear Wally Malewicz passed away.  I guess his health was lousy for many years, but the lucky few who got his "tractors" have by all accounts the best cartridge set-up tool available.

I ass-u-me you made provisions to adjust pivot to spindle vs pivot to stylus, and once you have that the dB grid seems to "work".  As for azimuth, I suppose you can be sure the vertical pivot points are parallel to the platter and from there work at the headshell and/or cartridge.

What's up with "putting the rear of the arm down as far as possible"?  The center line of the arm should be parallel with the platter.

Ultimate VTF will only be decided when the arm/cartridge geometry is finalized.

You can eff with loading forever!

Best regards,
Paul S
07-05-2018 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
N-set
Gdansk, Poland
Posts 617
Joined on 01-07-2006
Post #: 37
Post ID: 24956
Reply to: 24952
FR7f ride

Paul, not sure if you are familiar with the combo. There is nothing one can adjust apart from VTF, VTA and P2S. Even with the latter I'm bound by the EMT930 arm hole. Smart collar design by my business partner gave me some +/-1.8mm freedom there and that's it.
Anyway, my cart has a geometry problem. Mounting it in 3012R and correcting the azimuth, the cart lands quite rotated in the collar. I'm looking now for a cart specialist to correct that, hopefully without much fuss. Either I was taken for a ride by the Bavarian seller or I did it somehow. Strangely the 6dB crosstalk imbalance is not audible with a good soundstage and great tracking.
Zdjęcie 05.07.2018, 11 47 11.jpg


Cheers, N-set








Cheers,
Jarek
STACORE
07-05-2018 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Paul S
San Diego, California, USA
Posts 2,658
Joined on 10-12-2006
Post #: 38
Post ID: 24959
Reply to: 24956
6 dB is "Not Audible"?!?
Well, this is the sort of potential problems we talked about, up the thread, so many years ago.  If the damned motor is skewed in the shell, or if the cantilever is twisted or punched wrong, or the stylus is attached wrong...  It could be anything.  Hell, I sent my cartridge back to Denmark to have it re-built by the manufacturer.  Does yours have to go back to Japan, or back to the Scwarzwald?



Best regards,
Paul S
07-06-2018 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
N-set
Gdansk, Poland
Posts 617
Joined on 01-07-2006
Post #: 39
Post ID: 24960
Reply to: 24959
I'm perplexed myself
But I'm not an imaging or a soundstage freak. I'm looking for a cart specialist in EU to try to correct the geometry. Any reasonable suggestions welcome.
Thanks, Jarek


Cheers,
Jarek
STACORE
07-06-2018 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Paul S
San Diego, California, USA
Posts 2,658
Joined on 10-12-2006
Post #: 40
Post ID: 24961
Reply to: 24960
Omerta
Regarding soundstage (and everything else, for that matter), who knows what you can get from the cartridge if it's optimized?

Surely, the Bavarian experts will step in now to set everything right?
Page 2 of 3 (43 items) Select Pages:  « 1 2 3 »
Home Page  |  Last 24Hours  | Search  |  SiteMap  | Questions or Problems | Copyright Note
The content of all messages within the Forums Copyright © by authors of the posts