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Funk Firm FXR alignment

Seanm

pfm Member
Anyone know what kind of alignment Funk Firm favour? Rega fitting. Some Rega-based arms require the cart to be slightly askew in the head shell to attain anything other than Stevenson, but that's not an option with the FXR.
 
Anyone know what kind of alignment Funk Firm favour? Rega fitting. Some Rega-based arms require the cart to be slightly askew in the head shell to attain anything other than Stevenson, but that's not an option with the FXR.

What do you mean by "... but that's not an option with the FXR"? On mine, at least, the little bar screwed onto the cartridge end of the arm is infinitely rotatable in the horizontal plane.

Alex
 
What do you mean by "... but that's not an option with the FXR"? On mine, at least, the little bar screwed onto the cartridge end of the arm is infinitely rotatable in the horizontal plane.

Alex
Oh really? Mine has a little groove into which the arm slots, fixing the offset angle.
 
Oh really? Mine has a little groove into which the arm slots, fixing the offset angle.

Hmm... I never noticed the groove, but I do remember having to rotate the bar to get the front of the cartridge to align with the lines on my protractor. I'll have a look at the weekend...

Alex
 
What do you mean by "... but that's not an option with the FXR"? On mine, at least, the little bar screwed onto the cartridge end of the arm is infinitely rotatable in the horizontal plane.

Alex

It's not possible to fit that cartridge mount plate upside down with the groove on the bottom is it? That would explain why you have infinite adjustment. Looking at google images all of them seem to be grooved at an angle meaning the offset must be pre set?
 
Hmm... I never noticed the groove, but I do remember having to rotate the bar to get the front of the cartridge to align with the lines on my protractor. I'll have a look at the weekend...

Alex
Can I ask what protractor you used?
 
Sean, looking forward to hearing about your SQ impressions of this arm compared with its predecessor. Can you remind us what it’s replacing?
 
Can I ask what protractor you used?

I used an old plastic one that came stuck to the cover of Hi-Fi World years ago. I haven't had an urge to experiment with anything else, particularly since it was consistent with the one that came with my old SME IV.

Alex
 
It's not possible to fit that cartridge mount plate upside down with the groove on the bottom is it? That would explain why you have infinite adjustment. Looking at google images all of them seem to be grooved at an angle meaning the offset must be pre set?

Now you've got me thinking - I just assumed it could be used either way up. I'll definitely have to check.

Alex
 
Sean, looking forward to hearing about your SQ impressions of this arm compared with its predecessor. Can you remind us what it’s replacing?
Will do Dec. Although I'll give it some time this time. Every time I make a change to the vinyl set up I come on here and whine about it, only for it to end up sounding very nice a week later. It's finally dawned on me that the Gyro takes a really long time to settle after being moved around. The Funk will (perhaps) replace the Nima and an Audio Note I've been switching between neurotically. For some reason I decided that it would give me the best qualities of both.

Anyway I think the offset angle is fixed for Stevenson: using a Feickert I can't get get the offset right when the overhang is set using Baerwald. I'm not confident about any of this though as the Feickert requires the arm pivot to be accurately located, which is a ball ache on Regas and derivatives.
 
I've always liked the look of an FX3, bit wary of them all being based on Regas though as I've never much cared for their arms/TTs.
 
I really don't need to hear any more! It is unequivocally better in every respect than both the arms I've been using, and by some margin. Tone and texture are very real, whether the instruments are blown (this was the Nima's strength, for me) or bowed or struck (where the Audio Note excelled): reeds sound reedy, brass sounds brassy, drums sound uh...skin-y. Imaging is excellent. Clarity is just remarkable. I'm listening to this just now:


On Spotify it's an enjoyable, exciting mess, which is how I remember the LP too. Right now I can follow every instrument easily and it's completely thrilling. Honestly feels like I haven't actually heard it before.

So all in all I think this is probably the biggest and most straightforwardly positive change I've made to my set up. I should say that I've heard very few arms (some Regas, Nima, Audio Note 1 V2) so this might all be par for the course at a certain level. But this is really as good as I need things to be, I don't think I'll be trying anything else.

I have a Nagaoka MP500 on it, by the way, and it's on a Gyro SE. It came with what seems to me like a madly expensive tonearm cable, I don't know what kind of difference that makes.
 
It's not possible to fit that cartridge mount plate upside down with the groove on the bottom is it? That would explain why you have infinite adjustment. Looking at google images all of them seem to be grooved at an angle meaning the offset must be pre set?

OK, just checked - I did mount the bar the right way up (it has to be this way up, as the recesses for the bolt heads are on top), and I can see the groove for the spur at the end of the arm. So I'm in agreement that the alignment options are limited, as Sean says. It's just been a couple of years since I set it up.

And I'm in total agreement with Sean's impressions of the FX-R's performance!

Alex
 
OK, just checked - I did mount the bar the right way up (it has to be this way up, as the recesses for the bolt heads are on top), and I can see the groove for the spur at the end of the arm. So I'm in agreement that the alignment options are limited, as Sean says. It's just been a couple of years since I set it up.

And I'm in total agreement with Sean's impressions of the FX-R's performance!

Alex
It’s good, isn’t it? What other arms have you used, Alex? I’m curious as to how it compares with higher end arms.
 


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