tonearm upgrade for L70

[Ccptan]

I'm quite new here, however I had the experience of comparing the original L70 arm, a AT 1005mk2, a Jelco SA750D, a a Rega RB250 rewired, and a Fidelity Research FR54. The cart is a Ortofon Rondo a Bronze MC, using a Electrocompaniet phono stage. He deck is a L70 mounted on a heavy "Moldova" plinth.

The L70 arm I felt is very very good, to me had more authority, body and space than any of the others except for the Fidelity Research. The AT1005mk2 was a bit disappointing it seemed slightly bright and flat, lacked the air and space of the L70 arm.  The Rega wasn't bad, but a bit forward and brash. The FR54 is another level altogether, very refined, delicate and yet powerful.

[JBberg]

I'm quite new here, however I had the experience of comparing the original L70 arm, a AT 1005mk2, a Jelco SA750D, a a Rega RB250 rewired, and a Fidelity Research FR54. The cart is a Ortofon Rondo a Bronze MC, using a Electrocompaniet phono stage. He deck is a L70 mounted on a heavy "Moldova" plinth.

The L70 arm I felt is very very good, to me had more authority, body and space than any of the others except for the Fidelity Research. The AT1005mk2 was a bit disappointing it seemed slightly bright and flat, lacked the air and space of the L70 arm.  The Rega wasn't bad, but a bit forward and brash. The FR54 is another level altogether, very refined, delicate and yet powerful.

This is a very interesting comparison.

I'm contemplating different arms for an L70 and have considered the Jelcos. I see there's one FR54 on ebay right now.

Does anyone have similar experiences?
What about the Jelcos compared to FR?

Janne

[JBberg]

What about mounting distance?

L70 is 229mm as I understand it?
Jelco 250 and 750D are supposedly direct drop in, but they are 214mm spindle to pivot. How does this work? Effective length is 229mm though..

FR54 has a mounting distance of 230mm, so that should be correct.

Janne

[hatehifi]

I just noticed a L70 arm on German eBay. Agree they can sound far better than one would expect for the money...

Cheers!

[Chris65]

What about mounting distance?
L70 is 229mm as I understand it?
Jelco 250 and 750D are supposedly direct drop in, but they are 214mm spindle to pivot. How does this work? Effective length is 229mm though..
Janne

Hei Janne,

I guess that person had modified their turntable/plinth to accommodate the different tonearm mounting distances.
For the record, the original L70 tonearm pivot to spindle distance is 227mm (it's mentioned on page 1 of this thread).

[JBberg]

Hei Janne,

I guess that person had modified their turntable/plinth to accommodate the different tonearm mounting distances.
For the record, the original L70 tonearm pivot to spindle distance is 227mm (it's mentioned on page 1 of this thread).

Thanks Chris
Lots of new figures to keep in my head. Ok, L70 is 227mm, check.
Guess that rules out the Jelcos for direct drop in. How exact does it have to be?

Anyone else tried the Fidelity Research 54?

Janne

[hatehifi]

Thanks Chris
Lots of new figures to keep in my head. Ok, L70 is 227mm, check.
Guess that rules out the Jelcos for direct drop in. How exact does it have to be?

....

Janne

Very, Janne. Say, 0.5 of a mm... There is only one place (and this is where the cutter was for the original recording) where your stylus should be and if the alignment is off, you'll have mistracking - which leads not only to a 'wrong' reproduction, it ruins the vinyl when mistracking.

Was that German L70 arm still there?

Cheers!

[JBberg]

Very, Janne. Say, 0.5 of a mm... There is only one place (and this is where the cutter was for the original recording) where your stylus should be and if the alignment is off, you'll have mistracking - which leads not only to a 'wrong' reproduction, it ruins the vinyl when mistracking.

Was that German L70 arm still there?

Cheers!

Wow, that doesn't leave many choices then, some Stax and Technics arms...
The L70 is still there. It looks cool and tracks well, but right now it doesn't sound good.  As I said in my intro thread, I'm interested in using two or more headshells. One with a nice Nagaoka and one with the AT mono cart for 78's.

If I'm going to use the stock arm, I might need to rewire it and fit modern cables with rca's in the plinth. And get more headshell that can take different cart.

Janne

[wer]

Well Janne, maybe it is not quite that bad, a "regular" headshell (not the L70 one) with slots gives you an adjustment range of about +/- 3mm, so you can be off by about the same amount. Alignment strategy might give you another mm either way between Loefgren and Stevenson.

[JBberg]

Well Janne, maybe it is not quite that bad, a "regular" headshell (not the L70 one) with slots gives you an adjustment range of about +/- 3mm, so you can be off by about the same amount. Alignment strategy might give you another mm either way between Loefgren and Stevenson.

Thanks Werner!

Do Nagaokas fit the L70 headshell?

[hatehifi]

Of course the ydo with 1/2". This headshell is also the 'easily' obtainable L75 (or any other Lenco) wiring type.

Cheers!

PS: any succes in getting a L70 arm?!