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FIDELITY RESEARCH FR1-Mk3F, 'LISTENER' MAGAZINE, ART DUDLEY

bimasta

bimasta

Addicted Member
I'm looking for the review of this cartridge by Art Dudley, in the January / February 2002 issue of Listener magazine, Mr Dudley's former (and greatly missed) magazine. He compared this vintage moving coil to some newer MCs, with good insights into the vintage vs new debate, and "progress" in general.

Maybe one of you has this issue in your archives? I'd really appreciate a copy of this article — a scan or just a phone-photo — image quality is unimportant as long as it's legible.

PS to Mods — I posted here because it's a well-known much-admired cartridge, and everyone checks out this section, while the magazine section draws little notice (which probably reflects both the decline in readership and quality of current magazines).
 
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+1 on that request. Having owned 4 of these in the past I know how great they are and it would be great to see an official review.
 
ateal said:
+1 on that request. Having owned 4 of these in the past I know how great they are and it would be great to see an official review.
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An official review, is that the kind with an advertisement for the product closely spaced to the article? Just curious, we all know how it works and many do like to get all the literature for a unit. Good luck with this search.
 
Blue Shadow said:
An official review, is that the kind with an advertisement for the product closely spaced to the article?
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Very cynical, Blue — and totally warranted. The current state of audio "journalism" is pathetic and obviously pay-to-play. I met a renowned reviewer who acknowledged he had drawers and drawers full of very expensive cartridges sent to him for review, that he "wasn't required" to return.

The article I'm seeking isn't that kind of "review". It's an audiophile curious about the SQ of an old MC vs the new state-of-the-art which claims to have made giant leaps ahead. He borrowed the FR1 from a friend to do the comparisons, so no self-interest involved.
 
Thanks John. I don't want to sound sentimental, but this the "spirit of AK" at work. I'll contact you to let you know it was received.
 
Thank you, @imdocjas

My $230 (funny, I remember the same price) came from my student loan. Seemingly only weeks later, the $1000 Koetsu was the new darling. That was OK with me - I couldn't swing $1000. I had just scored the Teac Magnefloat turntable for $100. For awhile, I had a high-end system, for a twenty year old kid. The cartridge eventually fell victim to a housemate. I played a new Mobile Fidelity Original Master Recording of Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac for a friend and it must have left a lasting impression, because he still mentions it. :)
 
sqlsavior said:
My $230 (funny, I remember the same price) came from my student loan. Seemingly only weeks later, the $1000 Koetsu was the new darling.
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I lived in Cape Town from time to time over the years. I knew an audio dealer and true music lover. Everything in his shop was superb. And expensive. That's where I heard the FR1-Mk3F. He preferred it to the Koetsu, so he stocked up on them – same glorious midrange, in his view, but better highs and lows, at far less cost to his customers. Then CD arrived, the customers stopped buying cartridges, and he was stuck with them.

On a business trip to CT many years later, I ran into him. He was retired. I told him I always regretted not buying one. "I can fix that," he smiled. He still had his old stock. The exchange rate had swung in favor of the US$, so the price was good. I bought a few of them, all NOS NIB. He even gave me a loupe to choose; not much difference between them, QC was great, but I picked the ones with least adhesive, perfect zenith, etc. Should have bought them all.

He also had a broken one and I could see the innards. The fixed-magnets are huge, like two 10mm button-batteries; they, and the solid alloy body, account for the cart's weight. They aso allow for a very tiny coil and low moving mass.

They were the Mk3F model — Dudley heard the Mk3 — his few minor criticisms were addressed. That one letter "F" had big changes. F is for "flat": no harsh treble peaks, a weakness of many LOMCs. Dudley's had an elliptical stylus: the F uses a nude line contact. The coils were changed from copper to silver, and it is an air-coil. Many wind the coil around a metal core, it's the only way to wind such thin wire – around something – but it adds mass, and slowly becomes magnetized. My friend told me Ikeda wound his in a deep-freezer, around an ice core, which melted away.

I've used one for 15 years, not always but lots of hours. Stylus still looks great, suspension perfect. He fixed my regret over not buying one. Now I regret not buying them all. [Note to self: stop regretting.]
 
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