Graham Phantom Supreme?


Has anyone done a comparison between the Supreme and the mkII? Is it worth changing and expending the extra outlay?

The main revisions appear to be the bearing housing and an improved magneglide stabiliser (I think the internal wiring was up to a good standard already on the mkII)

There is a company called AudioMax Ltd (approved contractor?) which can perform upgrades from both Phantom I and Phantom II to the Supreme build.
Any experience of this conversion out there ?
Many thanks... :)
moonglum
Thanks for your feedback guys...

Dave, thanks in particular for the detailed analysis. My mkII is quite recent so the upgrade should be straightforward.
The comparative newness of the arm is a barrier to getting an immediate fix. I'm thinking of acquiring more familiarity with it before jumping onto the upgrade bandwagon again. If Bob comes up with the next generation of mods in 6-12 months I could get both the "Supreme" and the "Supreme+1" updates and be ahead of the game! :o)

Egrady....I agree, $600 is very reasonable and given the cost of the new model it's hard to see where Bob is making any kind of margin. The Phantom I update looks even better value...
I heard from Ken today:
".. it will be 8 to 12 weeks before Graham can take Phantom I arms in for upgrade. He is just beginning to do Phantom II to Supreme upgrades. The parts for the I to Supreme are being manufactured right now."

So, I'll be waiting for a few months.
This is Bob Graham...I'm visiting a friend and just read this blog. Thanks for the nice comments, everyone, and it's good to know that our work is appreciated.

To clairify things, AudioMax is a retail dealer, not another manuactuer, so any upgrades that go through them would be, in turn, sent to us (in the U.S. only, via Musical Surroundings).

The $600 price was an intial entry fee based on preliminary estimates of time and parts cost, both of which have risen (like so much else these days!).. And "moonglum" is correct; the pricing did not leave us very much for the work, let alone developing new products (a turntable in the horizon - somewhere!)..

To check on current pricing, please check with Musical Surroundings (our U.S. distributor) or, in another country, check with your local importer, or contact us via e-mail info@graham-engineering.com Although we do not anticipate any significant upgrades to the pivot, we are always on the lookout for better ways to do things, and these are made retrofittable to the earlier units. We also try to price it so that upgrade costs will be about par with the corrent retail pricing. In that way, we hope people will be comfortable with a purchase now, and not have to worry about being left behind later...

Also, the Phantom (indeed, all the Graham arms) will work on many turntables, including those that "encourage" the use of their own tonearm. While understandably they do this, we feel you should not have the door slammed on you for other options in your choice of arms, just as you should have free choice of cartridges.

\ The Supreme is our best effort at this point, and we're very proud of it. Thanks for spreading the good word!
- Bob

Bob - Could you please detail the differences between the Phantom, Phantom II, and Phantom Supreme.

Thanks.

RG