Graham Phantom Supreme?

Bill

Did you get your arm back? Any thoughts?

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

Yes, I received the upgraded Supreme and mounted it on my Brinkmann Oasis with a Benz Ebony L. I think it's clearly a step up from the Phantom II. Transients are cleaner, dynamics more explosive, and bass seems deeper and more coherent. In fact,the whole sonic fabric seems more coherent. So far, I hear no weaknesses in this arm. It's remarkably balanced and resolving with more organic wholeness than before.

Earlier Grahams (I've owned the 2.2 and Phantom II) could be criticized (justly or not) for an analytical tendency to "murder to dissect," especially in comparison to richer, more holistic arms like the Triplanar VII (which I also own and really like). Not the Supreme. I think this Graham combines musicality and highest-level resolution in exemplary fashion. Of course, this is just one man's opinion.

Bill

Bill

Thanks for your thorough feedback.! That basically sums up my experience. I'm still fiddling with VTA as I'm also observing what Egrady did with the headshesd section slightl tilted down and forward. This was validated by seeing the base if the cartridge having it's tail slightly up. In other words, previously the cart was parallel to record to achieve 91.5 degree SRA. So I have been lowering the bearing section and that is improving things. FYI, I didn't have that issue with my original 9inch wand but recently I had to get a 10inch version to be compatIble with table.

Thanks and enjoy.

Andrew

Aoliviero and Egrady,
I noticed that my Koetsu carts are not clamping flat against the headshell. For proper overhang, these carts ride almost all the way back in the 10" armwand's headshell. That positions their mounting hole "wings" almost behind the blue damping dot, which causes a torquing force when you tighten the screws. Thus, the cartridge is slightly "tail up" even while the headshell is 100% level.

At first I thought removing the dot would fix it, but no -- that only exposed 2 low-relief "rails" in the headshell that cause the same issue. This is my only complaint about the arm -- the headshell should be freaking flat!! No bumps, dots or other crap.

Headshell issues aside, the Phantom Supreme is a fabulously built, fabulous sounding arm that is a cinch to setup in all other paramaters!

Mulveling

I'm in the same boat. With the 10 inch. My cart is all the way back inbthe headshell. But I was able to verify that independent of the cart, the headhsell is not in the same plane as the tube. The micropoise spirit level shows one thing and a spirit level not the headshell showa the oppPaige.

My 9 inch want didn't have that issue.

Andrew