Kuzma 4Point Tri-Planar


Does anyone have direct experience with these two tonearms? I own Tri-Planar, I love it and would like to add either 4Point or Graham to use with Orpheus. Thanks!
mgerhardt
I would love to mount a Phantom on my Galibier and do a comparison. Unfortunately, Bob insists on that stupid cable out the base mount. That precludes the use of the same armboard and so cannot be compared apples to apples. I really hate not being able to give a world class arm a fair chance.

Galibier and Talea dealer disclaimer
Dear Mgerhardt, Syntax has had the Phantom II in all 3 length - 9", 10" and 12". Guess there are very few out there with as wide experience regarding the Phantom.
Reverb here (echoing Mike Lavigne's echo). Our comparisons were also with the Talea 1. The Talea 2 is reportedly a sonic improvement, which would only increase its advantage over the TriPlanar and Airline.

With regard to why some arm designers choose wood, I've spoken at length with two (Frank Schroeder, Joel Durand) and neither is seeking "warmth" or any sort of coloration. The idea that wood adds warmth (other than visually) is a myth. (Proof: the Talea is not particularly warm sounding. Schroeders are but that's due to the mobility in the "bearing", not the wood in the armtube.)

Wood is a chaotic material comprised of millions of random grain boundaries at varying angles surrounding cells with differing sizes, shapes and densities. Such a structure tends NOT to allow standing waves (resonances) to propagate or reinforce each other. Acoustic energies which flow into wood tend to be repeatedly scattered into disorganized packets with randomized frequencies and amplitudes. This makes it easier for the arm and armboard to dissipate them, rather than reflecting organized energy back toward the cartridge. Result? An armtube that adds LESS color to the signal than one made of (say) an organized (crystalline) material like most metals.

Of course there are ways around this for the maker of metal armtubes. For example, one could make a tube of sintered metal. Expensive, no doubt, but probably effective in similar ways to wood. I don't know if any metal armtubes are actually made with this in mind or not, just sayin'...
Dear Doug, Thanks for your thoughts on the virtues of wood and why the Schroeder "sounds" as it does. But statements like: "Acoustic energies which flow into wood tend to be repeatedly scattered into disorganized packets with randomized frequencies and amplitudes. This makes it easier for the arm and armboard to dissipate them, rather than reflecting organized energy back toward the cartridge." are really hypotheses that you favor, not facts. Appealing ideas but not proven. We audiophiles, myself included, do this all the time.

I loved the Talea in the set-up I heard, but I note also that the piece of metal onto which the cartridge is mounted is affixed to the wood arm wand by one single bolt, which does not suggest to me that energy transfer from the cartridge into the arm wand is super efficient. Also there would be energy reflected back into the cartridge at the wood/metal interface. These structural elements tend to make me wonder to what degree your hypothesis is a real factor in the resulting sonic quality of the tonearm.