Phantom Supreme to 4Point-14?

The main reason for this thread is b/c I’ve started to sour a bit on my Graham Phantoms. Both of them exhibit a frustrating hypersensitivity to how the counterweight is set. I don’t mean VTF, which I set carefully to the 100th of a gram. I mean the tension on the knurled knob that moves the counterweight along its track. Keep in mind that the Grahams use a screw-track to propel the counterweight toward or away from the bearing housing. The weight is slid along the track by an accordion-like mechanism that expands or contracts. I recently discovered that the slightest pressure in either direction on the controlling knob at the end of the track (and therefore the armtube) will emphasize or diminish HF info to an astonishing degree. I’m not talking about enough pressure to change the VTF at all, measured, again, to the 100th g. I mean just pressuring it, with no discernible movement of the knob at all. And pressure in either direction has obvious and predictable sonic consequences.

I surmise that this pressure slightly changes the track-screw tension, or perhaps loads or unloads the accordion-structure (almost like a spring), which changes the resonance of the arm tube/bearing housing assembly by some small but easily audible amount. In other words, the decoupling is perhaps inadequate. This affects both my Supreme and III. Maybe the Elite is immune, I have no idea.

Perhaps I was unaware of this until my system became refined enough to expose it after many years with these tonearms. I just happened upon it accidentally while adjusting VTF. But once you test for it intentionally, it becomes incontrovertible. Changes in damping amounts within the bearing housing don’t noticeably affect this phenomenon. So I’m left with the sense that I’m not sure when I'm hearing these tonearms at neutral, and therefore when I’m hearing the cartridge rather than the tonearm, and that is frustrating me.

@wrm57 I don't mean to worsen your nervosa.  But a couple things I've learned about VTA/SRA.  Mastering lathes that cut the lacquers or DMM discs are not "adjusted" to an industry standard.  Every record that is cut from a different lathe probably has a different ideal VTA. So if you are adjusting based on the record thickness you aren't likely to be actually preserving the correct VTA for a specific recording.  

Perhaps what you are actually hearing when you adjust your VTA for album thickness relates to preservation of azimuth?  As VTA changes, so does azimuth on most tone arms that are mounted with an overhang. 

@sksos Very excited to hear what you think of the CS. Port table.  A friend of mine sold his TechDas AFV for a TAT2M2 table and likes it very much. 

No worries, @karl_desch, my nervosa is not so labile :) and I do appreciate your thoughts. It’s certainly possible azimuth is changing with VTA. But in my experience, azimuth pertains more to clarity of image and soundstage rather than what I hear when the VTA is high or low, which pertains more to frequencies. And I can vary azimuth when the VTA is too low or too high and it does not restore what I hear when the arm is level.

Anyway, I do realize that the whole VTA question is tiresome and has been done ad nauseum in these pages. Sorry to drag you all through it again. I’m happy to let it go.

So the question for me is where do I go from the Phantom, given that I want (rightly or wrongly) the ability to vary VTA easily and repeatably, and given the constraints of my Technics plinth.

Here are the choices that come to mind:

Kuzma 4Point-14 (11 won’t fit)

Triplanar 12 (standard won’t fit)

Reeds - 10.5 and 12

Schroeder LT

Technics EPA-100 and Mk2

FR-64s or 66s with B60 base

What else??

Do all these qualify as an upgrade?

I’m using a couple of Jelco Ortofons with the Easy VTA add-on and they are surprisingly good, especially for the price. I also have a Jelco TK-850S Mk2, the one with knife-edge bearings they released a few months before calling it quits, unopned in the closet. I just haven’t wanted to burn a Panzerholz armboard on what I doubt is an upgrade. I’m looking for something at a significantly higher level to replace the Graham. Any other ideas? I would like to be able to use medium and medium-high compliance MC carts without damping, so this might rule out the FRs and the Kuzma 14.

Whether any or all of the tonearms on your list qualify as an upgrade is such a difficult question to answer, especially since the cartridge/tonearm mating is such a critical factor. I've got 5 turntables up and running with 5 different tonearms. I often move cartridges around among those tonearms, and I can testify from first hand experience that the tonearm can change the personality of a cartridge, and vice-versa.  Also, on that list, the LT has to be regarded as a different animal, in principle.  Not that I have ever heard one.

That is a fine list of excellent tonearms.  I think you might enjoy a discussion with Thom Mackris of Galibier Designs.  He knows (and sells) many of those arms and can give you an experienced opinion based on your preferences.  He helped me decide between a Schroeder arm and a Kuzma. Zero pressure to purchase too.