SME 20/2 SME V or Triplanar VII?

SirSpeedy--I haven't heard the Grand Prix, so I was simply curious as to what prompted you to comment on it negatively. I've been intrigued by the table myself. In any case, I appreciate the response.

SirSkimpy,

We're all easily distracted by "fairly asses", especially if they're "sporting analog threads".

Analog threads follow natural waveforms more realistically, as I'm sure you appreciate.

Dear Neil: You have very nice audio system: you will hear it, try it.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

We did an all-night tonearm / cartridge session on Saturday night.

Schröder / Triplanar / Universe / XV-1s / Benz LP

Jeez, I'm getting too old for this abuse.

Truthfully, the difference between 35 ohms and 78 (the resistors I had on hand) were very subtle. I should have made this more clear. The change from 105 to 78 however was definitely noticeable and significant.

I didn't want to get too deeply into loading on this thread, but I might note that as my system resolution increases (thanks to the Karna amplifiers and Azzolina horns), I'm seeing the Universe prefer less loading - being currently at 20 ohms.

I plan on further experimentation with the Universe based on this.

I'm planning on further experimentation. I was quite surprised by this recent trial, because I had been running in the area where Doug had been - a touch higher than his preferred 7.8 - at 9 ohms, but in that general range. I'm not sure what's going on here, other than perhaps a reduction of high frequency resonance elsewhere in the system.

This is one reason why you should look at loading from a system tuning perspective and not as an absolute ... much as we wish this were otherwise.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier

Have any of you, especially Thom, had a chance to experience a Phantom? I have not heard it myself, of course, but I'm very impressed with the ease of its adjustments and I always liked the earlier Graham arms, most of which I heard on Basis tables.

Bob Graham says he did much of his design work on the Phantom on an SME 30/2. I'm not sure how much of it was done on unsuspended tables, so I will leave it to Thom to comment or speculate on the Phantom on Galibier or other unsuspended tables.

Best and as always thanks for the education I'm getting here.

Ed