Cartridge for Graham 1.5

I think its more important for me not to get hung up on the Graham being criticized because it’s a unipivot thus can not handle low compliance cartridges with lots of energy. I have read many posts about this and not found much about what worked. Without another arm like a Triplanar or SME V to test against I have to rely on opinions here. It is very reassuring to see all these different cartridges used on Grahams. I had considered the Sumiko Celebration and Dynavector XX-1 also. Personally I would rather purchase these cartridges over a different arm if I had extra money to spend. Sounds like the Helikon is very popular also. If I save my nickels I might be able to try another next year! If I keep this up I will have a cartridge collection also. I guess if the Graham can keep a Denon 103 in the groove it can handle pretty much anything I would throw at it.

Thanks again for all the help.

Carl

Carl, make sure you experiment with the VTF setting. In my setup the recommended 2.3g doesn't sound best. At 2.3g depth layering, spaciousness and image separation/presence/dimensionality suffer somewhat. The music also sounds less coherent and engaging. It sounds good but not special at this VTF - *in my system*.
Currently I have mine set closer to 2.1g (it's summer down hear in Australia, so this may be a factor).
Of course the rest of your system/balance will influence your preferred cartridge settings - just a suggestion to try.
BTW, I think the Jubilee sounds great on vocals - male and female - much better weight, realism and neutrality than my Crown Jewel (shelter clone).

FWIW, here are my System details

Tobes,
Thanks for the suggestion. Since you are using the 1.5 I would think I should also hear the difference. I will try going down from 2.3 grams. I also purchased a digital scale from Mehran which should be much more accurate than my old Shure. I will get back with results.

Carl

Hopefully the scale you bought uses a measuring platform that places the stylus at true record level (like the Wally Malewicz version).
If not, you won't get a true reading with the Graham.

I recently bought one of those small electronic VTF scales that Acoustic Sounds is selling (chinese design, labeled cartridge arm load meter) - except I only paid A$70 locally.

I thought a neat little scale, purpose designed for VTF measurements, would be easier to use than my pocket scale with it's Wally platform copy.
Unfortunately the new scale places the measurement point a couple of mm above the actual playing height. This results in an error of about 0.2g in my setup!!

I thought this was crazy and tested both scales with a One Yen coin (nominally 1g) - both scales measured the same (to the nearest 100th gram). If I raised the weighing platform height of my pocket scale when measuring VTF, I could duplicate the readings on the got with the new VTF scale.

Further testing with my pocket scale/weighing platform (which weighs at actual record height) shows there is even a variation of 0.1g when going from 120g vinyl to 200g vinyl.
I'm going to do some followup testing, but it appears I should be adjusting VTF for different record thicknesses!!??

I have a better scale then what I was using, looks like the AcousTech Electronics Stylus Force Gauge. It is close to record thickness but probably higher but better than the old Shure beam scale. I set the VTF to 2.1 from 2.3 and believe its improved overall. I may still back off the VTF a bit just to listen. I will play with the VTA more before I lock it. I am not inclined to adjust things for each record, I would rather spend the time listening. Hopefully I'm not beyond Keep It Simple Stupid.