Graham Phantom vs Triplaner

Hey,Halcro...I am sorry for the seeming tone of my last post.I was being hurried off the computer by my daughter,and accidentally hit the "CAPS" key.This surely looked like I actually was getting excited!Whether one believes me or not,I really don't care all that much if product "A" is better than product "B"(so long as my own music sounds good,to me).I have always stated that I am a fan of "all things audio".A life long hobby,so maybe that is a reason for my memory of "all things audio" being fairly good..Including reviews,which are still only opinions.
You are a hobbyist who seems to be passionate about a particular product.I have no doubts about that product being superb!!!
Whether one believes me or not,about my approach to audio "fandom",I can only stste that many wonderful designs intrigue me.
I would love to(like you seem to have done,with the Copperhead)proclaim the Transfiguration Orpheus as "the best",but I could not possibly do so,even though private E-mails by high brow industry folks have told me so. I really cannot take another person's word for something as "absolute",unless I have heard it for myself,under the conditions necessary.Not really viable in today's world,as you have stated.You are 100% correct!!!I've heard some seemingly well "reviewed" set-ups that I did NOT get!Lucky to have heard them,though,but a definite learning experience,about following one's own road!
Accept my remarks as non confrontational,if you can.You certainly have the right to express your enthusiastic opinion,about something you know to be excellent!!Without this kind of feedback,this forum would not be as interesting to me.BTW,if you send me a Copperhead,I will be happy to give it an enthusiastic go-round-:)I cannot afford it any other way.
Best.
Best.

I guess I'll second the comment above, somewhere up there, about arm wire and IC's. If anyone has heard Bob G's take on silver (yes, a sweet guy...) then I venture that you knows a what I is a sayin'. (I have a 2.0 with Discovery copper wired inside; still sounds, "tight", like, er, something through ceramic....).

Also, heard someone knowledgeable above talk about different phono IC's and was wondering his take on the new Kondo LP KSL. I run some Kondo in places and was wondering (see, not a silver-hater per se...), and even though I understand the context dependant disclaimers abounding (Indulge me: If all opinion is equal, then how can anyone say anything? How is that that someone who says all opinion is relative, is invariably the same person that then offers many opinions, even as they say no opinion has an authentic ground? Sorry, got side-tracked there, jitter, mistracking, something. If anyone bites on "authentic ground," twenty hits with a broken bamboo).

You know, why don't we get an option of Kondo, or whatever boat floats, from the pins all the way to the phono inputs? I know its just energy passing through various patterns of matter, more energy, but energy matrices in the shape of junction boxes make my right hemisphere intuitively cringe...

Atmasphere, on field coils, have you heard the Shindo's? Just curious.

Asa, not heard too many field coils yet (C.A.R, Cogent, Feasterex) but they have all been promising/awesome in their own ways.

Not all wires are suited for runs inside a tonearm as the weight and flexibility vs the ability to sound good are all issues that an arm manufacturer has to deal with. Having had the Triplanar for a while, I can say I have become a fan of the concept of running one bit of wire all the way from the cartridge pins to the input of the phono section. I have seen extra connections rob the signal (especially from low output MCs) of its impact.

Since the AC Raven has been mentioned, I might mention some news from the maker. Thomas of TW Acustic is working on a tonearm , voiced for the Raven. It is only in defelopment and may not even appear. I thought Raven owners might be interested. I have taken delivery of a Raven One and am very impressed with it, first class engineering and build quality

Thanks Atmasphere. Understood on the phono wire/arm compatibility. I see the Copperhead runs from pins to inputs too. One can talk all day about the sophistication of the Graham arm's integral connector, but I still stare at the thing.

Someone above mentioned the Copperhead, but is it as good on a non-Criterion platform, i.e. without the kevlar/magnetic arm board? Copperhead on a Raven? I'm no analog expert, just curious.

The Raven sounds like my kind of sound and has got me thinking lately (less lately since the TAS review came out and the wait is undoubtedly going to skyrocket...). I've been around too long (anyone remember waiting, baited breath, for their Audiomart to come in the mail?), and just can't do pumps et al anymore. I've got an old TNT 4 with the tower air bladders and I think I'm going to find an existential nexus between it and a shotgun!

Nice thread; I'm learning things.