SME V, Tri-Planar or Phantom B-44

I am running 3 arms on my TW and have listened to a few cartridges on the Phantom and moved my cartridges between my arms. It is all about arm / cartridge synergy. In that regard if the Lyra Argo is similar to the Titan I on the Phantom it will be an ideal match. I can't state enough how well the Titan I & Phantom match if you have the right phono preamp. I get an ideal 10 Hz both vertical & horizontal resonance. Spot on 10. Quite amazing and the sound matches. TW also measured a perfect 10. I honestly feel cartridges have different presentations that can sound more alike after matching is done correctly. Now I am refering to 3 way matching which includes the phono stage. What you need to realize is a phono w. too much gain might not match as well w. a medium output MC than others. I believe your phono stage is excellent & should match w. the Lyra. So all you need is the right arm.

Just out of curiousity since these three arms are some of the best out there, how does the vpi 12.7 stand up to them??
Oh and by the way with my limited experience in analog would like to add I am very happy with my Graham 2.2t.

I too have heard all three arms in various systems and all should match well with the lyra. As far as the sme being "grey" or having mid or high resonance issues I would love to see the freq plot that shows these alleged anomolies. I did not experience this in any listening nor has anyone I know that uses this arm. As a matter of fact far from it, if anything it gives the most nuetral presentation of the three. If thats grey so be it.

My favourite Arm from those is the Phantom.

Hi Tim,

well the phantom is perfect or the new Kuzma 4-Point
where you can swap the headshell.

regards kha