Graham Phantom vs. Phantom II

Perrew, I did try most Lyras with the Phantom II and my favorite one is the Helikon. It is so much better than the much more expensive Koetsu RSP, it is depressing.
Haven't tried the Titan i, will do it in the next days..

interesting, do you think the helikon would be even better with allnico magnets?

Good question. You are on the right track...when I would have the chance for a custom made cartridge, I would prefer AlNiCo's. But to be honest, these alone are not the secret, there are outstanding cartridges (Miyabi for example) which sound very life-like and some don't (XV-1s) or you go to one of these FR-cartridges, they have a kind of Pysical Force which is rare to get. Even today. But then you need a different Arm and a real high gain Phono section.
But to go back, the Helikon is right, when you have the chance to get one used, try it. There is worse out there.

Hi all,

Does anyone know the effective mass of the new Phantom II?

Thanks.

Jaspert,

The armwand of the Phantom I is 1 gm heavier than the Phantom II. That doesn't answer your question but the effective mass of any arm is a function of the distance of the couterweight to the pivot and possibly in the Phantom's case the amount of damping fluid would change things. I would assume for a fair approximation about 11 gms.