Graham Phantom vs. Phantom II

We should try to take it not too serious. I dreamed about it, because I am sensitive and can't stand it when you don't love me anymore.I had a Dream,
there is Restaurant at the end of the universe.
But honestly, it is not a Restaurant, more a very unfriendly low pub, where only
fat, dark, bad smelling pieces of meat are served, with a glibber, awful looking sauce.

That's it. Nothing else. Always the same. Every Day.
And for drinking only warm Cherry Coke is available.
In this Restaurant at the end of the Universe all High Enders are taken prisoner, who
had a lot of sins in their regular life.

You will meet people, who rated the power of their amps once of more often in Horsepower, those who made a lot of money with cable- or
Rackvoodoo , those who hyped units which create Ear cancer when listening too long.
Or those who sold their inferior cheap made speakers to those unlucky enthusiasts who believed in reviews.

Btw. in that Restaurant you will find one or the other High End Journalist, too.

In this Restaurant you will hear day in, day out Chris de Burgh only, from Mini-Disc via a continuous
clipping Pre-/Amp combination linked to 6 way speakers with defect midrange chassis.
I had that dream last night and I have absolutely no idea what was real in that dream.

But I liked it very much.

I wonder who the Bouncer is at that place...

Dear Daniel,

Bill (Audiofeil) replied to a statement made by Syntax with the following quote :-
"There is, of course, no best of any component and tonearms are no exception.
I have my favorites as well but hyperbole such as this should simply be ignored."

Bill has been a valued and witty contributor to these pages for many years and has openly added the caveat of his 'dealership' to any controversial topics.
Nevertheless I find his postings to usually be valuable, humourous, poignant and occasionally barbed (where warranted).

To be dismissed by Syntax because of his dealership status displays an arrogance and elitism which is unfortunately symptomatic of his postings in general.

I find the contributions of some Dealers, Manufacturers and Critics to be amongst the most valuable in these Forums as they give a viewpoint which we, the Consumers, simply do not have. Most of them also have a great deal more varied experiences of listening and equipment choices than the majority of us 'Punters'.
However the most salient point in all this is simply, as Bill points out, we all have our own opinions.
Opinions are not 'facts' and no amount of elitist postulation will make them so.

Syntax has been regaling this Forum for weeks about his adulation of the Graham Phantom arm and his sycophantic (almost amorous) language towards Bob Graham has become tiresome.
We get it. He loves the arm. Enough said.
Bill loves other arms and so do I but we don't attack others who might disagree with or question us?

Syntax is always quick to take offense and insult others with his snide and often obscure indirect remarks which may be a result of inappropriate translation from his mother tongue but he is a big boy Daniel and can defend himself adequately.
Your continual and swift rushing to defend and 'explain' his 'deep seriousness, humour and value' on almost every occasion in these Forums is doing more harm than good.
It resembles a protective mother duck thrusting herself forward before any harm may befall her beloved chicks?

Now for the important stuff........the sun is out in beautiful Sydney. I've just returned from a week in New York where I heard the Magico M5s driven by Soulution Pre and Power combination at Sound by Singer and I have new vinyl to listen to. Things are good.
I hope your winter is not such a bad one?
Regards
Henry

To be dismissed by Syntax because of his dealership status ...

I am not a dealer. I am a regular customer who bought everything from Dealer(s) at the price they wanted to have. I have no contact or support to any manufacturer. I am pretty sure, they don't know me at all.

Some information from my experience with Graham Arms.
One or the other may think, I want to hype it, or trying to support the manufacturer...that#s not true. I don't care about that. I am interested in Performance only.

All started with a Graham 20. de Luxe, I guess it was 2002 (or so), at that time it was mounted on a Basis Debut with vacuum and I bought multiple Armboards for other arms to compare.
At that time I listened to SME V, Schroeder Reference, Triplanars and a few more I forgot
Then the upgrade to 2.2 was made, I got it and my thought was, that Graham made another step ahead.
Other Arms didn't move on, only cosmetically "improvements" (cable, head-shell) which had no improvement in Performance.
I sold it, when the Phantom was available and it was obvious, that Graham was able to re-think his own - successful - design. That Arm was not only a step forward, it was a jump.
Very impressive.
At that time I got other Arms (DaVinci, Kuzma, FR's ...), bought another Graham Armwand to compare cartridges etc.
Then I sold that Phantom, because I thought I didn't need it. After a few months I regret and bought a new one again. This one stayed at my home until last year.
One of my friends did visit me and asked for it and I did let it go. After 8 years with various Graham Arms my System was running with other Designs.
After some months I was at a Linn LP12 Demonstration, the new LP12 with Keel and Ekos SE were introduced. Never really a Fan from either I did listen to a comparison between the latest Ekos and Ekos SE and I heard remarkable differences in their Frequency range and in reproducing the tone.
SE Arm has Titan parts, I saved that experience in my memory and went home.
Months later I heard from the Phantom II with Titan Armwand, a red lamp started to glow and my interest in that Arm started to grow.
And I asked here at Audiogon about news (see headline) and then I got one (and compared again).
The result is written.
Some want to beat me because I write something they don't want to know. Sorry, but when it is allowed to hype something which is nice but nothing special, it is not allowed to write about that???
"Opinions" are fine when you want to discuss about something you don't know, but knowledge/experience is helpful to push the curtain.
At least for me.