12 inch Graham Phantom


Anyone compared this to the 9" or 10" arm tube?

Thanks
glai
Dear Asa, thanks for the further hint, but my problem is with the statement itself - not so much its "origin". It lacks even the most basic traces of logic and geometry. It is o.k. with me if an audio reviewer has problems in aligning a pivot tonearm (I guess most of them have...), but it is something else if one tries to hide one's inabilities and lack of expertise behind "technical explanations" which have nothing to do with the real world and are (at least for some) an insult to basic school knowledge.
It reminds me of that indestructible "zombie statement" in tube audio that 12V and higher heaters are somewhat sonic inferior to 6.3V heaters.
Seems that in high-end audio no statement is silly enough, that it don't become "proven statement" if it is only published somewhere online.
>>10-04-10: Dertonarm
Seems that in high-end audio no statement is silly enough, that it don't become "proven statement" if it is only published somewhere online.<<

Amen
Each arm is optimized for a different standard. I would propose that it isn't a matter of 12 vs 10.5 vs 9 but more a matter of the individual arm and the setup geometry chosen. Lofgren A vs B vs Stevenson. The arcs they draw are extremely different. Also we need to take into account the different assumed inner Radii on the LP for calculating each arc. All of these add up to what we hear.

And if longer arms are better then why no 14 inches. We certainly have the materials to make the rigidity vs. length argument minimal and maintain a reduced effective mass.
Dgad, "why not 14 inches tonarms"? Because of the lack of available space on most turntables AND because the decrease in tangential error relatively becomes less and less with increased effective length.
14" and 16" tonearms were invented for and mounted on special broadcast turntables/plinth to be able to play transcription discs of large diameter common in the 1940ies and 1950ies.
On the better calculated 12" tonearms the maximum tangential error is already between 1.3° and 0.3°. This is a relatively large advantage to the 2.8° to 1.6° in 9" pivot tonearms. Lofgren A,B,C (vs in between...), Baerwald, Stevenson or any other calculation can be applied to 9", 10" or 12" effective length. It will not alter in any way the inherent advantage in tangential error (read: smaller...) of the longer version.
For those not to be convinced by physics and logic, there is always the opportunity to compare 9" to 12" versions of the very same tonearm.
Which leads us back to Graham and the 12" Phantom II.
Wider soundstage, more stable individual voices in complex choruses, more free and detailed high frequencies and a kind of "relaxed feel" in dynamic scale music.