A Copernican View of the Turntable System

Hi In_shore,
I am one of the few listeners who could never really understand the hype and general acclimation surrounding the Phantom II?
I had it mounted on the big Raven for more than a year and found that its performance was exceeded on LOMCs by my Grandezza 12" Ref and Copperhead. The XV-1s was the only cartridge where it had a slight edge.
The FR-64s and FR-66s also sound more coherent IMHO, with LOMCs as well as MMs.
The killer for the Phantom II (at least for me)......was that with high compliance MM cartridges (which account for the bulk of my collection).....it was an embarrassing performer?
I sold it without regrets.

Henry
The first few months I also wondered about the Phantom set up on my Raven AC.
I also had various cartridges including a Dyna XV1S mounted on that arm.
However I could not understand why it did not perform as expected.
Previously before the Raven I had the Graham 2.2 and liked it very much.

I acquired my first direct drive in around this time and installed the raven arm board with the Phantom on it to that dd and really was surprised at the performance.

Conclusively I say the Graham Phantom is not a good mate with a Raven table, and further I really don't understand the fan club of this combination???

You sold it, OK.

In_shore,

I still have one board available behind one of the Bavarian Voices speakers possibly taking up the Air Force One. But I gave myself a promise not exceeding the number of five turntables. In that case I need to sell one of the turntables, which one do you like to have?

I have heard about the advantages of wall mounted shelves - Halcro inspired me a lot -. In my configuration I need to implement different measurements which I did.

I share Halcro`s assessment of the Phantom II. It is a good arm and you may put it on a SME table to better it up - I mean the SME. But there are much superior designs out in the market and also the vintage design of FR and SAEC I believe beat the Phantom by far.

best @ fun only

Dear Thuchan,
I'm excited to hear about your ideas for a wall-mounted shelf for one or more of your turntables.
I can almost guarantee that you will be happy with the results :^)
You also inspired me about trying a Minus K stand under the Raven......and Mark Doehmann is making one up for me to try?
We are both in for some interesting listening in the future it seems?

In_ shore,
I don't quite understand how an arm can be a bad match for a turntable......unless it is a heavy arm or unipivot on a suspended deck?
But then.....suspended decks have never been my cups of tea?
Can you possibly explain why you think an arm can be a mismatch for a particular turntable?

Dear Halcro,
you will like the "Minus-K Raven combination" with "the two motors" and the Bavarian string, I am pretty sure.
Good move!

I will get the AlnicSpeedNic at this weekend and test it (also against the Timeline). Will report about the results.

best @ fun only