Graham Phantom Supreme?


Has anyone done a comparison between the Supreme and the mkII? Is it worth changing and expending the extra outlay?

The main revisions appear to be the bearing housing and an improved magneglide stabiliser (I think the internal wiring was up to a good standard already on the mkII)

There is a company called AudioMax Ltd (approved contractor?) which can perform upgrades from both Phantom I and Phantom II to the Supreme build.
Any experience of this conversion out there ?
Many thanks... :)
moonglum
In theory, I side with Doug and Dertonearm. In practice, I think I can "hear" connectors with MC cartridges and not so much with higher output MM and MI cartridges. I empirically assign blame to the low output of the MCs in question. However, the contacts I/we are usually dealing with are either DIN plugs at the base of the tonearm or the horror of a headshell, which can actually add three sets of contacts in the signal path, one at the cartridge pins, one at the rear of the headshell itself, and one on the other side of the headshell, where it mates to the tonearm. This is indeed a "worst case" scenario. However, I would not categorically say that it is impossible for Mr. Graham to have implemented contacts that are relatively benign in their effect. I'd far rather have one set of contacts at the pivot end of a replaceable arm wand than 3 sets at the headshell end.
Call me old fashioned but whenever tightening headshell screws on "fixed head" designs, I would always remove the arm from the T/t first to preserve the bearings. Messing around with a single piece cable loom while doing this would drive me bananas. DIN connector convenience wins the day for me every time.

I had the opportunity to acquire a single-loom specimen of an equally priced competitors gimballed arm but rejected it. I'm not unhappy that I did and pleased with my choice.
I recently acquired this arm, I had a 2.2, and have a question for any Phantom II/Supreme owner with the bubble level.

My Basis 2500 is dead level. When I level the arm, with the bubble exactly in the middle, the sound is a bit harsh. While the arm appears to be level, it's hard to tell as its tapered, my Ruby 3 appears, by eye, to be tilted ever so slightly forward. My experience with Benz is they like a bit of negative VTA, that is tilted slightly backward. So I lowered the arm until the Ruby 3 appeared, by eye, to be tilted every so slightly backwards. While the bubble is way off, the sound improved dramatically.

At the end of day all that really counts, in VTA terms, is the vertical angle of the stylus. Just because the arm is level doesn't mean the VTA truely is neutral because the body of the cartridge may not be level. It may not line with the headshell perfectly or the stylus/cantilever may not line up and equal neutral VTA even if the cartridge body and arm are perfectly level.

Of course VTA can be a bit of a personnel preference and perhaps my ears and system simply like the way I've set it.

My question is simple. Am I correct in my conclusion that there are a number of variables and, as a result, just because the bubble is level, indicating the arm is level, doesn't necessarily mean one has neutral VTA?