VPI 10.5 vs Graham 2.2

IMO, the Graham is better than the 10.5. I think that the Origin Live Illustrious would be the best arm for either of them. Followed by the Origin Live Encounter. Then either the SME V or Origin Live Silver. I think that the Benz would be a better match on the Graham or the JMW, and the Helikon would be better on the arms I mentioned. I feel that the Graham 2.2 is the best unipivot, and the OL are the best gimbal-bearing arms.

IMHO.

It is not appropriate to claim 'best gimball bearing arm'...etc, unless one heard them all, plus the fact that tonearm is part of the equation between cartridge, mechanical setup, turntable, a lot of variants in the equation.

The OL arm may be OK, but how can you know it is better than Rega RB1000, Wheaton VI, Schroeder, Immedia, etc?

Unipivot, the AudioCraft AC-3300, has a hybrid design, with a new implementation of 'Dualpivot'. The Naim Aro, could also sound a lot more musical, and the Moerch....

There is also another extremely rare arm, the Breuer Type 8, and the Type 7 which has the stylus/bearing/counterweight at exactly the same plane. Have you heard a Breuer?

In fact, on very heavy table with plinth that can take massive energy transfer, a gimbal bearing could sound very good, but on a less massive table, a unipivot by decoupling the effect of plinth to the cartridge, could be better.

OL/Rega design with minimal arm base, and a very stiff energy parth, required a very stiff and tightly coupled plinth design (Rega P9, for example), hence, they may not be optimize say, on a VPI TNT.

For me, without doubt the Graham.
Excellent quality !
And every setting is possible ( Azimuth, VTA ....)
Used Scan Tech and Benz system with it. Great.
And the replacable arm wands is the real thrill for cartridge collectors ....

Rick,

I guess you did the test on the HFNRR test record. Can you tell me on which track did you experience anti-skateing problems?

I saw that Wally tools (http://www.simplyblack.net/) is making an anti-skateing device for JMW arm. I am wondering if anyone has tried it?

I agree the Graham is the best of these. I owned three versions of it before moving up to the Walker turntable and it's linear tracking arm.

Interesting that Extremephono mentions the arms he does. Not only have I heard most of these, I officially brought Breuer into the United States from Lucerne (his home in Switzerland) in the late 1970's.

Last I spoke with him, he had moved on to manufacturing large format cameras and still later I understand another company took over the business and is now manufactured in another facility.

I still have many photographs of Breuer at his work table. My favorite taken in the failing light of day, just before we all left for dinner. The photo includes my wife looking on intently as he puts the finishing touches on the tonearm I hand carried back home with me.

After that, I imported at least a dozen more of these high end tone arms, most with his special flycut heavy counter balance and as many of his custom built moving coil cartridges to match. These cartridges began life as an EMT, then fitted with custom aluminum cantilever and a modified line contact diamond he had manufactured by Van Den Hul in Holland.

The Graham is a masterpiece in today's world and can perform with incredible resolution when set up properly. Which I might add is near impossible without a lot of experience.