VPI 10.5 vs Graham 2.2

Rwd, I think the Graham is a fine arm, and is worthy of your choice, if you want to stay with a unipivot. It is IMO, the most stable of the unipivots, and has a much better chance of performing with these low compliance cartridges. It is pricey, but has a wonderful performance record.

If you wanted to try an OL Illustrious, I would bet that a OL dealer would be accomodating, in providing one for evaluation. They do not have much exposure, and the dealers would likely be happy to let you try one out. You would have to get an arm mounting board that is suitable for it from VPI, to try it out however. I think that they use the same cutout as the Rega arms. Perhaps an OL dealer that also carries VPI would have one of these along with the arm. That could make it possible for you to try one of these out on your table and compare it to the Graham. I would be very interested in hearing about a comparison like this, using the Helikon. If you decide to try this, please let us know about your impressions.

The other thing I would like to mention, is that the Helikon is known to have some tracking issues, and may never track as well as the Benz, no matter what the arm. It is also known to be a little "lean" in the bass, and harmonic structure, which may be exacerbated by the unipivots, of which none have the bass response comparing with something like the SME V or Origin Live arms. So I am additionally concerned that pairing the Helikon with a unipivot will be "leaner" in bass response than it would in other arms. If your system has any tendency towards "lean-ness" of bass, or "brightness", at all, this may not be the best combination of products for you. The Graham is better in this aspect, but it will not equal the bass response of something like the SME V. Unipivots excel at midrange and some in the high end also. Bass response is not their strong point. Pairing them with a "lean" cartridge is potentially problematic for this reason. With a Graham arm, I think that a ZYX R-100FS Fuji would be an excellent combination. The Fuji has a higher compliance that would stress the arm less, and has better overall frequency balance, better detail, more delicate, and costs about the same as a Helikon. And does not have the tracking issues of the Helikon, nor the "lean" tonal balance. This would be something to try out, IMO.

So I recommend the Graham arm and ZYX Fuji as one possible combination. And the Origin Live Illustrious and a Shelter 901 as another combination. One is a unipivot combo, the other a gimbal bearing combo. I believe that either of these combinations will noticeably exceed the performance you have gotten thus far. Each of these combinations is properly matched for resonance and compliance suitabilty, and will perform at, or very near, the best possible performance from any analog arm/cart combos. One of the OL dealers advertising on Audiogon, is a OL and Shelter dealer.

Thank you ALL for your advice.....
First off, Sid, I can't recall how many times I twisted the arm wire but it is now in a non looped or curved design (I assume this is what VPI want it to look like?)? Anyway, I tried track 6 and it worked.....Track 7 did not.
As to TWL's comments, my system is a bit warm and has deep base so I think we can go with the Graham/Helikon. I will, however, investigate the Origin arm that you suggested.
I do have another question to you all...I believe Basis is coming out with their own arm (Vector????) anyone know anything about this????
I have another question, but will probably start another thread on it tonight (got to go Christmas shopping)!!!!

RWD, I have read some very positive things about the Basis Vector, but can't comment on any personal experience with it.

Rick,

The JMW is a very good arm, much better than any arm I have used before. Vinyl play back technologies have really advanced in recent years. The behavior of the Helikon that we experienced, especially the track skipping on 8, seems to indicate that the Helikon may have reached its tracking limit. I am not sure how much improvement a new arm will bring. The Graham is a super arm, no doubt, but it might not be able to give Helikon the ultimate tracking that you are looking for.

Having said that, I want to make a point for the readers who are on the fence thinking about getting into vinyl. You might be wondering what the hack these guys are doing. How come a $6000 TT setup can’t even track a test LP? How much money do I need to spend to get a decent system? I want to tell you that those test tracks were recorded at pretty high levels. Very few vinyls were recorded that loud. I have a few hundred records in my collections, so far I have played about 100, most of them were from the 70’s, some were new recordings and remasters I recently bought, and none of them showed any tracking problem.

It might be psychologically satisfying to know that my Helikon could sail through all the test tracks with easy, but I am not going to worry about it until the upgrade bug bites. For now, I just want to kick back and enjoy the music. I still have a lot of LPs to clean; they have been locked up in the basement for over a decade.

Sidssp, you make a very good point. Those test records are designed to be just that. Test records. They have more torturous stuff on them than you will most likely encounter in normal playing. The gauge is to find where your system fails, not to make it play every cut on the test. When you find out how far you can get on the test, it lets you know the relative capabilites of the rig, in terms of maximum stress.