ZYX Airy2-X-SB on Graham 2.2

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Jeff,
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Doug and I actually listened together to all 3 cartridges on my system which included the Graham 2.2 with a couple of other friends and we all had pretty much the same opinions of the Airy2, Airy3 and UNIverse. We all felt the UNIverse was by far the best, the Airy2 was smoother and more pleasant than the Airy3, and the Airy3 was quicker, had more energy, more dynamic than the Airy2.
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There are people that are quite happy with their Airy3 in their systems. A lot of the subjectivity of which cartridge is more suitable for you is system, music style (rock, classical, jazz, vocal) preference and sonic preference dependant. My preference has been for great detail without brightness or a hard leading edge (or too energetic to quote Doug). The Air3 was just too much energy for me and the warmth and musicality was overridden by the hard edges and energy (but that is not everyone’s reaction).
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If the UNIverse is anywhere close to what your budget will allow, the fool proof decision is to get the UNIverse. It really brings a ton of upgrade to your system. BUy a UNIverse and you will be done with buying cartridges until the UNIverse wears out and then you will probably just buy another to replace it.
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I have been with 8 different serious audiophiles with great ears for extended listening sessions and they all felt that the UNIverse was one of the best if not the best cartridge that they have heard. It is just magical and transporting in what it can bring to the music. It does it all. I have also spoken with a few others by phone and there is a complete consensus on how great this cartridge is.
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The Graham 2.2 is a great tonearm in many ways and I enjoy mine tremendously, but the match made in heaven is the Schroder Reference and the UNIverse.
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I would be happy to speak with you by phone this weekend. Just email me off line and we can organize to talk either on Saturday or Sunday.
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Rgds,
Larry
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Dear Jeff: You can do better with: Sumiko Celebration or Dynavector XV-1 and you don't have to worry about: " with or without headshell weight ". Do you know that this " weight.. " was not in the original design? wonder why ? or better, ask you why ?.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

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Jeff,
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Raul has never heard a UNIverse nor, an Airy2, nor an Airy3, so I would totally discount any of his comments. This is another example of him jumping on a thread and writing about something he has no knoweledge of.
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Cello: You are wrong: I'm not heard the UNIverse. That's all. I will hear it in no more than two weeks.. Wait for it.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

I have heard fabulous things about the AIRY line.As for the 2.2,when you experiment with damping in the arm's bearing you must re-adjust vta as well as tracking force(FOR EACH PARAMETER CHANGE).At that point if there is still a hardening/brightness then there is a mismatch,BUT,I'll bet that those who found an unacceptable level of performance in this area truly did not have a feel for how INCREDIBLY CRUCIAL the VTA/DOWNFORCE/DAMPING OF BEARING are,and how they all MUST go hand in hand!I've owned a 2.2 for quite some time and am still learning about what I'll call "Micro-Tuning" it.