Graham tonearm tweaking

First, many thanks to sirspeedy for the typing upgrade. 15 paragraphs in two posts, wow! Seriously, your always valuable content is much easier to read. Go ahead, blush!

Remote control VTA, wouldn't that be nifty? It really doesn't take much time on a TriPlanar or JMW though. Once you know the right setting for a record you can dial it in while the TT is spinning up. Real time loss is virtually zero. It's not so good on a Graham 2.2 because the arm height adjustment lacks adequate resolution.

Back to topic. It's not surprising that damping acts differently on a Graham vs. your friend's AirTangent (or my TriPlanar). Their damping devices are so different mechanically that you wouldn't expect similar sonic effects.

I'm not surprised your AirTangent friend prefers no damping. We don't use it on the TriPlanar either. The damping troughs on these arms are well away from the pivot point, which means the greatest effect of damping is to present resistance to lateral arm movement in response to cantilever deflections. This resistance must feed back to the cartridge and affect the way the cantilever acts in the suspension. The sonic effects seem detrimental IME and apparently in your friend's also.

OTOH, the damping on a Graham 2.2, Basis Vector and other unipivots is concentrated at the pivot point. Depending on the size of the bearing surfaces, it has a negligible effect on lateral arm motion. What it does is dampen arm and bearing resonances at certain frequencies. The damping on an AirTangent or TriPlanar does not dampen resonances very much because the fluid is not in contact with the arm very much, nor with the bearing at all.

With an Airy 3 on Cello's Graham 2.2, a little too much damping started to kill the HF's. Backing it off by even a pinhead made the highs zippy and immediately killed some of the bass. We could not find a happy medium with that combination in his (strongly dynamic) system (in a bright room).

With an Airy 2 the sweet zone for damping was sufficiently broad that we had room to tune it, a pinhead or two this way or that, without feeling like we were giving up anything. We achieved full dynamics with no loss of HF control, full bass without bloat. This was a happier setup, again possibly due the overall characteristics of his system and room.

I hope I'm about done adding to this thread.This is a
popular arm,so I guess it isn't a wasted effort.Now you see why I was so pissed off with the mainstream audio press for not EVER mentioning any of this stuff.Arthur Salvatore sure has my devoted respect!!

Sbrown,Although there has been statements to the slight colorations in the Air Tangent design,my friend took it to the extreme and replaced the standard compressor with his dentists commercial unit.I can hear the laughter.I did too, when he told me of his decision,and I saw it(looking exactly like a motor boat engine,in his spare room).However this allowed more pressure to be applied to the bearing,in effect stiffening it.This cancelled out any colorations and really improved the bass and mid bass.I really don't think any arm can match this level of performance.

As for the 2.2 I am really,so happy with the current performance that I don't care about attaining that last degree my friend has.However when I go to his home I immediately hear that "Breathy Ambient Glow" the Air design affords.Remember,there is NO resonant bearing characteristic that has to be "STROKED".I know some other pivot designs don't have the need for bearing damping,but IMO only,since I am no expert,they also have their own issues.Anyway,at this point I really think this is an advantage of the 2.2!!Tuneability to the max!!

The best way to improve our systems,and I've seen descriptions of many of your set-ups,that look GREAT,and probably sound as well,is to hear other hobbyists' rigs.Live music is essential,but since we know it cannot be reproduced,how would you begin to suspect that something like tweaking out a resonant characteristic would help your own sound,if you didn't hear it elsewhere!

Cjsmithmd, I should have mentioned this,but,my way doesn't have to be exclusively adhered to.I carefully unscrew the bearing cap and place it down,with the fluid facing up,obviously.Then,since I work with such small amounts of fluid,I allow a pinhead's amount to be picked up(from the syringe) with a needle tip or pin.Sometimes I've been lazy and used my wife's bobby pin tips.There were times when my "always hyper-critical" pals showed up where I had to improvise, on the fly,during a listening session,and have used other pointy articles.It is up to you.Just take it off the end of the syringe(sp?).Even if you squeeze out just a light bubble of the stuff.This way you are assured of working with small and exact quantities.Also,REMEMBER to hold the bearing in place for about a minute or two,exactly over the fluid housing,so as not to drip any residue into the arm assembly,or you will hate me!All in all,it is really not hard to work with.I used to "HATE" to touch my stuff,and my sound suffered.

Whew!!!

Oh,yeah!!You put the fluid on the tip of the bearing,you have just taken off,that is now facing up.This is for fine tuning.Originally the fluid is squeezed into the bearing well at the pivot.Don't overfill this.

As you observed, fluid level, the VTF and VTA affect the sonic quality. The tough music passages on the record put more pressure on the stylus than lighter passages. Therefore, the correct setting for complex music passage may not be desirable for lighter music passage.

That is rediculous!Once you have the setting maxed out,and can track complex and difficult passages,anything else should be cake!Remember,what you are looking for is MAXIMUM retrieval of timbre,and harmonics.These fall into place when all else is obtained.At that point tracking is precise,and superb.You should,also have total consistency from one type of music to the next.Unless you want to get a bit NUTS with making changes for different discs.I don't.I mean I want to spend my time listening to music,not errors in set-up.

I think some of you are "Thinking This to Death" a bit.

Just try playing around for a few listening sessions.Then report back.Or better yet,forget about this thread and enjoy your music!!I know I will when my table comes back.