Graham tonearm tweaking

I expect a hefty commission if that manual comes to fruition!!I may need the dough to purchase a ZYX UNIV!Ya see Larry you "ARE" a pretty good salesman!!!

Doug,just when I was expecting some kind of defensive comeback(although not necessary)you go and make an "INCREDIBLY" nice offer!!Larry has also been very open about discussing,via the TELE the finer points of this potential winning design.However you have to hear something in real-time to determine it's merits.I would certainly make an effort to contact him if I decide to visit family in FLA.That would surely be an interesting listening session.

Hey Larry,hope you clear up that "room brightness" you alluded to.I' very picky!!

Back to your offer Doug.It's IMO too nice.You don't know me at all.I have,in the past,actually been ripped off(A Tandberg tapedeck).This happened 20 yrs ago,but I never forgot that feeling.I hope you never experience that.

That being said,and assuming you are sincere,I will ask my pal "YODA" if he is up to it.Right now he is without a cartridge,since his new TITAN has crapped out.This is the second one in a year.He is very frustrated,but has MANY connections,except he thinks this one may not go so well,since he already got a replacement for free.

I,due to Larry's enthusiasm,and credibility, have given my pal a HUGE pitch on the UNIV.Basically I told him not to turn his back on what may be the next great transducer recommended by the "BIG BOYS" of which my pal has associated with in the past.He is,though, an independent thinker,but he gets alot of feedback through his "IN" channels.Although that IMO means "CRAP" since we are all just "HOBBYISTS".

What he is looking for is a design that can compete with the likes of the XV1-S,TITAN(but doesn't break)MYABI,and the TRANSFIGURATION TEMPER V(low output)which I have and is "FRIGGIN" great.I guess as of now he's leaning slightly towards a COLIBRI.WHY? I have no idea!

This all goes out the window if he gets another TITAN,though we feel may present problems again,in his Air Tangent.

The only reason I got so wordy here,although as you know I do that alot(sorry),is because your offer is so damn nice, that I'm going to mention this to him.He is off to CANADA to visit with another audio pal (and record collector-extraordinaire),next week,but I bet he jumps at this.Larry did a good job.

By the way he lives in Brooklyn.If this comes off you won't be sorry,that I can promise.We'll see in a week or two.Thanks alot.

I get to meet another "GONE'R".Have a good tadoo over the Graham vs Wheaton.Hear the UNIV.You get to sample the system I call the best I've heard.Kill any reputation I may have,regarding my blathering about how good I think it is,if it's not(I'm not worried here).You get to sample "LEON's" bakery products(guaranteed better than the UNIV "experience").AND--we both hear some of the lp's in the "GUARANTEED BEST FRIGGIN RECORD COLLECTION IN THE USA.

I'll see what I can do!!

I would like to ask all those, who found this thread interesting, to "POST" comments regarding your feelings as to why the mainstream audio press had dropped the ball covering this topic.Afterall,this is a very popular arm,and has been covered extensively!!It has,also been around a long time.It took me almost 3 years to finally "give in" and really commit to fotzing around.Something that took way to much time to figure out,and I'm a dummy!

Maybe someone in the right place could catch wind of this and "WAKE UP" to the fact that there is more to QUALITY music reproduction than an endless parade of "Recommended Components" or covering the latest 5.1 "CHACHKA"!!

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Sirspeedy,
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I think that the value of finding the correct damping fluid for a specific set up is just not well known and appreciated by either the mainstream audio press or even the distributor of the Graham products.
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I went to hear the new Graham Phantom being presented last fall and I asked the distributor rep that was there at the dealer for the demo if he had "tuned" the amount of damping fluid for the set up and I was quite surprised that he "just put a normal amount in there". I did not get the impression that he was being apathetic or lazy, I felt he just did not have an appreciation of the impact that having the ideal amount of fluid could mean to the quality of the sound reproduction. This all happened after I read your original thread but before I had worked with Doug Deacon and Paul to find the best level for my system (or I would have had a much more detailed conversation with him).
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I think Bob Graham probably understands that there is value in being precise with the amount of damping fluid, but I wonder if he understands it to the level that you have come to understand.
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Rgds,
Larry
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Sirspeedy - The mainstream audio press may have dropped the ball regarding Graham fluid damping, and its affect on bringing out the best in that arm, for a variety of reasons.
Trusting that the designer knows his product well, it has not been made very clear in the instruction manual how to adjust the fluid damping for its optimum. Most owners and reviewers put in an 'average' recommended amount and let it go at that. Although this arm has been "covered extensively", as you say, I am not sure if anyone other than yourself has devoted as much research into the critical effects of damping fluid amount. Certainly no reviewer has. The arm has been seemingly judged on its "follow-the-manual-setup-recommendation" merits. This arm in particular, or perhaps unipivots in general, may be very sensitive to damping fluid adjustments, more so than arms like the SME V. Now that you have 'unearthed' the method of tweaking the Graham damping fluid, it still will remain for most a daunting process of trial and error which many may not want to bother to fiddle with, especially given that a change in cartridge choice may require a change in damping fluid amount,.....again.
Hopefully some mainstream reviewers, and maybe even the creator, Bob Graham, will bother to take the time you have and investigate this topic and publish their results.
Thank you for your invaluable contributions.

Sirspeedy,
I've been mugged once and burglarized once, but I doubt either scenario is likely while I'm carrying the holy cartridge into Yoda's cave! If I feel like spending a day in NYC it would be easy enough to swing by, mount it up and have a listen. Of course he or you are also welcome to visit, though hearing a cartridge in a strange sytem is not quite so useful of course.

I know one UNIverse owner who's also owned a Myabi and an XV-1S. He says the UNIverse is decidedly superior to both, particularly as regards neutrality. His only concern after a month of ownership is bass weight, but he admits he'll accept slightly tubby bass to feel greater impact. We won't. We prefer the textures and dynamics of individual instruments to any dynamics laid over the music by a component. The UNIverse's dynamics are strictly those of the music, never of the cartridge. IME it is transcendant in this respect. I've heard more full-bodied cartridges, the Denon 103 for example, but that fuller body is invariably the sound of the cartrige itself. I don't want to listen to a cartridge. I want to listen to musicians.

For a slightly darker, near Arthur Salvatore-an view on your last question: the mainstream press relies on its advertisers for survival. They may publish honest reviews, but perhaps honesty does not require 100% disclosure. It merely requires not falsifying anything one does choose to discuss.

They discuss the Graham's superb ergononics, world-leading ease and accuracy of setup, superb adjustability and excellent build quality. Damping? Mucking around for two weeks with messy blue goop? That's not exactly a selling point, so maybe we won't spend too much time on that.

Or, as Larry found with the Graham rep, they simply don't know and it didn't occur to them to find out. I had a similar experience with my last car purchase, I all but demonstrated the car for the salesman. Enthusiast forums like this one give everyone access to the collective insights of people with great passion for a product. People like you, who often have far more knowledge to share. Thanks to the internet we no longer need magazines to tell us what to buy or hear.