Graham tonearm tweaking

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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.

Thanks for the comments,so far.As for me,I'm "FAR" from a genious,and think that for the 3200 clams that this arm commands,and for the fact that this arm has been featured in the "Analog Corner" column for over 4 years(by a reviewer that passes himself off as an expert of experts)we "the consumer" deserve alot more.I "DO NOT BELIEVE"that I am the discoverer of some secret here.There are "PLENTY" of hard core critical listeners out there.I've met a ton.I'm sure that there are those that have figured this all out.Don't give the press such a free pass here(not that we can really do anything about it,though).

I guess many of you just don't remember the days when magazine like "TAS" REALLY were "TAS LIKE".This would have been covered there.There is NO excuse to accept the fact that there is a point of "Mere Acceptability" with regards to getting the best possible sound from something costing so much!There is a HUGE difference in performance from this arm,between just OK and SPOT ON.

This takes me back to my original comments that unless "WE" as hobbyists start to hear some other "HOBBYIST OWNED" set-ups that are truly fine tuned and "RIGHT"(NO bright or overdamped rooms,or rationalizing of weaknesses,which we ALL do)we will "NEVER" know if our own set-ups are "IN the Zone",for lack of any useful comparison(not "live" music,since it cannot be reproduced effectively)."Eyes OPENED OR CLOSED"!!!

If I had not been privy to my (FANATICAL) friend's system,I would,to this day,be as happy as a lark with my arm setup,thinking the slight grainyness(compared to the Air Tangent)was line noise,or Transistor noise,or tube noise,or my cartridge etc.You get my point.

To anyone less critical,I'm just a critical bloviator.To all else,we have a TON of money invested in our stuff,and deserve a little attention to detail!!YES,Salvatore is "MY HERO"!!The poor guy!!!So alone,is he!!!

Sirspeedy,

I think the blame for ignorance about the critical nature of the damping fluid is clearly on Bob Graham himself. He designed the thing and should know; He wrote the instruction sheet that has been used by everyone setting up the arm including reviewers. Even though I don’t care for the self anointed analogue guru over at StereoPhool, I can’t blame him for not figuring this out because I didn’t either until I read it here.

The audio rags have changed drastically since the early days. They are no longer the hobbyist experimenting and reporting what they find. That function is being done by all of us and the net these days. The rags are now run by business people as a business and that is a completely different kind of animal. I personally know one reviewer and you couldn’t give me his job. Stuff coming and going before you hardly get a chance to know it. It takes me a long time personally to get a system to really sing and even then I continue to learn how extract more out of what I have. Nope, that’s not for me. I would much rather chase records than equipment.

I do agree the it is good to hear others systems. It’s too bad that we all live so far apart! The biggest problem in most of the systems I’ve heard is the room. There always seems to be some compromise in terms of speaker placement to keep peace with the Ms. I not immune from room problems as I have too much speaker for my room. Finely tuned systems are hard to come by in these parts.

Regards,

Scott