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Graham Phantom Anti-Skate. Is it effective at all?

I've had my Phantom Supreme over a year now, and for the most part it's been a pleasure. Beautiful build & sound; awesome VTA and azimuth adjustments. My main hangup had been the headshell; getting a Koetsu to sit flat on the 10" wand seemed impossible because the correct overhang pushed it all the way to the back, behind the main headshell points of contact. Finally I just used 2 plastic washers as shims to get a nice flat mount.

Now my main concern is the anti-skate. I'm not sure if all Phantoms are this way or if it's an issue with my unit. I can't seem to get an effective amount of anti-skate. My preferred method for adjusting anti-skate is to drop the needle in some dead-wax before the label (NOT into a lead-out groove) and adjust so that the stylus creeps *slowly* inwards. With my Graham, I cannot achieve that...it always moves quickly inwards no matter how far out I set the weight. Even physically pushing down on the weight doesn't seem to have much effect in swinging the arm. To me, this seems like the mechanism is not effective, as if I'm running without any compensation. This is very unlike my experiences with a Fidelity Research FR64fx (weight and fishing line) and Clearaudio Magnify (magnetic) -- both have a very noticeably effective anti-skate mechanism, which I can easily dial-in as described above. In fact I just setup a Magnify...it was great!

On my Graham, the pulley & rope system seems to be correctly in place. But without a 2nd until to examine, I can't determine whether this is normal. Could other owners/users of Graham please comment on their experiences with its anti-skate? The situation is OK for now -- I burn hours on my good cartridges very slowly and sparingly -- but I'd rather not have my nice cartridge seeing asymmetric wear over the long-run.

-- Mike
128x128mulveling
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mulveling's avatar
mulveling OP
1,907 posts
 
Benjie,
Thanks for the warning on the Graham fixture...I'd started to suspect as much,
which is why I double-checked to ensure I didn't accidentally get the 9"
version (it is the 10" version). I have the AVID universal alignment tool, but
I'm not sure whether that's applicable for this darn 10" wand -- did a quick
check on the AVID (carefully aimed it at the arm pivot), and it wants the cart even
FURTHER back than it can possibly go (by a few mm), which can't be right.
Starting to regret that 10" choice. I guess it's time to look at a Feickert or
AccuTrack! And maybe a 9" wand -- I can be super careful with the ring clamp
for the sake of better alignment. Ugh, and now I'm not gonna run the system
until I get this figured out...bummer!
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,468 posts
 
Mulvling....good choice. I don't/have used a/s for years and never have found a reason to use it....however in your case, something is wrong, and I wouldn't subject a high priced cartridge to a wrong setup. When you get your arm working correctly, listen with and without a/s and make your own determination.
philb7777
401 posts
 
Highly recommend the Feickert or a Mint Protractor which is very precise and can be made custom for you arm/table.
psag
518 posts
 
I agree that anti-skate is just not that important. DaVinci, who make great tonearms didn't even bother with it on the Grandezza model (I have one). VPI never put much into it either. I would use just enough to prevent the stylus from colliding with the first groove during setdown. Achieving that is no problem with the Graham (I have one)
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