SME V, Tri-Planar or Phantom B-44

Sure the set-up skills of the hobbyist or arm cartridge mating is obviously important,but the actual design of the arm to be used is still paramount....They're not all equal!

Also,I still haven't heard from a hobbyist who previously owned a Walker or Rockport or Forsell or a Kuzma Airline,and felt a pivot was superior...

You can talk until blue in the face,but the fact is that there is less friction in "those" arms' bearings!...

One good reason why they sound SO good!!

BTW,sorry as I should have added this all on my previous post,but the Phantom is very fussy(in a good way)regarding it's fluid damping in the bearing.This can be very helpful in voicing the arm,once one gets familiar with it.

It is nowhere as critical as the 2.2,but this parameter is most likely a viable reason for those hearing it,and being unimpressed.The Phantom is "fabulous",by any standard and has just gone through a new update(actually a series of improvements.

I may be awaiting my new arm,but I have close friends who own it,and it "IS" special!

Best.

OOPS!!...I kinda screwed up!...My comment made about the "linear" arm,and impression of it's sound,should have been placed on another thread!!

Can anyone buy the excuse of two glasses of nice Shiraz,being the culprit?

The SME, the Graham and the Triplanar all have some sort of arm tube damping (we're not talking about the damping trough BTW). The problem is the the Graham and Triplanar's methods, as far as I can tell, are a lot more effective- adding the arm wrap to them really didn't make much of a difference (other than mass). With the SME it was mandatory.

Sirspeedy, enjoy the Shiraz :)

SirSpeedy,

What brand of Shiraz do you favor? We're big fans, in a casual way. :-)