SME V, Tri-Planar or Phantom B-44

Hi,

graham received ?
First impression ?

bruno (in france to)

As an aside, for those of us with kids in college, looking for a slightly cheaper option, Thomas at TW likes the Ortofon arms. I had a 309D long 12" arm put on my Raven one this week and it sounds fabulous. I am sure not in the same league as the SME Wheaton or Phantom, but still worth a thought. It seems to have a good synergy with TW

David,

I have compared them side by side and with the same cartridge. The Ortofon is a "steal" at the price. I bet most people will be hard pressed to hear the difference. I is audible but you need to pay attention to hear it. A great tonearm.

I find the SME V to be very neutral with rock solid imaging. If you use a dry cartridge the sound will be dry etc. Try the very musical Dynavector DRT Xv1s. Use as little damping as possible none if you can get away with it. More damping equals a damped, lifeless sound. Setup skill is a signifcant factor.

We compared B-44, DV507/2, Schröder Reference and DaVinci Grand Reference on Raven AC of a friend of mine. Cartridge was Zyx Airy-3; Klyne 7 Pre and phono. He decided buying the DaVinci (i also own); second also in my opinion was B44. I've compared SMEV, Tri VII and Graham 1.5ct on my Clearaudio tt. Imho SME is not playing in same league like other ones. For sure 1.5 is not Phantom the Graham can compete against Tri. So after all I would advice the B44 or DaVinci for the Raven as well.

Bye,
Marco