Graham Phantom vs Triplaner


Wondering about the sonic traits of both these arms compared to each other.

- which one has deeper bass,
- which one has the warmer (relative) balance
- which one is compatible with more cartridges
- which one has the better more organic midrange
- which one has the greater treble detail.
- which one plays music better ( yes this is a more subjective question ).
- which one goes better with say the TW acoustic raven TT.
downunder
Audiofeil, in your experience do you sell many Vector's to non Basis table owners.

I have heard the Vector on a Oracle table and found it very enjoyable. Just wondering if non Basis TT folks step up and take than arm serious on other tables.

Paul
I know thats not my question, but I know of only one person
using the Vector in a non- Basis setup. If you do go to
member systems, and type in Vector you may find more. I
honestly have not heard many. Audiofeil, while you are
receiving questions, may I ask one more.

I noticed in your ad for Hadcock tonearms, that in the
specs it lists ideally for cartridges up to 12 grams. What
is the max grams ideal for the Vector. FWIW, I use a Jade
and Vector3 and already have the heavier Vector counterweight.
Now back to our regularly scheduled program!
IMHO you can't compare the quality performance of two tonearms " per se " ( any ) because a tonearm is a " incomplete " product/item ...

I agree with Raul on this point, which "per se" can be extended to any component. You can't listen to an arm alone. You can maintain a stable system context and swap out a single component and compare those swaps, but there will always be other components within the system that *could* vary.

I agree, an analog front-end is a product of its pieces: turntable, turntable drive mechanism, cartridge, fastening hardware, headshell, tonearm, armboard, tonearm wires, phono stage, phono stage impedance resistors, tubes, etc. etc. If I'm off a half newton-meter of headshell bolt torque, from you, well ...

Not to mention the vagaries of semantic nuance even when we use the same vocabulary. "Tonearm X has superior top-end extension, asymptotically spinning heavenward with receding gossamer grace." (hmm... not bad, maybe i'll use that line.)

And then, we each have a different room. Not to mention humidity. Heh.

What does tonearm X sound like compared to tonearm Y? As the master says: "hard to predict all the variables are".

Yes, its a system. And yours will never be identical to mine. But lets never stop talking about it, the collective community of opinion is a joy.

And then, after all the headshell swapping, damping trough removing, and the four prelude passes ... after all the needle mr. cleaning, after the vta adjusting and antiskate donut twiddling, finally ... finally .... a record is played! Hooray!

Gawd, I love this hobby. Thanks to each of you for helping me enjoy it even more. honest! :-)

Tim
Tim

Yes I agree, hifi is a great hobby and it is enjoyable reading and listening to other people's experiences even if there outcomes are not the same as yours.

Are you still looking for a new tonearm to replace the SME V??
I use a Vector on my Galibier from time to time. Is it better than my Triplanar? Might be with some cartridges. But the Triplanar is much, much more user friendly. I like both arms quite a lot.