Graham Phantom vs Triplaner

Piedpiper,

I own a Titan/Vector/Basis Debut combination feeding a Viva Fono phonostage (tube based). I like the "quickness" of the Titan and its wide open top end, and its very precise and unequivocal placement of instruments. I had the chance to listen to a friend's Orpheus in my system. While I did not experiment with loading of the Orpheus (extremely difficult with the Viva), this cartridge sounded GREAT. It is more upper midrange present and slightly more full-bodied than the Titan, but, it has a touch lesstop end openness and speed. Personally, I like both cartridges and would not find it easy to pick between them.

A good friend has two arms on a Basis 2800 -- the Vector and a Phantom, and has both a Titan and the Orpheus that I borrowed. For whatever reason, he slightly prefers the Vector for both cartridges, but I can't say why. He prefers the Orpheus to the Titan.

That same Orpheus spent time in yet another friend's system before that person also bought his own Orpheus. In that system, it was mounted on an SME 309. In at least one respect, namely tracking, the Orpheus performed better in the SME than in either the Phantom or Vector. This is based on the use of an old Shure test record that plays music at increasingly higher modulation level. We use this test to set antiskating, and it was clear that the Orpheus was handling higher levels with the SME (in real world listening, this would not matter as the Orpheus does not mistrack in any of the arms we used).

Larry,as you probably know,I have an Orpheus.My dear friend Sid has the Titan-i which I have heard loads of times.I have to give it to you.....you have the sound comparisons "nailed"!That is exactly how I would describe those differences.Great job,as usual!!

Thanks Larryi. All too rare to hear such straight forward comparisons. Makes sense given my experience as well. Nice system BTW. I love the Viva stuff.

Hello folks,

I have used the Graham Phantom-2 now for about 6 months. I was using the triplanat mk7 u2 previously for about 2 years. My experiences tend to mirror some of the posts here.

The Tp-7 is an excellent arm and does everything pretty well. It is smooth, musical, natural, dynamic, detailed and just great to listen to. I really did not think I was missing anything and felt I could not do much better while listening to it for the last two years.

Then on a suggestion I tried the Phantom-2. I actually had the P-2 in the box for 2 months before trying it. That is how much i was happy with the TP-7.well you probably know where this is heading.

Finally got around to installing the P-2. This arm feels like a brick in your hand vs the TP which feels like a feather. The P2 is a very heavy, solid, well constructed arm.

Both arms are easy to install and set vta, vtf and azimuth. However, one gripe with the TP is that vtf tends to drift. Not so with the P2.

In my setup, I was amazed at how much better the P2 is. There is a whole other level of resolution, transparency, micro and macro dynamics. This produces a more natural, palapable, tonally correct and dynamically live experience. Very well defined and holographic soundstage. Listening sessions have become a "spiritual and emotional" experience with the P2. Not subtle!

It may seem to most people that the TP isn't doing anything wrong until compared to better arms. In other words it's sins are those of omission. In my set up the TP seems to be missing the low level detail and does not convey the micro-dynamics and soundstaging in the pin point easy to hear way the P2 does.

Someone has said that you dont miss what you have never heard. But after hearing the P2, it is clear the TP misses a lot. However, what it does deliver cant be faulted.

One key caveat is that the P2 requires much more experimentation than the TP to get this level of performance.this has to do with the damping fluid. Its very easy to end up with misbalanced lackluster sound. the sweet spot is moderatly narrow. That said, the P2 still sounded better even when not in its optimum position.

Regarding damping fluid experimentation, Sirspeedy's post are right on! He really hit the nail on the head. Be prepared to overshoot and undershoot to get close then make tiny changes to get to the sweet spot. If you are prepared to have the patience to do this then this arm will yield incredible results.

I plan to keep the TP for now but might try the fidelity research arms next. Have fun!

Andrew

Andrew,
Long time no hear. Guess you've been enjoying too much music to waste time posting about it. :-)

Interesting report. You certainly makes it worth thinking about trying a P2. I'll take exception to the statement that VTF drifts with the TriPlanar. It never drifts on mine - ever - and I've never heard about anyone else's drifiting either. No doubting you, I remember you posted about this before. Must be a faulty hex wrench or something!

Anyway, thanks for taking the lead and being brave enough to post honest impressions. What phono cable are you using BTW?