Armboard

No. It works the other way. A Graham 1.5 with an SME mount will mount a 1.5 on a SME table. The particular mount is specific to the arm bolt pattern and the table bolt pattern. If you can google up a picture it will help you to understand.

Thanks for your response Dan, but you get the whole thing wrong. Sorry for making the confusion. I'm not interested in the SME mount, just use it as an example. What I really want to know is if I have an armboard for Graham2.0/2.2, can I mount another arm on it? I can see the 2.2 armboard isn't SME mount anymore, and it's round, so can I put a Linn, or VPI, or Triplanar arm on it?

You only can (mount a different arm on the Graham 2.0/2.1/2.2 armboard) if the other arm has the same effective length as the Graham.

Regards,

Andy

Andyr's caution may or may apply. If, for example, you have a swivelling armboard as on a Teres or Galibier, effective length is a non-issue. What table are we talking about anyway? Supplying complete info would get you better answers. :-)

At any rate, if your Graham-drilled armboard swivels to adjust for effective length, then a TriPlanar can be mounted it. The TriPlanar's three mounting holes fall outside the diameter of the center hole used by Graham, Rega, etc. You'd just have to drill and tap the holes.

I don't know about Linn or VPI, though I'd "guess" a JMW-10 or above is similar to a TriPlanar in how it mounts.

Thanks for all your replies, esp. thanks to Dougdeacon as he is really down to the point. Of course, effective length is an issue, but I can always swivel the armboard on the armboard pole in order to obtain the effective one. Oh, I'm using the Clearaudio master solution. My concern is the 3 holes drilled on the armboard. Doug....what you said, do you mean the screws of a Triplanar aren't at the same position as the Graham?
Thanks again.

Yes Eugeneli,

The bolt pattern for a Graham is different from that of a Triplanar. If I recall, the standard Graham mount has 4 holes on a 2.2" bolt circle. Don't anyone get out your drills based on this ... I'm going from memory.

I've never seen the Graham which mounts to an SME pattern, but I would have to guess that the 4 holes are located where they would be for an SME base plate in a rectangular pattern which is outside the oval SME-shaped hole.

Bob Graham after all, came out with the SME mount to make it easy for SME owners to swap to a Graham. Bob is nobody's fool and I think it was brilliant on his part to select the SME V for his target market, as it was owned by quite a few audiophiles in the mid-eighties (when he introduced the Series 1).

Back on topic however ... you own a turntable which has quite lofty sonic goals. I can't understand why you would be selecting a replacement tonearm based on compatibility with an existing armboard.

Something is missing from this story.

One would expect your tonearm search to center on your sonic tastes, and only then to try to figure out how to make the mechanics of it all work.

It can't be that Clearaudio will not sell you a blank armboard, is it? If this is the case, then there are clearly solutions to this problem.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier

Oh, I'm using the Clearaudio master solution.

... you own a turntable which has quite lofty sonic goals. I can't understand why you would be selecting a replacement tonearm based on compatibility with an existing armboard.

Excellent question. Maybe Clearaudio charges $1,000 for an armboard?

They wouldn't do that... would they?

... Maybe Clearaudio charges $1,000 for an armboard? They wouldn't do that... would they?

If that's the case, here's a fellow who needs to buy a nice bottle of wine and to make friends with a machinist (grin).

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier

Also there are two Graham armboard options for the Clearaudio. There's the Graham version (machined out of metal and made by Graham --- has a Graham logo on it) and the Clearaudio version which is acrylic... and rather cheesy.

I have the Graham version and it is machined with a recess for the mounting plate of the arm. In other words, if the base of the triplanar is larger than the Graham then you'll have some serious trouble mounting it to the Graham board.

I'm not sure if the clearaudio board mounts the arm in a recess or not.

In any case, the clearaudio boards custom cut and drilled aren't too expensive... a few hundred dollars if I recall correctly.

A few hundred for a drilled acrylic armboard!!!! And I thought that the SOTA Cosmos multi-layer acrylic/lead/damping compound board was pricey at just over $200.