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Graham Phantom Anti-Skate. Is it effective at all?

I've had my Phantom Supreme over a year now, and for the most part it's been a pleasure. Beautiful build & sound; awesome VTA and azimuth adjustments. My main hangup had been the headshell; getting a Koetsu to sit flat on the 10" wand seemed impossible because the correct overhang pushed it all the way to the back, behind the main headshell points of contact. Finally I just used 2 plastic washers as shims to get a nice flat mount.

Now my main concern is the anti-skate. I'm not sure if all Phantoms are this way or if it's an issue with my unit. I can't seem to get an effective amount of anti-skate. My preferred method for adjusting anti-skate is to drop the needle in some dead-wax before the label (NOT into a lead-out groove) and adjust so that the stylus creeps *slowly* inwards. With my Graham, I cannot achieve that...it always moves quickly inwards no matter how far out I set the weight. Even physically pushing down on the weight doesn't seem to have much effect in swinging the arm. To me, this seems like the mechanism is not effective, as if I'm running without any compensation. This is very unlike my experiences with a Fidelity Research FR64fx (weight and fishing line) and Clearaudio Magnify (magnetic) -- both have a very noticeably effective anti-skate mechanism, which I can easily dial-in as described above. In fact I just setup a Magnify...it was great!

On my Graham, the pulley & rope system seems to be correctly in place. But without a 2nd until to examine, I can't determine whether this is normal. Could other owners/users of Graham please comment on their experiences with its anti-skate? The situation is OK for now -- I burn hours on my good cartridges very slowly and sparingly -- but I'd rather not have my nice cartridge seeing asymmetric wear over the long-run.

-- Mike
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Showing 5 responses by syntax

syntax's avatar
syntax
2,193 posts
 
It. ist effective and works. Never had such a Problem and I had every Graham Arm Model ...
syntax's avatar
syntax
2,193 posts
 
The Graham 10" and 12" are simply longer tubes than the 9" Standard with the identical drills for the Graham alignment System BUT (and this is important), Graham did not change the Arch Angle of these tubes.
The Result is: When you fix your cartridge with the Alignment flip, the adjustment is wrong. Wrong with 10" and ultra wrong with 12".
In all the pics/demos you see the screws are parallel (for 10" and 12"), that was done with the flip, when you do a correct adjustment the screws have total different positions. In the 12" version one is more or less at the top of the slot and the other one far away back. Look pretty awful when you look at it. Based on that fault, nothing is right when the cartridge is guided across the record. It was very disappointing for me to see such nonsense (the longer Triplanar has the same cost/brain controlled option)....
I sold them all.
syntax's avatar
syntax
2,193 posts
 

It time for Syntax to stop spreading around misinformation with regard to Graham arms.

Honey, I had Graham Arms before you even did know how to spell that name correctly .... Last week there was the High End Show in Germany and I saw these Arms and I even stacked them to see what was going on.
And let's remember that your so called "knowledge" is based on nothing. It was me who told you that your 10" Arm Alignment with your Clearaudio table was wrong. Before you got that information you told everyone how great that Performance is.
Maybe you have different wands, who knows, Fact is, there are others out there, even today (or until last week).
syntax's avatar
syntax
2,193 posts
 
07-03-14: Tzh21y
Has anyone ever just let gravity do the job? Maybe slightly tilting the turntable to the outer grooves. How much bearing damage could this possibly cause? I have used this method with great success. It does not have to tilt a lot. Just slightly. It makes a big difference in my tables ability to track. That way, no mechanical device is needed on the tonearm. I am sure many have done this

A Turntable has to be level, otherwise it is like an unbalanced wheel. When you like that solution, of course it will make a HUGE difference :-)
Same is for Arm btw. Otherwise you will damage the cantilever but I think, most don't do anything at all, they rely on their dealer when he made the set up for them.
Normally leveling the table with the Cartridge Man unit and using a blank disc for azimuth is a pretty good way for carts below 2 gr VTF.
syntax's avatar
syntax
2,193 posts
 
As a high end dealer many years ago my experience is that many arm boards are not level when the platter is level. Furthermore in many gimbal type arms I have found that when the arm base is level, the horizontal arm bearings are not. This is why the float test is very important and will help to minimise anti skate.

the best posting I read in the last 3 years here about AS. I agree and I am amazed, that only Dover detect that a lot of Arm boards are not correct in combination with a level platter. Famous example of our modern time are the ones for Germany, mainly black, surrounded by a few motors and bought from customers who prefer to read hypes rather than to think about what they buy. But there are more out there. I also agree with the Arms, we have Fans who prefer wood tubes for several thousand $$, or plastic, or simply wrong executed tubes...and there is only one out there who used his brain to develop something useful, The Axiom Arm from Acoustical Systems. It has an independent leveling. A nice detail which will never get the respect it deserves :-)
The AS depends also on Arm Geometry (---> Arch Angle for example), when that is weak you can adjust whatever you want...day in ...day out....or those low VTF designs, which ruin the cantilever on their own while playing...some manufacturers offer a re-align service after buy...I miss the time of the good, old 2,5gr VTF units...they were buried because they run too long :-)
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