Graham Phantom Elite vs. AS Aquilar

By all means the Aquilar. The Graham is a poor value because it spends a lot of money correcting a defective bearing system. It works but at an unacceptable price. The Aquilar (10" only) is a good arm but again not the greatest value. The Reed 2G and Schroder CB are as good or better at much more acceptable pricing giving you more to spend on cartridges.   

@wrm57 First off, the Graham is an extremely well made arm and a good performer. It's singular problem is it's price. There are to many arms that are as good or better at 1/3rd the price. Having said that. Both Graham and Basis by virtue of their design changes admit that the basic unipivot concept is defective.

For a cartridge to perform at it's best the tonearm that it is mounted in can only have two degrees of freedom, vertical and horizontal. Unipivot arms have a third degree and that is rotationally around the tonearms long axis. Even if the arm/cartridge combination had the perfect geometry with the pivot point exactly at record level these arms are wobbly, difficult to manage and keep in adjustment. I would wager that cartridge accidents are higher with these arms. 

For the best performance the cartridge has to be held rigidly in the proper orientation over the record. The trend in modern arms as exemplified by the SAT arms, is very stiff, two axis bearing designs. Examples are the Schroder CB, Reed 2G, Kuzma 4 Point 9, the Tri planar, the Origin Live arms and the SME's. The Aquilar also is in this class but again the price is way too high for what you get. I personally do not like VTA towers. If you are jumping back and forth between cartridges that frequently you need two arms. If you are changing VTA all the time you need a tranquilizer. Set it at 93 degrees and forget it.  

@wrm57 ,

I tried to warn you about that. Read my first post. The Technics is a well made battle ship but it is defective in a number of respects. It's vertical bearing is above record level leading to increased warp wow, it is a stable balance arm and the best arms are neutral balance. Neutral balance arms do not change VTF with elevation. It has two sets of unnecessary contacts, one at the head shell and another at the output side of the arm. The best arms have a single wire cartridge clip to RCA or XLR. "S" shaped arms add unnecessary mass and inertia to an arm, straight wands only! The less inertia the better the arm tracks. 

@lewm , are your eyes so bad you can't set VTA? I can get it to 93 degrees with a 3 X 5 file card with a 93 degree angle drawn on it and a hand held magnifier. VTA towers are an additional device with potential laxity interfering with the rigid connection between the arm and the platter. Without that connection any resonance in the arm is reflected right back to the cartridge. 

@wrm57 

These issues are not theory. They all contribute to the performance of the arm. Whether or not you can hear the difference, frankly, means nothing. With any one issue you may not be able to discern a difference, but put them all together and you are more likely to hear a difference or not. Some people's hearing is more influenced by what they see then sound waves in air. 

I can not play with or listen to every tonearm on planet earth. So, I have to pick and choose based on the arm's design and reputation. I am more likely to get an arm that works well by paying attention to design principles.  

@wrm57 

You forget I use to work in this business. 

I keep telling you it is not theory. It is basic physics. The problem with very simple devices like tonearms any bleeping idiot can design one. Give a bleeping idiot enough money and a good marketing department and the results should not be in question. Now technics is a fine company that has come out with landmark items. We all have specialties and I'm afraid the Japanese are not good at tonearms or loudspeakers. For tonearms you go to the British, Germans, and now eastern Europe has gotten into the act. America is trying but has not got a real winner yet. 

Can anyone hear the difference......Hello......Is there anybody out there?

@rauliruegas ,

Again, it is not theory. The EPA 100 is a beautifully made device like a Nikon Camera. It is just deficient in a few design issues that make it antiquated. There are better tonearms made today even if they do not have the jewel-like finish of the EPA 100. You also have to remember where the eye go, go the ears. It is the way we are wired. No, there will never be a perfect tonearm. The notion, in modern terms, is patently ridiculous. 

@rauliruegas , 

You forget I was in the business back then right during the EPA 100s lifetime. around 1980. We had one mounted on a Micro Seiki turntable. A customer traded it in for a Goldmund. He should have kept the Micro Seiki. We put a number of cartridges in it, but the only one I remember for sure is the Koetsu Rosewood. 

@rauliruegas 

Now that was below the belt.