Graham tonearm tweaking

Sirspeedy I would never have known about the critical nature of the damping fluid without your comments and I thank you. And Doug your comments, especially those dated 2-15-05 are very helpful. I now have my pre-owned Graham 2.2 on the table with the Airy 2x on the arm. Setup was confidence inspiring. Graham’s method of setting cartridge alignment and overhang, as well as pivot to spindle distance are so well thought out and user friendly. I now have no doubts that I’ve got it right. However azimuth is a mystery to me, and I don’t want to play a record until this is adjusted. Having never owned a unipivot, I have no idea how to know when this adjustment is right. If it’s only a visual check then I’m in trouble since I will never be able to see if the stylus is vertical. I just bought a test record and will read the instructions looking for an azimuth test. Regarding unipivot arms, I had been told they were wobbly and that I might not like that characteristic. I don’t but am not sure if mine is ok since it’s pre-owned. If I knew mine was acting normal I’d feel better.

Now about the damping fluid, how do you manage to get a pinhead amount into or out of the well? This stuff is so thick getting such a small amount to come out of syringe is close to impossible. I put in what I think is a little less than the manual calls for (0.75 cc) but when I check the fluid level with the cap it looks like there might be too much. However the manual’s description doesn’t quite jive with what I see. It says “check the fluid level on the small post with the triangular piece on it. The fluid should completely cover this triangular part, but not go much higher up”. My post does not have a triangular piece; it has a square post that comes out of the cap and at the end of that is a round post about 4 mm long with a point on the end. Right now the fluid covers the 4 mm of round post and goes up onto the square part for about 2 mm. I think there might be too much fluid in the well for a starting level. I realize the level will be adjusted by ear but it seems this process would be aided by starting at some predetermined level. Sirspeedy may have covered that and I’ll review his writings in a minute.

I just went up to check the fluid level as to be sure my memory of where it is on the post was accurate. While doing so it occurred to me one way to remove small amounts of fluid is to take the cap off and let the small drips that come off the post fall into another container, not back into the bearing well.

I’m certainly anxious to try my new arm and cartridge but the azimuth adjustment leaves me a little uncertain. I’m off to check out the test record.

Thanks sirspeedy, no further questions (except for one at the end of this post), just want to express my gratitude. You've written volumes here and I appreciate your desire to avoid having to repeat yourself. It’s probably obvious I’m a novice but I understand what you have just said and it’s quite helpful. Already knew how to check the level with the “dipstick”, just wasn’t sure what level to start with. Your explanation of how to work from that level is clear. I added a bit more and have it to a good starting point, just below half way up the square shaft. Previously it was just touching the square part (not enough fluid).

I also knew how to adjust azimuth, but was not sure how to see when it’s right. The mirror idea occurred to me, but using the test record this morning seemed to get it about right. I just tried the mirror and was able to see the stylus didn’t look quite vertical so made a fine tuning adjustment. Will test by ear again with the test record. The mirror works well.

Speaking of the test record, I found the inner most tracking ability test gave my setup problems. It was fine with the center and outer ones. Changing the azimuth slightly seemed to help some, but my arm/cartridge still had problems with the tracking ability test closest to the center of the record. The overhang adjustment template that attaches to the cartridge (what a convenient way to make this adjustment) has a choice of two points to line the stylus tip over. Position 1 for the standard “Seagrave/Baerwald” positions, while 2 is the “alternative Loefgren which is said to provide improved overall distortion at the expense of slightly increased peak distortion at the beginning and end of the record.” Since I used a point half way between 1 and 2 thinking I might get the best of both, this could have been the cause of the distortion I heard (very noticeable) on the inner test tracking ability test. I’ve since moved the stylus tip to position 1 and now the inner-tracking test is handled with no problems. This improvement might also be due to increased damping with the now higher fluid level

Finally one question, is the wobbly nature of the Graham typical of unipivot arms and hence there is probably nothing wrong with mine?

Exactly right, I won't sweat it.

I've been listening to my Graham 2.2 with Airy2-x-sb and it sounds very good. I'm so pleased it doesn't seem necessary to change anything, but of course I will experiment after maybe 25 hours on the cartridge. Down force is at 1.98 (was at 2.00 the first day, Sunday.) I've got VTA set so the cartridge is parallel to the first record played (don’t remember how thick that one was), and the fluid level is at the starting point (slightly below halfway up the square part of the bearing shaft.) It sounds so good! I’m strictly a jazz person, and cymbals have greater detail, soundstaging is improved width wise on some recordings I’ve listened to. Bass is quite good and I think it will get better. I’ve only listened to 6 or 8 records.

Goodbye sirspeedy, your work here is done. It’s been great knowin'ya. Seriously though, I'm working a document called Setting Up The Graham Tonearm. Copying the vital pieces from this and other discussion threads and pasting them in one cohesive word document. I'll refer to it frequently in the upcoming months.

Well in that case I should probably spend more time on it. Right now it's just a cut and paste job of what I thought were the most useful posts to (so far) this discussion thread, including the user names of the posters. To make an actual instruction manual the ideas might need to be put in a little different order, and I'd probably take the user names out. Also scan other discussion threads for more information to include. I'd be happy to do it, but it will be some time before it's done since I have to put in 50 hour weeks at work for a while. Although I'm at work now, you can tell where my head is at.