Replace OL Illustrious 3 with Graham 2.2?


Is this an upgrade or a lateral move??

I'm using a Teres 340 and really stretched to get the TT itself. Therefore I had to use a lesser arm due to budget constraints.
However, I have made some upgrades to the power system and am finding that mu cdp has benefited more from it than my TT

Dont get me wrong. The TT sounds very nice. But my cdp is now rivaling it in many respects. This makes me question my vinyl setup and its weak link. FWIW, I haven't checked setup parameters ie vta yet. Nor have I played with loading.
This is mostly due to all the recent upgrades and tweaks and trying to evaluate them. Nonetheless, my system sounds better than ever. But I am curious about the Graham 2,2 arm.
128x128artemus_5

Showing 1 response by td160

The Graham 2.2 is indeed a nice arm. I have one that I picked up a few years back at a nice low price. I used it to nice effect on my Teres (link with pics):
http://www.theanalogdept.com/teresr1.htm

However when you say that your CDP rivals the TT in many respects this brings up another subject. Something isn't quite right and needs attention.

One thing about the DC powered Teres is that these can sound rather laid back. That is, they can sound somewhat lacking in energy output when the material is heavy on rhythm and other sounds which have explosive impact.

I suspect that this, uhm character trait of the Teres, is somewhat exacerbated by wear and tear on that Maxon DC motor. These motors are not like an AC synchronous that seems to live forever. The DC motors wear out. It could be that you could restore some vim and vigor to the player simply by replacing the motor...? Just a thought. I'd talk to Chris about this prospect. He may have some insight.

-Steve