the perfect tonearm

If you do get the G2.2, just be aware that it is incompatible with the Grado cartridge line.

Of course if you have a budget of $2K for a used arm, with some patience you might find on older Triplanar, like a Mk6 or early Mk7, which seems to be a better arm overall. Not only will it play the Grados easily, but it also plays any of the cartridges that seemed to work fine in the G2.2.

The Graham Phantom is also a much better arm than the 2.2, if you can find one of those you will do quite well!

Good Luck!

Dertonarm, the G2.2 and the Grado cartridges are well-known for something that is sometimes called the 'Grado dance', although it is certainly not the fault of the cartridge! It is merely that the effective mass of the system is incorrect for the compliance of that cartridge. I have seen the combination oscillate mechanically from groove modulation (and not anything else) to the point that it would skip out of the groove. The combination of the two is also unable to track complex passages.

Tri Mai of Triplanar has nothing but complements for the Phantom, and there have been quite a few threads here on the 'gon regarding its qualities. IME it is a transformation over the 2.2!

Its no secret that I show with Triplanar at shows. I am grateful because the Triplanar has consistently been one of the top tonearms ever made; the best I have heard in comparison to master tapes. One would be quite lucky to be able to pick up a used Triplanar Mk7 or Phantom for only $2K! I hope you do not fault me for making friends with people in the industry...

Well Dertonearm, first there is no Mk8 of the Triplanar...

The Mk6 was out about 4-5 years ago. You might well see one for about $2K. FWIW, I don't sell them :) Your respect notwithstanding, the Mk6 ran/runs circles around the G2.2 and does it in a way that instantly obvious. It can also be set to more precise geometrical settings than the 2.2.

Occam's Razor suggests that your dissing of the Triplanar has to do with something other than tone arm performance.

Dertonarm, obfuscations aside, the reason the Triplanar is more precise is because when you set it up, it stays set up and does not require fiddling to keep the azimuth correct. This is a problem for the G2.2 when the LP thickness is varied or if there are warps of any size.

The design of the Phantom seems to be aimed at addressing this issue in particular.

I owned the G2.2 for years and showed with it at shows- my comments come from direct experience. I liked his setup device a lot BTW. It forced you to go out of your way to set the arm up wrong. You only hope that his calculations were correct, but IME they had to be quite close.

The Triplanar has a provision to set azimuth exactly, and it will not vary nor oscillate as is often seen in the G2.2. In addition, the Triplanar has and had the first VTA tower that allows for precise VTA adjustment on the fly, and done in such a manner that it does not interact with other adjustments on the arm.