Quote:
Originally Posted by Babur72
Hi Mike,
Beautiful piece of kit mate.
I'm seriously contemplating procuring this deck myself(along with the ClearAudio MasterInnovation, Origin Live's forthcoming Voyager/OL Enterprise & Spiral Groove SG-2/SG Centroid). In exactly the same finish ie. Black with Wood trim.
Thus far i'm leaning toward the Innovation/Master Innovation & imminent OL Voyager's as they're capable of being fitted with multiple arms.
But dealers have told me that the arm-mounts only come in pearlescent Silver. Did you have to special order the black mount?
I'd be grateful to know if you heard the Innovation with ClearAudio's own aswell as any other tonearms before deciding on the Graham Phantom II? And what you feel the Graham Phantom II/ClearAudio Innovation combination gives you over the other arms you may have heard?
Regards.
Babur.
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Hi Barbur, and thanks. I specifically requested the black arm board to my dealer, as I think that silver arm boards on the black tables look odd. There was no resistance or extra delay. I should mention that the North American distributor for Clearaudio and Graham -- Musical Surroundings -- does an excellent job smoothing out support issues like this.
Unfortunately I've not tried any arms on my Clearaudio besides the Graham. I'd like to try the Universal, as it's beautifully crafted. The Clearaudio & Graham combo sounds fantastic -- a Master Innovation will be phenomenal. And the Graham is beautifully engineered, but dealing with Graham is very frustrating. My turntable package took almost a month to arrive after purchase, almost all of that waiting for the Phantom Supreme arm to come in. And you'll inevitably need something extra (in my case, the heavy counterweight and an extra armwand), in which case you'll subsequently find yourself tearing hair out waiting for Graham to deliver (Musical Surroundings immediately shipped me the counterweight for free, after Graham asked for $100! I had to source the extra arm wand on the used market.). If I had to do this all again today, I'd unflinchingly buy the Universal; even though I really like the Graham, I'm getting too old for that (I'm only 35, btw).
I also recommend getting the full clamping setup, as it makes a big difference. I left off the clamps for a year, which was a mistake on a table at this level. The Clearaudio statement & ring clamp are gorgeous and substantial, though expensive -- of course, only the top Clearaudio clamps look "right" on these tables, and at this price level you might as well get the best.