Damping Fluid Experimentation - Graham Phantom Elite

Last night I finally tried damping fluid impact with my Elite tonearm. I never used to feel like using the fluid since I installed the tonearm which even from the beginning it performs rock solid. I decided to see the impact via adding a bit less than initial recommended level. The result was a trade off, dynamic impact and bass were given away on top of a bit softening of images while soundstage was more holographic as well as a bit more liquidity at midrange. I reduced the amount of liquid and finally decided to remove all (back to no liquid at the cup). Can any Phantom/Elite users share their experiences with damping fluid levels?

rockitman said:

I have never tried a Graham arm w/o fluid. My fluid level usually just reaches the square part of the bearing shank.

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Thank you Christian,

I started to experiment from the level you have. Perhaps the turntable's own damping and/or suspension should have an impact over the level of damping fluid. I have a good turntable but I do not think it is at the same caliber as your magnificent Techdas.

I decided to try once more with much less fluid than I started previously. It became better this time, while I realized there has been some sort of distortion with no fluid (thicker than normal imaging, degradation of high frequency details, exaggeration in bass lines) soundstage, midrange clarity, separation, liquidity all improved. Tones softened a bit and while bass was better in terms of definition, articulation, the impact was less apparent. Then I played with vta a bit and found a sweet spot for neutral tones with bass impact gradually coming back. Overall, I decided to keep fluid within the tank, as it improves resolution and clarity.