Graham Phantom Elite

MatthewC

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2014
58
4
238
Just heard that there is a special version of the Elite for the Japanese market to go with the Air Force One. Has anyone heard about this? Any details?

Thanks!
 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
12,308
1,425
1,820
Manila, Philippines
As far as I know, it is the same arm. There is a bundled price however in Japan and in the US only.
 

Altanpsx

Member
Sep 10, 2014
75
2
6
No special version. I tried to buy for a friend, my dealer asked techdas, no special version, no elite in stock, i think it is sold out everywhere.


Find one, feel yourself lucky.
 

number95

Well-Known Member
May 14, 2014
384
7
250
No special version. I tried to buy for a friend, my dealer asked techdas, no special version, no elite in stock, i think it is sold out everywhere.


Find one, feel yourself lucky.

Agree with Altanpsx. It seems there is still not adequate supply for Elite.
 

MatthewC

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2014
58
4
238
Thanks gents. There is indeed no special/limited version of the Elite.

I have since taken delivery of the 10" Elite, and while awaiting my Air Force One, I mounted the Elite on my Micro 8000-II. Very happy indeed!
 

DEV

New Member
Oct 19, 2011
547
6
0
Thanks gents. There is indeed no special/limited version of the Elite.

I have since taken delivery of the 10" Elite, and while awaiting my Air Force One, I mounted the Elite on my Micro 8000-II. Very happy indeed!

Congrats! The Elite arm is very nice indeed - you will be very happy once you get your AF1, amazing table. What does the rest of your system consist of. You can see my electronics with my AF1 in my sig pic.
 

MatthewC

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2014
58
4
238
Cartridge is MC Anna and Kondo IO-M with all Kondo electronics, SFz SUT, M7 Phono, M7 and Souga driving Kinoshita Monitor horn speakers. all cables Kondo LPz.
 

The Phantom

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2012
60
5
248
I too am very impressed with the new Graham arm. The attached 99 cent bubble level was a nice touch.

Hi - and this is VERY late, I know. Glad you like the bubble level, but in fact, it cost quite a bit more than 99-cents. Specially made for me, with a white back coating to see better, and the double-lines as a reference... The idea is to have a refrence for "level" (assuming the stand and turntable are also level!) and from there you can fine-tune your arm for your favorite cartridge, and be able to return to that same position with other records of slightly different thickness. - Bob Graham
 

MatthewC

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2014
58
4
238
Fellow Elite owners,

I have been trying to do some alignment with the Elite now that my Air Force One is here. While the Graham alignment using the spindle cup is a piece of cake, I did find the jig a tad hard to align the cartridge mounting precisely, due to parallax. So the OCD part of me printed out a custom arc template. In the process of generating the template, I googled a bit and the effective length I found was 247mm, but found two P2S distances, 229.4mm and 230.3mm.

Using the Conrad Hoffman template generator, it seems that for Lofgren A geometry, 230.3 does map to the effective length of 247mm. No way to map P2S of 229.4mm to 247mm using any of the geometries (Lofgren A/B or Stevenson). But then, if I am to try to align using the arc template instead of the jig, I need to move the cartridge back by a bit more than 1mm(!)

I will try to have a listen to see if this works, but I am puzzled. I get it that the Graham may have it's own alignment geometry, but is the P2S really 229.4 or 230.3mm? Even, is the effective length really 247mm? Not that it matters if I stick to the Graham jig, but my curious mind wants to know :)
 

number95

Well-Known Member
May 14, 2014
384
7
250
Fellow Elite owners,

I have been trying to do some alignment with the Elite now that my Air Force One is here. While the Graham alignment using the spindle cup is a piece of cake, I did find the jig a tad hard to align the cartridge mounting precisely, due to parallax. So the OCD part of me printed out a custom arc template. In the process of generating the template, I googled a bit and the effective length I found was 247mm, but found two P2S distances, 229.4mm and 230.3mm.

Using the Conrad Hoffman template generator, it seems that for Lofgren A geometry, 230.3 does map to the effective length of 247mm. No way to map P2S of 229.4mm to 247mm using any of the geometries (Lofgren A/B or Stevenson). But then, if I am to try to align using the arc template instead of the jig, I need to move the cartridge back by a bit more than 1mm(!)

I will try to have a listen to see if this works, but I am puzzled. I get it that the Graham may have it's own alignment geometry, but is the P2S really 229.4 or 230.3mm? Even, is the effective length really 247mm? Not that it matters if I stick to the Graham jig, but my curious mind wants to know :)

I tried both Dr Feickert and Mint Lp protractors for Graham Elite. Interestingly the best out of Graham was via its own Graham jig. As you suggested Graham jig forces the overhang slightly shorter and zenith also considerably different compared to Mint. I recommend go with Graham jig.
 

rockitman

Member Sponsor
Sep 20, 2011
7,097
412
1,210
Northern NY
I tried both Dr Feickert and Mint Lp protractors for Graham Elite. Interestingly the best out of Graham was via its own Graham jig. As you suggested Graham jig forces the overhang slightly shorter and zenith also considerably different compared to Mint. I recommend go with Graham jig.

I used a Mint LP for my supreme on another table...Yip uses a slightly different P2S and effective length calculation. I found the Graham method sounds best.
 

number95

Well-Known Member
May 14, 2014
384
7
250
I used a Mint LP for my supreme on another table...Yip uses a slightly different P2S and effective length calculation. I found the Graham method sounds best.

+1
I also have mint lp designed for Ikeda 407 tonearm. Unlike Graham, mint lp helps a lot for Ikeda. You can not use a protractor like Dr Feickert as the tonearm bearing is inside a sphere which you can not fix the centre easily. So once you make sure p2s distance is correct, mint lp is essential to make overhang and zenith. The paper protractor provided by Ikeda is only useful for overhang but not zenith.
 

MatthewC

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2014
58
4
238
So I have been using the Graham jig for alignment and am quite happy with it (except that my Ortofon MC Anna doesn't seem to mount properly, I had to use my Kondo IO-M....).

Just curious if anyone else has this problem. The MC Anna has two small notches towards the rear top portion of the cartridge and in my old arm these notches keep the cartridge parallel to the headshell. On the Elite, the Anna needs to be mounted towards the rear of the headshell and the notches are exposed, i.e. not touching the headshell. I have a feeling that this caused the Anna to not mount parallel to the headshell on the Elite and the rear of the Anne is thus tilting up. Trying to set the VTA/SRA using a microscope and the stylus seems to be way over 90 degree even if I lower the arm base to the lowest possible setting. I can add a plate between the headshell and the Anna to solve the issue, but just want to have a sanity check... Anyone using MC Anna on the Elite?
 

jmliner78

New Member
Dec 24, 2014
5
0
0
Dear Rockitman or Christian,

I hope you are well. So my best wishes. Otherwise I would like to thank you for your advice last year to buy a Graham Elite Phantom. Ordered it in June 2015 and received it in December in Europe ! Very long but the waiting is valuable... Indeed very very impressive by comparisson with my previous Graham Supreme Phantom II...
All other readers, I advice to really think about the Elite. It belongs to another league of high-end equipment upgrade. Mine is linked to Lyra Atlas with ODIN phono, Lenco JTN 75 Ref MKII... I added also a Nordost Odin Power Cable (amazing)/ More microdynamics details...
Many thanks again,
All the best,
Musically,
JIM in France around Paris
 

number95

Well-Known Member
May 14, 2014
384
7
250
Dear Rockitman or Christian,

I hope you are well. So my best wishes. Otherwise I would like to thank you for your advice last year to buy a Graham Elite Phantom. Ordered it in June 2015 and received it in December in Europe ! Very long but the waiting is valuable... Indeed very very impressive by comparisson with my previous Graham Supreme Phantom II...
All other readers, I advice to really think about the Elite. It belongs to another league of high-end equipment upgrade. Mine is linked to Lyra Atlas with ODIN phono, Lenco JTN 75 Ref MKII... I added also a Nordost Odin Power Cable (amazing)/ More microdynamics details...
Many thanks again,
All the best,
Musically,
JIM in France around Paris

Your delivery seems earlier compared to mine, waited for 8 months in 2014. Seems it is still very slow. If you ordered a Techdas t/t, they send it with Elite, waiting time would be less ;-))
 

rockitman

Member Sponsor
Sep 20, 2011
7,097
412
1,210
Northern NY
Dear Rockitman or Christian,

I hope you are well. So my best wishes. Otherwise I would like to thank you for your advice last year to buy a Graham Elite Phantom. Ordered it in June 2015 and received it in December in Europe ! Very long but the waiting is valuable... Indeed very very impressive by comparisson with my previous Graham Supreme Phantom II...
All other readers, I advice to really think about the Elite. It belongs to another league of high-end equipment upgrade. Mine is linked to Lyra Atlas with ODIN phono, Lenco JTN 75 Ref MKII... I added also a Nordost Odin Power Cable (amazing)/ More microdynamics details...
Many thanks again,
All the best,
Musically,
JIM in France around Paris

Thank you Jim. I glad my experience with the arm mirrors your. Happy spinning !
 

kroslos

Well-Known Member
Feb 7, 2015
38
0
238
Naperivlle, IL
Do any of the Graham Phantom Elite Owners know if Bob ever published a Set-up/Instruction manual specific to the Elite? I purchased an Elite earlier in 2015 and it came with a Phantom 2.2 Manual.

Thanks,
Kyle
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Do any of the Graham Phantom Elite Owners know if Bob ever published a Set-up/Instruction manual specific to the Elite? I purchased an Elite earlier in 2015 and it came with a Phantom 2.2 Manual.

Thanks,
Kyle

so did mine
 

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