Best cable for Graham 2.2

Doug,sorry!You are right,and I should have thought it through a bit more,as it has air bearing and suspension,as well as air bearing arm.Basically,my thought was geared more towards tables with Clamp/weights most probably don't have the feedback issue,of the Sota clamp.I hope so,anyway.

I must make a mental note that you are a real maven (that's a compliment),in all things technical.BTW--just got my TAS,seems you'll be happy about the Triplaner review,though according to HP,all of us have to sell off our tubed equipment,now with this "fancy schmancy"battery operated solid state amp/pre,from Germany.Poor Albert Porter!!

Nsgarsh,if you have ever put your ear to your record,with the volume turned way down,and in mute,there IS STILL a resonant sound coming from the record being played from the cartridge.This is evident,even with vacuum.Hence the idea of some kind of weight to absorb/or dampen this,a bit,doesn't seem to hurt.This resonant energy cannot be eliminated,yet clearly affects the sound,in some,not so good way!As in my case,the cork interface yielded a really nice reward,and was cheap!!I assume that the Shun Mook weight does this to a good degree,hence the great review!Unfortunately,it sells(sold) for 1800.00 U.S. dollars.My little cork interface cost me 6 bucks,plus 20 minutes of labor!!I'm happy,for this week.

Best wishes!!

Nsgarsh,and Duffydawg---Thanks so much for your attentiveness,and good natured responses.I truly believe you,regarding your perceptions,related here.While I would love to see if I can squeeze a bit more performance from my analog rig,I do have to admit to being very happy,at the moment(which means nothing in this hobby).

This past weekend,and after thinking through the "record clamp/weight" article written in Stereophile,I decided to do a little tweaking(just out of curiosity)to my Sota Reflex Clamp(for my Cosmos).I had accidentally flicked my finger on it,a few days ago,and noticed a ping (not the golf clubs),which sounded like a wine glass being struck.I went to Home Depot and got some self adhesive,thin cork liner(I thought about stuff like sorbothane,but did not want too much damping,or any real damping,just a better interface).This,I cut to match the bottom of my clamp(which I use as a weight,not as a clamp,since once the vacuum takes hold there is a small gap between the record and clamp,basically the clamp is doing nothing,at this point,so to use it as a weight makes real sense,to me).

My pal is "hot to trot"(he has same table/arm cart)to spend Shun Mook bucks,for their weight(which they claim is no longer being made),yet I am concerned as to NOT adding anymore weight to the bearing,hence my mod.

Well I am either crazy or the Chardonnay was too strong,but the SOTA clamp must have been creating some feedback,which my cartridge was picking up.

I was able to effectively voice my arm/cartridge to a much better "timbre",and found a clearly audible improvement across the board from a "Little, thought provoking tweak",hence my wanting to re-visit the arm cabling issue,which is probably capable of yielding a nice change in sound.My only problem is--How much improvement over the ic-70,in MY system,and as I'm really getting "tweaked out"( trust me,my knees and back are feeling it all),is it worth looking into.Even with the "trials" by Cable Co.,and the very appealing offer by YOU Nsgarsh(you already know I respect your opinions),it is a really tough decision,though my pal may be interested.Also,when I spoke to the guy at Purist(he WAS a very nice fellow,BTW),he related the Venustas vs Graham review(written in Pos feedback).As I did read it,the review is useless,since the reviewer was comparing the Venustas to the ic-30,which is NO match to the ic-70.Believe me,I'm not hitching my car to the ic-70,yet I need more effective evidence.This will probably have to come in the form of a trial,in my own system.This,also,will probably not happen soon.

Only time,and the condition of my back,will tell!!

Best regards to all,and sorry for the lengthly diatribe!!

Raul,thanks for the valuable info!!

I don't think you can make the generalization that all vacuum tables need an additional clamp,to dampen resonances.I doubt that the Walker does!

My friend,who owns my exact analog rig(Cosmos/Transfig./2.2)tried my little "cork mod",which I mailed to him.Although he confirmed a really nice improvement in sound(and promised me a nice bottle of wine),it is the Sota Reflex clamp,that seems to be the culprit(this has has stayed unchanged for about 15 years,while the tables have morphed into greater designs).This seems to be reflecting feedback,which the cart. is picking up.The clamp is actually quite resonant,and rings when struck with a finger nail( at least mine does).By placing some kind of dampening material underneath,this effect was greatly reduced,and made a really nice improvement to the sound.However it did make sense,to me,that one could re-voice the vta/downforce/fluid(combo),to a bit of a higher degree,once this slight "clamp induced signature" was reduced.I cannot say completely eliminated,as I only spent one listening session with the improved results.

Best to all,and hope all is well!

Also,Larry,hope the new super tweets are working out.I read the web-site,and according to Townsend these models apparently expose a real weekness in the Tannoy "super tweeter" designs.

Since this topic has interested me greatly I decided to call Purist last week.I have long considered whether it would be worth moving away from the ic-70(which was far superior to the ic-30,in my set-up).As M Fremer has had the ic-70,for a while,and still uses the Hovland,I figured there might something there,yet the Purist stuff IS supposed to be great.My conversation was basically me,asking to be given a good reason to move away from my ic-70.

Basically the gentleman started by trying to sell me on the Dominus,which was claimed to be better,and weighing in at 10 lbs,for 1.2 meters.He claimed to have my arm and cartridge,yet kept proclaiming the benefit of the SIX THOUSAND DOMINUS.

I indicated that I could not afford the Dominus,as I did not win the Jersey Lottery,of 250 million,on Friday.Drats!!At that point he switched by stating the Venustas was "95% as good as the Dominus"!Yet he also stated that it was originally designed for digital,but made a fine arm connect.

Truthfully,I wanted a reason to convince myself to start becoming interested in the Purist stuff,yet after being given NO quantifiable reason to develope any interest,I just let it go.

There is NO reason any cable of 1.2 meters can justify "six thou".I have a client who is a large mfgr of cabling,and I won't repeat his sentiments,here.

My take is that all these cables are good,yet to make any move means an A/B comparison.Also,I figure Graham wants to sell his cabling,and would not make "dreck" to mate with his arms.

Just my [email protected]