Hi Larry. When I initially installed the 2.2, I followed the instructions that, as a guideline, call for about 0.5cc of the fluid. The stuff is blue and comes in a syringe, making the filling process rather easy but maybe not so accurate. You know this, since you own a 2.2, but others may not. The pivot housing cap that screws on the top of the pivot well has the pivot which also acts as a dipstick on which the fluid level can be measured. I don't recall right now what the instructions said to look for as a level but, at first, I was probably a bit over 5/8 of the way up and found the sound to be characterized as underwater, as SirS said, for lack of a better term. Just shy across the entire range, and a bit muffled. I immediately used a Q-tip to dab out a little, to the point that the dipstick read just OVER 1/2. Improvements were realized in terms of open sound, but it was still a wee slow in the lower end, a trait sometimes ascribed to the Graham. Not so much a lack of bass but kind of a lagging, almost plodding bass. At that time I was bouncing between a Shelter 501 MkII, a Benz Reference2, and a Lyra Helikon.
Then, I decided to start from scratch, and I removed enough fluid so that it was a maybe bit higher than the 1/3 as mentioned by SirS. Here it sounded a touch edgy and I used a wood shish-ka-bob skewer to place one small dollop at a time in the well (about the size of a BB), giving a good long listen over a full day with each succeeding dollop. Like SirS said, this isn't something that one does quickly. One must listen to several tracks from several recordings. Besides, the fluid is viscous and must be allowed to fully settle - at least in my opinion.
Anyway, and to make a long story longer, the edginess kept decreasing, the bass slam kept increasing, the air surrounding the music kept getting more expansive, and the whole balance of things just kept getting better and better. To a point! Once I got just much past what I will call the 1/2 stage, I started to hear the soundstage getting smaller, so I stopped and took a bit out. Bingo! It kinda clicked in at that point and it sounded better by a VERY large margin over what I was able to remember for when I began. Really like a different arm all together. For all of the fine tuning, I used the Benz Reference2 almost exclusively, having since sold my Shelter. I slipped on the Lyra, which I had on a different arm wand and, it too, sounded much more open and balanced. Throughout, I checked azimuth and VTA with a headshell level and hardly made any adjustments at all. I only kept the VTF constant throughout and I did have to fine tune this parameter a few times as I went along. I used only the Graham fluid and cannot comment on other fluids in the Graham.
In short, if you have a Graham, you owe it to yourself to experiment with the fluid level. You might find it even better than you thought! Don't know if the level I used would be good for all but maybe start at 1/3 and build from there.
Larry, if you try this, please post your impressions!
