Graham Elite

Perhaps Bob heard us! My dealer informed me that Graham sent the tonearms and will be available as of Monday-Tuesday. Fingers crossed!

Just received my 9" Elite tonearm. Initial observations: No Elite tonearm specifications (one may assume all of its parameters including effective mass, length same as previous Phantom models perhaps?!), user manual is for B-44 still (same manual as my 7 year old B-44's), DIN pin configuration has changed from L shape to straight (I do not know if he changed that for II and Supreme) so my phono cable does not fit into Elite and I need to send the cable back to Transparent Cable to change the DIN head configuration, no paper protractor to locate the tonearm (I have Universal protractors so not a problem). In terms of labor quality, Elite even after its serious price tag does not seem to exceed my 7 year old B-44, even the interior pivot housing seems having slightly better labor for B-44 compared to Elite. And compared to my other tonearm Ikeda 407 in terms of labor quality and precision, both Grahams look like toys!
I hope it will worth its price and waiting when I have the cable to use Elite.

I realized it was a bit unfair to call Graham tonerms as toys compared to Ikeda. Although I admit Ikeda is a special piece of gear, it does not make Graham underdog. So I am correcting myself.

Hi Christian,

You must be right, presumably me and a friend of mine have got the first produced arms. Pity, Elite DIN connector config is different than B44 so I await Transparent to remake the L shape Ref MM tonearm cable to straight. So I still wait to use Elite. It is still on its box! :-)

Dear Bob,

I wanted to write a note to clarify some of the misunderstandings.

First of all, I did not want to offend either you or any other proud Graham owners. As I am one of those happy Graham users. I have used and still keep B44 with great fun since 2007. Also, the only reason I wanted an Elite tonearm has been the fact that I have been very comfortable Graham. There are also some other serious alternatives to have a tonearm currently at the market but I insisted on having an Elite tonearm (waiting for almost 1 year to have it) while I do not even have Techdas t/t should mean something to you in terms of my loyalty and happiness with Graham.

Yes, as you also mentioned on inet forums, sometimes people may miscommunicate or put their facts a bit different than they intended to do. I also admit with a little bit of frustration (as I considered I have waited ages to have that arm and when I got that, I realized I can not use it as the L shaped DIN connector for B44 could not suit to straight DIN connector of Elite, last but not the least the only user manual from the package was B44 while no specific information including specs for Elite etc) I went too far on my forum thread to make critics. I can take the blame for saying "looks like toy" and I do apologize for that. If you can see the next post right after my initial post of that thread, I even used to correct myself.

I hope if you read this, you can have a better understading of Mr 95's musical preferences and taste as you questioned. As a Graham owner (I now have 2 Graham arms) I appreciate your designs and labor attachted to those. I wish I could use Elite but still wait to get my Transparent Ref MM tonearm cable to fit to Elite. I am sure patience will be rewarded and when cable comes and Elite becomes functional, I can comment more on the similarities and differences (I am sure it will be a major upgrade over B44, well is not it the reason to upgrade!).

I hope now we understand each other better. Again I am sorry if seen like a trouble maker which I am not.

All The Best

I forgot to add my audio system info as Bob wondered:

Acoustic Solid Royal t/t; Graham Phantom Elite+Graham Phantom B44+Ikeda IT-407 tonearms; Ikeda Kai+Miyajima Kansui+Transfiguration Orpheus cartridges; ARC Ref Phono 10 phono stage; EMM Labs XDS1 V2; ARC Ref 10 preamp; ARC Ref 610T power amps; B&W N800 speakers; Shunyata Triton+Typhon; all Shunyata Ztron Anaconda pc, all Transparent Ref MM IC+SC; SRA Scuttle x2 racks, SRA Ohio XL+2 bases; RPG Skyline diffusors