Graham Phantom B44 2 or Taela ?

Many thanks for all the suggestions/comments/advice.
Jfrech
Am loving the VPS and am managing to squeeze enough gain from the tube only stage. Did contemplate the 12" Graham but was dissuaded from that path by many incl. Thomas of TW.
Dan_ed
I may yet surprise you! Whereabouts are you located in New England ?
Larryi
Really appreciate your honest assessment of the Orpheus L and the Titan. Its pretty much what I imagined but coming from someone who actually owns both is so much more valuable.
Mike
Your endorsement and recommendation of the Talea I value.

Ideally would love to audition the Talea. In the event thats not possible the testimony/reviews on Agon would probably sway me.

Cheers and happy listening

I was fortunate, nay privileged, to audition the Talea a weekend ago thanks to Doug and Dan.With my Transfiguration Orpheus L mounted alternately on Dan's Talea and Triplanar, I have no doubt which is the superior tonearm. IMHO, the Talea is way ahead of the Triplanar.The amount of background musical information the Talea yielded vis a vis the Triplanar was significant. This is not to even remotely suggest that Triplanar is not a great arm. It is, except the Talea takes a very high quality sonic picture several notches higher. Am about to contact Joel to sign me up as a customer. Have some issues regd a locking tonearm rest which I imagine can be sorted out.
Thank you one and all for your valuable inputs/advise.
A more private thank you to Doug and Dan separately.
Cheers and Happy listening.

Dan and Doug
You are too kind...I am almost blushing!
Seriously, did you get around to mounting the Shelter 901 on the Talea?
I suspect that it may be possible to coax a little more out of the Talea if the cart were to be aligned with a Mint LP.
Thanks for a wonderful time and hopefully in the none too distant future we will get around to spinning more vinyl.
Cheers

My Talea(sl no. 26) arrived in mid December and I reckon I have managed between 75 to 100 hrs listening. Though I did exchange a few mails with Joel, I was hesitant to post any comments until I had achieved some familiarity with the arm and confidence that the setup was right. In the course of the last six weeks or so, my audio minded friends and I are convinced that the Talea is a truly special arm and IMHO probably among the best tonearms currently available. On a personal note the Talea is everything and more than I had hoped.
On every genre and piece of music ranging from rock to blues, jazz and classical, it clearly outperforms the Triplanar by a long, long way. There is a longer sustain and decay to each note. An almost organic wholeness to the music that was missing. I have no intention of selling the Triplanar but there is no great longing to acquire a Lyra Titan. The Triplanar sits on my TW AC 1 forlorn and barely lamented.
The Talea unlike any fixed pivot arm is a bit finicky to set up and it took a fair while to get the arm to balance with the azimuth weights. Initially, I used the A/S weight but have found no sonic disadvantage in abandoning it. IMHO in an arm so finely crafted the less of dangly metal stuff the better. Cart alignment with the Mint LP is a breeze with the single headshell screw. My only gripe is the on the fly VTA adjustment which is a bit of minor pain with the headshell of the Tripnanar in close proximity to the rear of the Talea. Manoeuvring the VTA key is a little tricky but this only applies if you are running two arms in close proximity on a TW AC.
All the comparisons with the Triplanar are in the context of music I am familiar with and love and with all the components in the system remaining constant ie Transfiguration Orpheus L, Nagra VPS phono, TW AC1. I should mention that a Loricraft PRC 4 arrived a few weeks before the Talea.
My renewed thanks to Doug and Dan for showing the light and all the Agoners on this thread and elsewhere who chimed in with their comments.
I guess some, if not all of us, are on a personal audio journey....With the Talea I have reached my vinyl summit.
Cheers and Happy listening

Measel
That's a really impressive set up. A little too classy for Lady Gaga ?? Are those 12" arms?
Dan
You are absolutely spot on. I can easily swap arms.
Jfrech
I have the Triplanar with RCA termination and it's hard wired. Ditto for the Talea except it's a Discovery cable .
Cheers
Pradeep