Ortofon A90 with Graham Phantom

I am not sure how anyone could give advise to grind away an integral part of a cartridge, let alone a 4k cartridge. And Stanwal is a dealer - oh my god.

Hi Smoffat.

I have a Phantom and A90 and I know the problem you are experiencing. I also use the mint tractor. The phantom is wide but not very deep, so it is impossible for all 3 ridges to be in contact with the headshell, only the front ridge.

Your alignment does not sound quite right. The back of the A90 should be parallel. Either both of the back ridges will be seated on the headshell or none will be. Otherwise your cartridge body will be twisted slightly left or right.
I would go through all parts of the alignment again to double check.

With my A90, both the back ridges do not touch the headshell, only the front ridge. My A90 with the phantom is now aligned similar to the jubilee which has only one ridge down the centre - you just need to tighten the screws slowly to ensure the cartridge is level horizontally.

You now have me thinking that my SRA will be off - even level headshell the actual cartridge will be slightly back down. damm

I know a couple of other folks with Phantom / A90's, so hopefully they will chime in as well.

" You now have me thinking that my SRA will be off - even level headshell the actual cartridge will be slightly back down. damm "

Brain fade gents - Doh

The back of cartridge will be slightly up - probably close to the 92% SRA that Fremer.

Paul, that explains the difference.

Smoffat and yourself have Phantom II's. I have mark1 and the left side of the headshell is symetrical with the right, hence their being a gap on both back ridges with mine.

Nice thought re the SME mount. I have the SME mount, so I might try moving thebase back a few mm's. I can then tell you if there is any sonic difference.

I am hoping Bob Graham is reading this thread, as he may have a simple fix - I am guessing a headshell spacer - however since the Phantom headshell is so thick, it is hard to find screws long enough to fit.

cheers

Tuboo, the only issue with that is the headshell is all ready thick on the phantom - adding another 2.5mm makes it difficult to find screws long enough.

I have a carbon fibre spacer from Thomas at TW, however none of the screws are long enough - where would you get loooong screws from??

personally I don't think it is that big a deal. the A90 is very rigid as is whether it be on the tabs or not.

yea I believe Stanwal is coming out with a DVD and book on how to care for your expensive cartridges with a dremel tool :-) sign me up - not

I have found a set of screws that will alloow me to fit the carbon fibre spacer and A90 onto the Phantom. This will allow all three feet of the A90 to be securely grounded.

Of course I found the screws after I moved the A90 to the Exclusive P3. So it will stay there for a while.

the carbon fibre headshell seems to be doing a very good job with my dyna XV-1. I think it sounds better balanced than just using the Phantom only. Might be somthing to think about for XV-1/Phantom users

Wm57.

Those millenium headshells are the same as mine carbon fibre one, except that I only have one as it was given to me. From listening to it with the dyna XV-1, it sounds excellent as well.

Those carbon fibre headshell will fit no problems, in fact any headshell will fit on the A90 onto the Phantom.


I don't believe it is any problem using an ortofon cartridge with the Phantom as mentionbed by a few here.

I fould the A90 sounds superb with the Phantom as is, so IMO it is of no big concern. I will try the carbon fibre headshell with the A90 thou, but a bit later.