Graham Phantom III/Elite

The Phantom

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2012
60
5
248
@chelseadave
I have one Koetsu Onyx that is thicker, and a couple grams heavier, than my other stone bodies (despite all being spec'd at 13 grams) - this one exceeds the capabilities of my Phantom Supreme's stock weight. There's an extra, smaller counterweight that can piggyback onto the main counterweight adjustment's thumbscrew mechanism. It's not included in the box, but it probably should be (for that matter, my Phantom didn't even ship with a copy of the manual!). With the extra weight, you should easily be able to accommodate 20g.

Yeah, getting in touch with Graham - good luck. He'll probably turn up at some point and blame his email servers again. GET A FACEBOOK PAGE, BOB. Great, superb arms (I truly love the Phantom and enjoy it many hours each week with a rotation of a few Koetsu carts), but frustrating customer support. Back when I went through this, Musical Surroundings was a Graham distributor - M.S. has STELLAR service, and they supplied me a manual and the extra counterweight (Graham wanted 100 bucks for it), free of charge, in short order. I also wanted some extra wands that were perpetually out of stock, and eventually met my needs on the used marker. A couple years later I noticed M.S. stopped distributing Graham...I'm sad about that but don't have to wonder why.

If there was any reliable support to be had, I'd love to upgrade my Phantom to a III.


Well, well well.... It seems as though it's not always easy to reach me. And sometimes that's true, as we are a very (and I mean VERY) small shop. Except for my two daughters who build them (feminine hands and eyes are far superior to most men's - especially mine these days) I am alone in this audio circus. So, for those who think (incorrectly) that I've ignored them or otherwise don't care, please know that's not true. But sometimes I am overloaded. I don't have much time for any chat-room posting, although I try to check in with WBF whenever possible. But I ABSOLUTELY don't want anything to do with something as demanding , time consuming (read: wasting) and sometimes contentious as Facebook. Never saw the logic in wanting to pour out my life to college kids or others who would just want to make snarky comments from a darkened dorm room.
I'm glad that Mr. Mulveling (??) is enjoying his arm, and I'm truly sorry that he had touble reaching me; that is not my intention. And at the time of his post that I'm responding to here, I was sliding rapidly downhill with a bad virus which, as some of you know, ended up with my being hospitalized for pneumonia. Out of commission for about two months, actually, and I didn't like it. No, I hated it..!! OK, excuses of illness should not be used as a crutch, but sometimes they are a fact of life - for any of us.
As to the counterweight adapter, please note that we make only two weights, one at 35gms and the other 70 gms. Beginning with the Phantom II series (not the one that Mulveling apparently has) we include the 35gm weight especially for the 9 or 10-inch arm. If they buy a 12-inch tonearm (the entire product, not just the wand) we supply both the 35gm and 70 gm weight; this is because the extra length and effective mass of the longer wand guarantees that substantially heavier balancing will be required for a given cartridge.
Please note that we do not supply these weights with stand-alone wand purchases, on the assumption that the buyer will already have the correct weight available.
Most of the time, we have found the weights we offer work just fine, and the occasional variation is dealt with as fast and efficiently as possible. And many times we have received nice notes from happy customers, and it's very much appreciated. And no, I don't always have computer problems, but sometimes just plain miss seeing something, so for that I apologize...
Mr. Mulveling ( I know that's not your name, but it works for me) : if you wish, please contact me at grahmeng@concentric net about your desire for a Phatnom III upgrade. I will reply, of course.
Best to all - Bob Graham
 

mulveling

Well-Known Member
Jul 6, 2017
234
335
168
Hi Bob,
Sorry I was pretentious in my prior post. That was uncalled for. You indeed do fantastic work and I'm very glad to see you active here again; certainly very glad your health is back! My screen name is actually first initial + last name: Mike Ulveling (a very rare last name these days). I'm floating a few ideas for next tweaks/upgrades later this year, and a Phantom III would certainly be a good one to have. I may take you up on that; thanks for the email address, and have a great weekend!

-- Mike
 

The Phantom

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2012
60
5
248
Hi Bob,
Sorry I was pretentious in my prior post. That was uncalled for. You indeed do fantastic work and I'm very glad to see you active here again; certainly very glad your health is back! My screen name is actually first initial + last name: Mike Ulveling (a very rare last name these days). I'm floating a few ideas for next tweaks/upgrades later this year, and a Phantom III would certainly be a good one to have. I may take you up on that; thanks for the email address, and have a great weekend!

-- Mike
Thank you for the gracious and appreciated note, Mike. Please be assured I was mainly trying to clarify a few points about the counterweight and related matters - although I admit I jumped the tracks when it came to discussing Facebook, which I feel is potentiallly dangerous place to nest with hostile and argumentative strangers..Just see how vitriolic they can be with others who disagaree.. But I was digressing ...

And I would have to be the first, Mike, to admit that, when my desk gets at all messy with new concept drawings and telephone / e-mail notes, etc, I find I'm wishing for more office help (while I'm sipping on a cup of tea to get mentally organized.) Maybe one of these days...!
Thanks again for the very supportive and kind response - you're a gentleman..!
 

chelseadave

Member
Nov 25, 2014
32
2
8
London UK
Thank you for the gracious and appreciated note, Mike. Please be assured I was mainly trying to clarify a few points about the counterweight and related matters - although I admit I jumped the tracks when it came to discussing Facebook, which I feel is potentiallly dangerous place to nest with hostile and argumentative strangers..Just see how vitriolic they can be with others who disagaree.. But I was digressing ...

And I would have to be the first, Mike, to admit that, when my desk gets at all messy with new concept drawings and telephone / e-mail notes, etc, I find I'm wishing for more office help (while I'm sipping on a cup of tea to get mentally organized.) Maybe one of these days...!
Thanks again for the very supportive and kind response - you're a gentleman..!
 

chelseadave

Member
Nov 25, 2014
32
2
8
London UK
Thank you Bob for your prompt and very generous service regarding my new 35g weight.
It’s up and running and sounding fabulous. It was way beyond normal and much appreciated.
Your a Legend. Cheers.
 

pmoyjr

New Member
Jul 24, 2019
1
0
1
69
Speaking of counterweights, is there a minimum cartridge mass for the Phantom III 9-inch arm? I received my Phantom III in early June and was enjoying it immensely with my Dynavector XX-2 MkII until a few days ago, when it began to skip at a point during my favorite track on Santana's Amigos. After unsuccessfully trying to eliminate the problem via record washing and anti-skate adjustments, I thought I would try my back-up cartridge, a Dynavector 17D3. Although I am pleased to report that the Graham cartridge-adjustment jig made changing my Dynavectors much easier, I was disappointed to find that I couldn't get the VTF above about 1.5 grams with the counterweight at its most forward position (the recommended VTF range for the 17D3 is 1.8-2.2 grams). The 17D3's mass is 5.7 grams, considerably less than the XX-2's 8.9 grams. I presume that my Phantom III came with the 35-gram counterweight mentioned earlier in this forum. Has Graham or anyone else done an analysis to determine the range of cartridge masses that are compatible with its various arm-length/counterweight mass combinations? If the 5.7 gram 17D3 is too light for the arm, I probably should sell it to someone who can use it. Thankfully, for reasons that I can't decipher, when I remounted by XX-2, the skipping issue did not recur.
 

ifthenwhy

New Member
Mar 1, 2023
2
0
1
58
I was recently gifted a Phantom III Tonearm on a SME 30 deck.

Does anyone know where I can find a digital version of the Phantom III manual. I am trying to learn all the finer points of the arm (setting VTA etc).

Cheers!
 

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