
There was therefore no reason not to use the proven tonearm tube as the starting point for the development of the GRAVITON® Ti arm wall. It was further reinforced with a graphene-epoxy matrix and improved by the addition of unidirectional carbon fibre and a Rohacell sandwich section. Bio-composite damping layers, developed in the SSUCHY project, were also incorporated. Wilson Benesch can control every aspect of the design and manufacturing in-house: the creation of custom moulds, the hand-applied carbon fibre, and the execution of the Vacuum Resin Transfer™ (VRTM) process, in which dry carbon fibres are placed in a precision mould and then impregnated with resin under vacuum pressure. The resulting favourable fibre-to-resin ratio leads to stronger, lighter, and more homogeneous structures than conventional lamination methods.
Wilson Benesch chose titanium for the counterweight and pivot structure of the carbon fibre composite tonearm tube because it ideally combines strength, stiffness, and damping properties for this application. Titanium powder is shaped using selective laser sintering: it is designed to follow the spiral structure of the carbon fibre tube so that no energy is reflected at the interface and flows back to the cartridge. Above the stylus, the titanium component must have no excess mass to prevent any wobbling of the tonearm. Selective laser sintering not only enables the unusual external shape of the counterweight and bearing unit but also a non-homogeneous internal structure: while the titanium on the surface of the unit exhibits the usual crystal lattice structure, the interior also contains sections of titanium powder, which - similar to a sandbag - provides high damping. Furthermore, the resonance behaviour of the structure is optimized by the fine hexagonal tessellated structures already seen in the Wilson Benesch cartridge.

The GRAVITON® Ti Armwand bearing is a single-point bearing with a stabilization system whose shape was optimized using artificial intelligence. Inside, it also incorporates tessellated structures and un-sintered titanium powder for damping. The bearing shell contains three balls: two very finely polished zirconium balls and one made of an unspecified hybrid material, which provides both damping and, thanks to its conductivity, electrical grounding for the arm. Since overly rigid metal contacts vibrate, while excessively damped contacts impair resolution, the correct ratio of contact stiffness to vibration damping is crucial for the three balls. The bearing shell sits on an axle held by an EcoGrip hydraulic chuck and moved by a piezoelectrically driven mechanism. This allows for height adjustments of the bearing shell, and thus the arm, after the hydraulic chuck is automatically released. The linear piezo actuator moves in nanometre increments, which is far too fine for adjusting the vertical tracking angle (VTA). Wilson Benesch's PIEZO VTA system can be controlled from the listening position via the WB GMT® Control APP using a smartphone included with the Prime Meridian system, and allows height adjustments of one micrometre – still orders of magnitude more precise than what is possible by hand or with fine-threaded screws on conventional tonearms.
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