Still burning in my bank of childhood memories are misty images of the glowing green lettering on the McIntosh tube preamps and tuners that populated the windows of the audio stores that once lined lower Manhattan's Cortlandt Street. Leonard's and most of those other retailers are long gone—as are most of the audio brands that shared their windows with McIntosh, and that once symbolized the might of American innovation and manufacturing. Even the World Trade Center, the controversial complex that replaced Cortlandt Street's "Radio Row," where the hi-fi industry was born, is tragically gone.

<I>"Happy is he who gets to know the reasons for things."
&mdash;Virgil</I>

<I>"Happy is he who gets to know the reasons for things."
&mdash;Virgil</I>

The <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/tonearms/400">Graham Engineering 1.5</A> tonearm, originally introduced in 1990, was a thoughtfully executed design that logically addressed all of the basics of good tonearm performance&mdash;geometry, resonance control, rigidity, dynamic stability&mdash;with effective, sometimes ingenious ideas, while providing exceptional ease and flexibility of setup. Over time, designer Bob Graham came up with ways to significantly improve the 1.5's performance, including the replacement of its brass side weights with heavier ones of tungsten, an improved bearing with a more massive cap, various changes in internal wiring, a far more rigid and better-grounded mounting platform, and a new, sophisticated ceramic armwand. (The original wand had hardly been an afterthought: its heat-bonded, constrained-layer-damped design consisted of an inner tube of stainless steel and an outer tube of aluminum.) The arm's name changed from the 1.5 to the 1.5t (tungsten), then the 1.5t/c (ceramic), and on to the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/tonearms/401">2.0</A&gt;, 2.1, and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/tonearms/401/index7.html">2.2</A&gt;.

The <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/tonearms/400">Graham Engineering 1.5</A> tonearm, originally introduced in 1990, was a thoughtfully executed design that logically addressed all of the basics of good tonearm performance&mdash;geometry, resonance control, rigidity, dynamic stability&mdash;with effective, sometimes ingenious ideas, while providing exceptional ease and flexibility of setup. Over time, designer Bob Graham came up with ways to significantly improve the 1.5's performance, including the replacement of its brass side weights with heavier ones of tungsten, an improved bearing with a more massive cap, various changes in internal wiring, a far more rigid and better-grounded mounting platform, and a new, sophisticated ceramic armwand. (The original wand had hardly been an afterthought: its heat-bonded, constrained-layer-damped design consisted of an inner tube of stainless steel and an outer tube of aluminum.) The arm's name changed from the 1.5 to the 1.5t (tungsten), then the 1.5t/c (ceramic), and on to the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/tonearms/401">2.0</A&gt;, 2.1, and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/tonearms/401/index7.html">2.2</A&gt;.

The <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/tonearms/400">Graham Engineering 1.5</A> tonearm, originally introduced in 1990, was a thoughtfully executed design that logically addressed all of the basics of good tonearm performance&mdash;geometry, resonance control, rigidity, dynamic stability&mdash;with effective, sometimes ingenious ideas, while providing exceptional ease and flexibility of setup. Over time, designer Bob Graham came up with ways to significantly improve the 1.5's performance, including the replacement of its brass side weights with heavier ones of tungsten, an improved bearing with a more massive cap, various changes in internal wiring, a far more rigid and better-grounded mounting platform, and a new, sophisticated ceramic armwand. (The original wand had hardly been an afterthought: its heat-bonded, constrained-layer-damped design consisted of an inner tube of stainless steel and an outer tube of aluminum.) The arm's name changed from the 1.5 to the 1.5t (tungsten), then the 1.5t/c (ceramic), and on to the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/tonearms/401">2.0</A&gt;, 2.1, and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/tonearms/401/index7.html">2.2</A&gt;.

The <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/tonearms/400">Graham Engineering 1.5</A> tonearm, originally introduced in 1990, was a thoughtfully executed design that logically addressed all of the basics of good tonearm performance&mdash;geometry, resonance control, rigidity, dynamic stability&mdash;with effective, sometimes ingenious ideas, while providing exceptional ease and flexibility of setup. Over time, designer Bob Graham came up with ways to significantly improve the 1.5's performance, including the replacement of its brass side weights with heavier ones of tungsten, an improved bearing with a more massive cap, various changes in internal wiring, a far more rigid and better-grounded mounting platform, and a new, sophisticated ceramic armwand. (The original wand had hardly been an afterthought: its heat-bonded, constrained-layer-damped design consisted of an inner tube of stainless steel and an outer tube of aluminum.) The arm's name changed from the 1.5 to the 1.5t (tungsten), then the 1.5t/c (ceramic), and on to the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/tonearms/401">2.0</A&gt;, 2.1, and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/tonearms/401/index7.html">2.2</A&gt;.

The <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/tonearms/400">Graham Engineering 1.5</A> tonearm, originally introduced in 1990, was a thoughtfully executed design that logically addressed all of the basics of good tonearm performance&mdash;geometry, resonance control, rigidity, dynamic stability&mdash;with effective, sometimes ingenious ideas, while providing exceptional ease and flexibility of setup. Over time, designer Bob Graham came up with ways to significantly improve the 1.5's performance, including the replacement of its brass side weights with heavier ones of tungsten, an improved bearing with a more massive cap, various changes in internal wiring, a far more rigid and better-grounded mounting platform, and a new, sophisticated ceramic armwand. (The original wand had hardly been an afterthought: its heat-bonded, constrained-layer-damped design consisted of an inner tube of stainless steel and an outer tube of aluminum.) The arm's name changed from the 1.5 to the 1.5t (tungsten), then the 1.5t/c (ceramic), and on to the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/tonearms/401">2.0</A&gt;, 2.1, and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/tonearms/401/index7.html">2.2</A&gt;.

The <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/tonearms/400">Graham Engineering 1.5</A> tonearm, originally introduced in 1990, was a thoughtfully executed design that logically addressed all of the basics of good tonearm performance&mdash;geometry, resonance control, rigidity, dynamic stability&mdash;with effective, sometimes ingenious ideas, while providing exceptional ease and flexibility of setup. Over time, designer Bob Graham came up with ways to significantly improve the 1.5's performance, including the replacement of its brass side weights with heavier ones of tungsten, an improved bearing with a more massive cap, various changes in internal wiring, a far more rigid and better-grounded mounting platform, and a new, sophisticated ceramic armwand. (The original wand had hardly been an afterthought: its heat-bonded, constrained-layer-damped design consisted of an inner tube of stainless steel and an outer tube of aluminum.) The arm's name changed from the 1.5 to the 1.5t (tungsten), then the 1.5t/c (ceramic), and on to the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/tonearms/401">2.0</A&gt;, 2.1, and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/tonearms/401/index7.html">2.2</A&gt;.

<B><I>Sound Bites: 50 Years of Hi-Fi News</I></B><BR>By Ken Kessler and Steve Harris. London, IPC Media, 2005; paperback, 224 pages, 8.25" by 5.75", indexed. $29.95. Available in the US from Music Direct, <A HREF="http://www.musicdirect.com">www.musicdirect.com</A&gt;, (800) 449-8333.