Without really thinking it through systematically, I kind of went through a similar thought process to this several years ago, which I will try to remember and report here as a case study. It all started with a VPI Prime. It came with stellar reviews and I was all excited about it, but the thing really was meh. So what to do? Well right away I figured out that it was off speed so I bought a Roadrunner/Eagle tach and digital controller from Phoenix to stabilize the motor. Then I talked to Harry and bought a second arm, the second one metal which sounded better and facilitated cartridge changes. Counter-Intuitives from SoundSmith made cartridge changes easier. Then I added 3 belts, which tightened up the pace and timing. Then Harry developed the stabilizer mod for the arms, which helped. All of this did improve the overall performance, the weight, scale and dynamics of the turntable if you will. But I never felt like it reached the level of performance that I wanted. The solution was to trade it for the just introduced HW-40, which has met or exceeded my expectations ever since. While all that was going on I also had an HW-19 in an older system that met expectations as well as a Technics SL1200 in a less demanding roll both still with me today.
