Hi,
There are a lot of variables at play here, so it can be hard to isolate the culprit. From my experience when shopping for tables last year, I found the Oracle and Michell tables to be more involving to listen to, whereas the VPI had a more laid back presentation (in the treble at least) that wasn't what I was looking for.
My advice would be to seek out alternatives to VPI that you can listen to before making any decision. You need to figure out what products on the market have the sound you're looking for. I would do this before buying any add-ons to the VPI, as they're going to tweak the sound that's there so won't turn something you dislike into something that you like.
FYI, based on their reputations (haven't heard them myself - well, did hear the Shelter on a VPI HW-19 table, but that's too different a table to mine to comment on the cartridge from experience), your phono and cartridge also fall into the more laid back camp. You might look into a used Graham or Morch arm, with perhaps a Dynavector or Benz cartridge? For the phono...can't give much info here, have only heard 2 in my system. The difficulty, as always with TT's, is finding a way to audition all this stuff. Buying used is always an option!
There are a lot of variables at play here, so it can be hard to isolate the culprit. From my experience when shopping for tables last year, I found the Oracle and Michell tables to be more involving to listen to, whereas the VPI had a more laid back presentation (in the treble at least) that wasn't what I was looking for.
My advice would be to seek out alternatives to VPI that you can listen to before making any decision. You need to figure out what products on the market have the sound you're looking for. I would do this before buying any add-ons to the VPI, as they're going to tweak the sound that's there so won't turn something you dislike into something that you like.
FYI, based on their reputations (haven't heard them myself - well, did hear the Shelter on a VPI HW-19 table, but that's too different a table to mine to comment on the cartridge from experience), your phono and cartridge also fall into the more laid back camp. You might look into a used Graham or Morch arm, with perhaps a Dynavector or Benz cartridge? For the phono...can't give much info here, have only heard 2 in my system. The difficulty, as always with TT's, is finding a way to audition all this stuff. Buying used is always an option!