THE LITTLE BLACK BOX, 399.00 ABSOLUTLY NUTS

+1 Percy

I wonder what happened to Autospec.  Anyway, Michael Percy Audio, an on-line business, can sell you the Cardas DIN plug.  I know he has the female inline connector half; he may also sell the male piece that normally resides up inside the tonearm vertical shaft.  Google MPA and use their catalog.  Michael is a great guy. Parts Connexion are in Canada, takes forever due to customs.

What you want is DIN plug, female or male (depending upon your need), in-line. Cardas is the best quality I have found, no matter where you buy it.

@bmwhaus -

Typically, something like what's found on the following page:

https://www.partsconnexion.com/cgi-bin/sc/productsearch.cgi?storeid=*20b7b4534d0a875b77f1157d6bb78322a865&search_field=din

On a side note what is the plug din called..I can't seem to find one similar to this..I going the diy route.

Just for the "record", my experience with VPI has been wonderful.
I bought a prototype table with a gimbal arm that was replaced for free when I had some problems with it. I bought it at their New Jersey factory and headquarters. They sat me down in front of these massive vintage JBL speakers, turned down the lights, and allowed me to listen long enough to decide. Accompanied by Mat, I got a tour of the factory and met and chatted with all of the craftsmen involved. I'm a craftsman, and from what I saw, VPI  is constantly innovating with the best tech that can be had and selling cutting edge engineered products without price gouging. VPI, in my opinion, reminds me of the 1950's, when this country was in its manufacturing glory, with small to medium-sized companies producing well built gems.  
 

Build it yourself😀

@autospec wrote - I have emailed the VPI dealer no less than 8 times to get a tracking number

 It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what happened here. While the dealer was closed for Thanksgiving, autospec emailed him 8-times and I imagine each subsequent email became more and more abusive until the Dealer finally said “enough”, and canceled the order. It's called Karma!

Mat:    Thanks for your e-mail on this , but I'm pretty much done with this VPI thing......I'm not getting anywhere , and I'm wasting many hours.....So I think I need to get rid of this stuff......And listen to my Rega......Will

Hey Will, just sent you an email.  I can't speak to your experience with our dealer but in the end we always try to help everyone out.  Let's all take a breath, get you that box, and all get back to enjoying our music :)

BRF    The part was paid for with Pay-Pal on Nov.12-17.......Some things are not meant to be and this must be one of them.......I think its time to get rid of this VPI stuff and move on......Keep a eye on Audiogon for the sale....Will

Something does not sound right, did you call the Dealer for an explanation? There is no reasonable reason why a retailer would request the item back unless he was under the impression that the item was going to be abandoned by the intended recipient. With respect to your money, I assume that you paid via credit card, therefore, you are protected.

Well  I called fed-ex this morning to go to there office in town to pick up this Little Black box, which was to be delivered today .......Fed-ex tells me the shipper has requested that the Little Black box be returned to the Vpi dealer shipper in AZ. So it seems somebody decided not to sell this Little Black box to me.......Of course they haven't returned my money, so I'm now without the box and the money.......Thanks you Matt and your dealer for helping out on the Undelivered part.....Now I will make my own box.......I would like my money back.......Will

Jeez, so much whining. 

Companies that use FedEx for shipping have software that automatically assigns a FedEx number to pending orders. When the product is picked up by FedEx, the number is activated into their system. Based on the response posted by MW of VPI, Dedicated Audio, a small family owned and run business was closed last week for the Thanksgiving holiday; therefore, your order remained pended. Again, based on MW above post, a subsequent call to Dedicated Audio has confirmed that your order is now ready for shipment.

As one posted has mentioned, a simple call to the Dealer would have revealed all of the above and avoided this misunderstanding. I hope the xlr junction box solves your Rega arm / pre-amp compatibility issue.

MW:    The only e-mail I received was that it was getting ready to be processed for shipment....But when you dialed in the tracking number it wasn't at the Fed-Ex place yet ??   And that was 8 days after I paid for it......And I don't have it yet ??   Will

I guess the squeaky whiny wheel does get the grease. This whole mess got cleared up with a simple phone call to the Dealer, albiet a phone call made by the manufacture in which the OP publicly bashed.

there are those that are badmouthing the VPI uni pivot arm.   I strongly suggest you get the 2nd pivot modification.   It is a very large upgrade to the sound, and ease of azimuth adjustment.  Highly recommended.

My original post:

Hey Will, we certainly do care about you :) As I mentioned before feel free to give me a buzz at the office, 732-583-6895. But also I gave the guys at Dedicated Audio a shout to make sure they get back to you so you have an update. They were closed for the holidays last week. As a small company we support, rely, and sell through our dealers first since dealers, especially brick and mortar, are the front line defense.  

MW

I deleted it because Dedicated Audio reached back out to me and will be handling this directly.  Accordingly they already electronically sent out a tracking number for the unit.  This is rough on my part because I'm trying to help without stepping on anyone's toes.  Again, our number is posted here and in a previous post from last week (and our site) so Will and anyone else is always welcome to call me directly to talk it out :)

@turntablemat why did you delete your post where you mentioned you reached out to Dedicated Audio?

Testpilot: You have probably never owned your own business, but dealing with a company that can't or won't get you the parts you need is absolutely murder.....Small business can't survive the down time.....and if suppliers took that line, there would be no small businesses

Firstly, we are talking about an audio accessory purchased at the retail level, not supply chain management and the plight of the small business owner.

Vpi doesn't care about me

The owner of VPI has personally responded to you a couple of time on this forum advising you that all xlr junction box orders have been fulfilled and if you have any problems receiving yours, call him directly. I guess you did not pick up the phone and call VPI, but decided to bash them instead.

Dedicated Audio doesn't care about me

By your response, I take it you didn't call them to get an update or an explanation as to the delay, but instead you bash them on a public forum

Testpilot:  You have probably never owned your own business, but dealing with a company that can't or won't get you the parts you need is absolutely murder.....Small business can't survive the down time.....and if suppliers took that line, there would be no small businesses.....Vpi doesn't care about me , Dedicated Audio doesn't care about me, but if someone brings attention to other customers maybe someone will change a little....And see to it that the little guy needs to sell something also, so he needs his parts......No I still don't have the 399.00 little box.........Will  

Testpilot: This all works if you can get a dealer to answer a e-mail, but that hasn't happened yet so .....If I was waiting for a answer from the dealer, I would still be waiting.......So maybe you need to understand the real world and business practices

In the real world, one would simply pick up the phone and call the Dealer if their emails went unanswered.  Instead of whining on a forum, take some action and call them. 

First of all, taking a week off because of Thanksgiving is absurd. Also, this is taking too long regardless of holidays.

Testpilot:  This all works if you can get a dealer to answer a e-mail, but that hasn't happened yet so .....If I was waiting for a answer  from the dealer, I would still be waiting.......So maybe you need to understand the real world and business practices .......

@autospec  Instead of complaining and whining after the fact, perform some due diligence up front prior to your purchase. Do you have the item in stock? When will the item be shipped? Again, your issue is with your retailer, not VPI, but you continue to bash them, therefore, one can only conclude that you have a hidden agenda. I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving break.

testpilot:   The point is when buy something on the internet you would expect the selling party to ship it........If they didn't take your money you would have the opinion to shop somewhere else.......Maybe if someone would e-mail you and say it won't ship for a week......Maybe we are out of stock so VPI will drop ship it.....Or just , we will ship it when we feel like it.........Theirs no excuse for that kind of treatment........I could write you a book about my dealing with VPI......And I only have six of there turntables, so what do I know ??   Will

@autospec, it has been just over a week with the dealership which was more than likely closed for the better part of last week for Thanksgiving. This is not a VPI issue, but you continue to harp on them regardless. You are now coming off as a hard to please whiner who continues to stomp his feet until he gets his way. Take it up with your dealer. 

Atmasphere.....Thanks for your e-mail on this........I know that if Atma Sphere takes on a problem, they will handle it quick ,and with precision......Will

Well the latest on the Little Black Box.........The VPI dealer has sent me a e-mail that they are getting it ready to ship.....I paid for it a week ago......They also provided me with a tracking number, too bad its not a workable number.......Don't worry ........Its coming........MAYBE     Will

Rega is one of the very few arm manufacturers whose arms are not very simply converted to balanced signal transfer with the addition of a balanced tonearm lead.

The key words here are 'very simply'- other than that, that's precisely what we've done in the past. Takes about an hour...

MW:  Do you see the time and good will lost in all of this......If the order could have been made through VPI , it would take one phone call, and three days later by USPS and the part would show up.....The dealer has sent me a ad everyday to sell something and not a word about the one part I need.......It doesn't make sense to me , but who am I but the customer that spends thousands of dollars a year in this hobby.......Will 

Hey @autospec  we have all the XLR junction box orders filled, if I can make my best guess on which dealer you are working with on this I believe they are closed this week for the holidays.  You should have the box next week :)  If not feel free to fire me an email and confirm who your dealer is and I can try to give you better insight on where it is at.  Hope all had a Happy Turkey day!

-MW  

@autospec  If you are not getting the service from your Dealer, cancel the order and place it with someone else.  It’s that simple.  Unless you want to out your Dealer, your post serves no purpose.  

Sir:  When the hobbyist or repair man needs a part to repair or modify a system....The first thing he needs is the parts not excuses....I ordered the 399.00 box nine days ago, I have emailed the VPI dealer no less than 8 times to get a tracking number, a guess, or maybe just a prayer.........At this point I have 7 e-mails from the seller trying to sell me something and no word what so ever about the 399.00 little box.......The VPI dealer probably doesn't even have the little 399.00 box.....I would bet I don't get that before Christmas.......Will

Why not just use a decent quality adapter, female RCA to male XLR ?

Saves you the cost (and sonic degradation?) of another IC from junction box to phono preamp.

Here's a pair by Cardas, shipped for under $120:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Cardas-Audio-Female-RCA-to-Male-XLR-Adapter-Plugs-FRCA-MXLR-Connectors-Pair...

 It's a rip off. Typical audio file crap. Even according to Johnny B 53's four times the cost to make, there's no way that thing cost $100 to make. More like 30 or 40. 
 And I don't understand why these dealers need to double their money when all they do is place an order and bring something in. It's not like any of them stock any inventory. 
 If you are not going to diy then you need to develop a relationship with a good tech. Then you could choose which parts you want and have it built for probably about $200 total . 

(((the new management took over and most of them didn’t even know what you were talking about,)))

Furtermore
Unfortunately, it's sometimes not realized turntables tonearms belts pib boxes overhang VTA, tonearm distance record cleaning machines etc are products with many detailed working elements and can provoke a curiosity to the hobbyist who sometimes cannot comprehend the business side.
 All of this brings many long-winded conversations of analytical expertise needed into a business as well,
 Mostly appreciated but sometimes way under appreciated.
  In the big picture, they care and make it happen  
Best
JohnnyR
Audio Connection

(((the new management took over and most of them didn't even know what you were talking about,)))

Disagree,
We have had a numorous amount of detailed parts needed.
Upon detailed email requests to Marc at VPI we consistently receive a lightning response, excellent support, and advice.
 Best
JohnnyR  
Audio Connection

I have been building tube amps for fifty years....I built five this week......I love building and listening to tube equipment...........Thanks for asking     Will

Do you sell home made
Amps  60 WPC. 
  OTL,S  maybe  SET amps tube stuff ? 

Here’s MusicDirect’s product listing for the XLR junction box in question.
Note that the product contains "Premium Nordost Reference Wire."

Have you priced a current example of Nordost Reference Wire?

@autospec you do realize that VPI is a relatively small company that employs less than 10 full-time staff.  Dealers are always looking for opportunities to provide more value and better service to their customers and that is why VPI holds regular Dealer training seminars to allow B&M Dealer to answer service and technical questions.

Also, your impression of the former VPI under HW is viewed with rose colored glasses.  VPI use to have limited customer service hours with shipment and parts delay all the time.  Their customer service model was not scalable, so something had to change.

Johnnyb53:   The point to be made is that if you keep your parts business in house, then you can cut the price almost in half......Audio dealers don't want to stock things so everything you need has to be ordered and shipped......And if its a complicated item , sometimes you get the wrong thing altogether....There was a time when you could call VPI and get a part shipped the next day or two, then the new management took over and most of them didn't even know what you were talking about, so you got the wrong price and then the wrong part.....So instead of training a PR person and parts person they just passed it on to the dealers....Another parts mark-up, another week waiting.......No service......The one thing that the competition can't take from you is service and public relations...............Harry had it !!
 

I have worked at many different kinds of companies, including textbooks, religious books and periodicals, computers, home audio, shoes, and others.

The uniform rule of thumb for calculating retail price is to multiply the cost of manufacture (parts and labor) times four. If a textbook costs $12.50 to print, its retail price will be $50. A $400 stereo receiver in 1972 cost $100 to make.

This pricing is not based on greed, but on reality. The total cost to build a product is not just parts and labor; there is also documentation, income tax, rent or mortgage payment, utility bills, insurance, property taxes, packaging, shipping, distribution, and advertising.

Sure, if you're a lone guy with a day job banging out junction boxes in your garage when you get home, your cost per unit is much lower. It explains why I have an all-tube handwired PTP phono preamp available for a little over $1K. But as soon as you scale up and turn it into a self-sustaining enterprise, the true cost of manufacture goes way up.

Henry Kloss almost brought down his entire Advent Company, which made the most popular enthusiast audio speakers at the time, because he under-priced his Advent VideoBeam big screen TV. He had to bring in a financial expert to save the company. The first thing the guy did was double the price of the VideoBeam from $2500 to $5000.

No box but what about an XLR/RCA converter?

Testpilot:   My pre-amp is a Atma Sphere MP-1 ........Ralph at Atma Sphere is doing some work on it, it is soon to be returned.......One of my friends has shamed  me into buying one of those "Black" boxes today.........But I really need two of them, so I will build one.....Will

@autospec  Testpilot:   Help me with this "OP" ??

OP = original poster, that would be you.

Testpilot:    Help me with this "OP" ??           Will

I believe that the OP's pre-amp only accepts xlr inputs