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Thinking About Upgrading the VPI Tonearm Base

This post is directed to VPI Classic TT owners. I own a Classic 1 TT, with a Classic 3 wand upgrade. Been thinking about upgrading the tonearm base to the Classic 3 base. I am not interested in dropping the $$$$ to buy a Classic 3 TT. The Q is would you expect that upgrading the tonearm base will yield any improvement in sound??

BTW, when I asked Mike at VPI if this could be done, he said ... yes.

Mike also suggested that I might improve the sound isolation of my TT by mounting the TT on a 2 or 3 inch thick piece of butcher block, which would be supported by four tennis balls placed in ashtrays to provide stability -- i.e., to keep the TT and butcher block from rolling off the table. I'll report back later about the results.
bifwynne

Showing 1 response by suteetat

suteetat
435 posts
 
Do you mean chaning the arm base from 10.5i to one that comes with VTA on the fly?
I did something similar a couple of years ago, changing from 10.5i base to one with VTA on the fly. Personally, I don't think there is any sonic difference. However, you will get VTA on the fly which make adjusting VTA much easier and much more accurate and repeatable easily. A bigger improvement would be from chaning the silverwire (Audioquest?) to Valhalla wire. I can't remember if Classic 3 armwand comes standard with Valhalla wire or not.

I heard one of the first Classic 3 prototype and compared it directly with Classic I (back when bearing was still similar if not identical, same arm) and the improvement is quite signficant in my opinion. The heavy aluminium plinth does make quite a difference.
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