VPI Avenger

Common' Cleeds!. You know better, don't you? You failed to include my whole post.
 

Common' cleeds? You (failed to include my total post in your response.)

You can do better than this, I hope?

The deafening silence leaves me/us all wondering the answers to my questions. I would think, now would be THE time to address these questions, rather than have them come up on other occasions?

Why the vertical play in the motor stems?
Why the addition of the small brass collars to the motor stems?

The Hurst motors have a single friction bearing at the top of the motor housing;  the magnetic rotor hangs below it and is unsupported at the bottom.  IME, this is a source of a lot of the vibration in these motors.  The 55mm series are supported on both the top and bottom, but the motors have a 0.25" shaft rather than the 0.1875" shaft of the PA/PB series (59mm).

The stock Hurst motor has a "C" type snap ring attached to the shaft that rides on the top of the bearing, with a wave type spring washer in between, suspending the rotor at that position.  These motors usually have a fair amount of vertical play.  I believe the brass collar was a VPI specific mod that allowed you to take up some of the slack in the vertical play and try to dampen the vibration by pulling the rotor semi-tight against the bearing using the wave washer as suspension.  On the motors I have, it has limited affect.

IME, the Hurst motors aren't cheesy because of where they are manufactured, they are cheesy because of how they are designed and built.  A 3 phase BLDC motor with precision bearings is a much better solution:

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/analogue-source/288730-3-phase-bldc-motor-turntable-use.html

I still see a lot of apparently unresolved complaints on VPI's forum regarding motor vibration and the Classic turntable.  I wonder if the problem got worse when they started using the 49mm series motor which is quite a bit cheaper.

I also have come to understand that the Classic line will be discontinued next year.  Coincidence?

Thanks for the info!

So, Matt never responded, from 10-2-16? 

cerrotSo, Matt never responded, from 10-2-16?

Matt is very responsive on the VPI forum. If you really want to engage with VPI staff, that's the place to go.