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VPI Classic 1. Defective or design flaw

I am the mostly proud second owner of a VPI classic 1, serial number 2187, purchased new from Galen Carol audio in san antonio about 4 years ago, Lyra Kleos front end. There are at least 2 situations where a very loud hum is produced. If you connect the ground wire from the grounding block near the tone arm base to the normal(?) grounding screw on the phono stage and when the power cord is plugged into the Phoenix Engineering speed control products(i have the eagle and the falcon and it happens with both). The table is quite pleasant too listen too outside of these circumstances and i have no problem not connecting the grounding wire but would like to think i did not waste my money on the eagle/falcon units. There is certainly plenty of info on the web about minor hum issues with this line but i have not found anything like this. The speed control units work with no hum on my much older VPI HW19 MK III and that table does not produce any issues when its grounding wires are properly connected to the phono stage. I have 3 phono stages in house, a recent solid state and a vintage and recent tubed unit, the problem occurs with all 3. Any advice or theories would be appreciated. As for now will continue to listen and hope. Thanks, LS
trytone

Showing 1 response by borzetta

borzetta
3 posts
 
Hi,
I too had a similar hum problem when I switched out my Rega RP6 with my new VPI Scout ( 2016 ), using the Phoenix PSU Roadrunner Tachometer. After trying to isolate the hum problem and various scenarios for eliminating the ground loop I had no success. I did find the culprit however, it was the wall wart power supply to the PSU. I removed it from the system and the hum went away-dead quiet. I made the difficult decision of selling it, I opted for the quiet! The last readings I was getting from the PSU / Tachometer set up was a pretty steady 33.333. So I'm assuming the Scout is spot on. I hear no pitch derivations and every recording I play sounds just like I always heard it. I hope this helps. I'm not suggesting you do the same but I can say that I just enjoy the music now and I'm not obsessed with micro speed variances that I will never hear.
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