Your bass is light because of the tonearm. You need a new one with proper two axis bearings. Great arms include the SME V, Kuzma 4 Points, Schroder CB, Tri Planar, Reed 2G and others. The more recent Grahams have magnetic stabilization but IMHO are prohibitively expensive for what you get. The above listed arms are a far better value. I am not familiar with your cartridge. If after changing arms you still are not happy I would exchange the cartridge for one with a more modern stylus profile.
VPI HW-19 with Graham 1.5 arm Question/Suggestions
Greetings everyone,
I have a very handsome, black oak, late model VPI HW-19 Mark IV with a black Delrin Aries platter. The tonearm is a Graham 1.5 Basic tonearm sporting a Benz Micro MC Gold cartridge with elliptical stylus. The tonearm cable is Audio Art IC-3 Classic phono cable DIN to RCA.
The sound is good but rather lightweight, neutral and nimble but polite, one might say meek with tight but lean bass. It is not strident or shrill, or analytical, or bright. Most of the turntable and phono upgrades I read about suggest that they will make the sound have more clarity, be more precise, more accurate, tighter, and lower the noise floor. These qualities are not necessarily what I want.
I would like the sound signature to be warmer, fuller, richer, more colorful, or more romantic.
I am considering many options, including new phono cable, new footers, a platter mat (presently records sit directly on the Delrin platter), a different record weight-stabilizer (presently using a VPI Delrin screw-down clamp), a new shelf, and of course a different cartridge.
I welcome any suggestions from anyone on how to warm up or enrich the sound quality.
Showing 2 responses by mijostyn
@larryi , both Graham and Basis realized the error of their ways. Graham created an opposing magnet system as a secondary bearing and Basis added a second bearing to stabilize its arm. They are no longer unipivots. They are bipivots. I hate to be so...abrupt, but the Moerch arm is a bad joke from a tonearm design perspective. Get yourself one of the arms above and you will never look back. |