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VPI Industries---Love the Company as Much as their Turntables

I'm starting this thread because I just purchased my 4th VPI turntable. I started with a Cliffwood base model and kept working my way up the ladder until I recently purchased a Signature DS with the Analog Drive System (ADS). Over the years I have owned at least a dozen turntables ranging from a Thorens (TD145 MKII) to Rega Planars 3 through 8, and as I was contemplating a Rega P10, I looked at my VPI Prime in its stealth black and the MNPC Tech chrome feet and decided to slap on an old Ortofon  Quintet Bronze Cartridge and began listening---WOW--I missed the VPI sound. I started tweaking the Prime and realized why I had moved on to Rega--great tables but lacked the raw power that a VPI table properly set-up can do.

After a few months ignoring the P8, I decided to contact Mat Weisfeld the current family audio guru at VPI, thinking I could upgrade my Prime with their new gimbal tonearm and signature base. Over the years I have met Mat ay several different vinyl and audio conventions--I have even been to the factory in Cliffwood, New Jersey on two occasions. Mat is a high energy brilliant man who understands the visceral power of quality music reproduction. he's also one of the most accessible CEO's I have ever encountered in any industry. Anyway, he e-mails me back and says forget upgrades, I'll take your Prime in trade and outfit you with a new Signature DS. Since the factory is just up the NJ Turnpike from Philly, I drove up to see him.

The fellow that built my table, Howie was just packing it up when I arrived. What a beautiful piece of art this is!! The Rosewood finish sandwiched between a shiny metal plate is amazing. The new gimbal tonearm has an amazing musical replay ability and the new HW-40 feet isolate any extraneous noise. Is a fully rigged turntable (cartridge, ADS controller, Signature TT) pushing $10K a great value?

I think it's a veritable bargain--if you properly adjust the VTA, align the cartridge, the Azimuth and add a 1 to 3 inch solid wood base as recommended, this TT sounds better than anything I have ever owned.and in my opinion, properly set up is 'As Good As it Gets"--Good times and noodle salad.

The TT is great, but the real value is VPI itself. A family owned business run by passionate audiophiles as well as employees who are proud of the products they produce. That is the real bargain.

I started this thread to see what experiences others have had--to me a great piece of kit entertains you for sure, but a company that is service and job 1 is priceless.. 

mervo

Showing 3 responses by bdp24

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bdp24
10,096 posts
 

 

If anyone is interested in an Aries with the TNT-5 platter I described above, Audio Element in Pasadena, California just listed one here on Audiogon. The shop is owned and operated by a great guy, Brian Berdan, Brooks' son.

Brian worked in Brooks' shop (Brooks Berdan Ltd. in nearby Monrovia, which has been managed by Brian's mother Shelia since Brooks passing in 2011) part time as he was growing up, and was trained by Brooks in the art and science of turntable set up, speaker positioning, etc.

 

bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,096 posts
 

 

A great thing about some VPI models is the interchangeability and upgrade options of the turntable’s components/parts. For instance, the HW-19 came with it’s motor mounted on the table’s wooden base, but VPI later offered a 9 lb. free-standing motor pod (the SAMA), which may be used in place of the stock motor, placed inside the base. Removing the motor from the base minimizes the transfer of vibrations from the former to the latter

Then there is the interchangeability of platters and bearing assemblies. The HW-19 Mk.I through Mk.III came with a very nice 11.5", 10 lb platter and 1" diameter bearing assembly made of aluminum (with a stainless steel spindle and platter support platform, the spindle threaded on it’s top end for use with the included record clamp). The platter is a 1" thick slab of black Delrin (often incorrectly described as acrylic), with a thin disc of lead glued onto it’s underside and covered in cork. For the HW-19 Mk. IV, VPI increased the platter thickness to 1.5 inches (weight unknown to me). The combination of the Delrin platter and dedicated clamp gave me the feeling that the needs of LP playback---in terms of vinyl resonances---had finally been successfully addressed and met.

For the Aries, VPI introduced a new platter and bearing (used through the Aries Mk. IV, as well as the TNT Mk.I through Mk.IV). The platter is comprised of two sections: a bottom section of 7/8" thick aluminum, with the cork-covered lead disc of the HW-19 remaining. Glued and bolted onto that aluminum section is a top section of 5/8" thick Delrin, the total platter measuring 1.25" thick and weighing 15 lbs. The bearing well is machined stainless steel, as with the HW-19 1" in diameter. But unlike the aluminum HW-19 bearing well---which is secured to the table’s floating top plate with bolts, the well of the Aries is threaded, the threads used in conjunction with a nut to secure the well to the table’s top plate.

As the bearing wells of both the HW-19 and the Aries are 1" in diameter, an easy HW-19 upgrade is to replace it’s stock platter and bearing assembly with those of the Aries. That’s why you occasionally see the platter and bearing assembly from an HW-19 for sale, as well (no pun intended) as Aries Mk.I-Mk.IV/TNT Mk.I-MK.IV platter/bearing wanted ads.

Then there is the ultimate upgrade path for both the HW-19 (all versions) and Aries Mk.I through Mk. IV: the replacement of the stock platter with that of the TNT Mk.V. The TNT MK. V platter is a real beaut: a bottom section of 5/8" thick stainless steel (with no lead layer), topped with a 7/8" section of black Delrin, the whole platter measuring 1.5" thick and weighing about 21.5 lbs. This platter is considered by many VPI enthusiasts as the best platter the company ever made. I’m one of those enthusiasts.

 

bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,096 posts
 

 

I bought a used VPI HW-19 Mk.3 and an Aries, and each needed the ball bearing at the bottom of their bearing spindles replaced---they had developed a worn flat spot. Try as I might, I could not dislodge the ball bearing from the bottom of the spindle (I tried heating the ball, and freezing it).

I emailed Harry Weisfeld, who invited me to send him both complete bearing assemblies (spindle and bearing well). He had a technician work on both, and that tech was able to dislodge one of the ball bearings, which he replaced with a new, larger one. The other one just wouldn't come loose, so Harry had his machinist fabricate a new spindle and install a new ball bearing, and then returned both bearing assemblies to me, at no charge!

Does customer service get any better than that?!

 

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