2. analog
  3. 1224389555

VPI Rim Drive

Amongst the bills that came today was a number 10 envelope containing a new belt for the rim drive of my Superscout. The belt is a brown color replacing the black one and feels more "tacky" and soft. I pulled out the first album my hand fell on and played the first track with the old belt. I then removed it and installed the new belt, pushed the table to the motor assembly and listened again. The new belt is better by far. The layering of instruments was much more pronounced, although the width of the stage retained its proportion as before. The highs are certainly cleaner, clearer, and the whole spectrum is faster. Instead of hearing blocks of instruments, I hear seperate instruments cooperating in the event. Loud and thickly arranged sections are effortless unraveled - you can clearly identify all the separate instruments in the cooperation of the piece. Chords can be heard as separate tones contributing to the quality of the chord. Tambourine and other percussion instruments are fast and clean..the jingles are more delicate, brassy, and separate. The lows are more effortless...not louder, just at ease going down, down, and down. I encourage all of you with the dual motor VPI rim drives to get one of these new belts. It is a pain to put on, but you only have to do it once.
stringreen

Showing 8 responses by sonofjim

sonofjim
557 posts
 
My E-mail is in. Hopefully it won't take 4 months for them to get me one. Thanks for the heads up.
sonofjim
557 posts
 
Stringreen,

I knew it was about time for this to be available and considered starting a thread to inquire about it soon. I'm certainly glad to hear that you feel it's an improvement. Did youn call VPI and request it or are they sending one to all who've purchased and registered a rim drive automatically?
sonofjim
557 posts
 
The new belt arrived yesterday, impressively fast. It does feel like a compound better suited to it's task. So far I only have about an hour of use on it but it does provide better grip on the platter with even lower contact noise. It seems every adjustment to this drive requires a degree of patience as things settle in but I'm expecting further improvement as it does.
Stringreen, how long did you run yours before you felt the belt was properly "seated"? So far I'm finding I have to dial up the speed on the SDS a bit to maintain the same speed.
sonofjim
557 posts
 
Mine sounds fine as well. If I didn't have a KAB strobe I wouldn't notice the settle in time at all. I have noticed that every time I reposition the motor assembly or ,in this case, change the drive belt, it takes a few hours of settling in for those 33s to be at their most still again. To be honest, I don't notice a huge change in the sound but I do feel better to see the display on the KAB strobe as frozen as possible.
sonofjim
557 posts
 
Mred,
You misunderstood what I wrote I'm afraid. When I said I didn't notice a huge change in sound I was referring to the slight speed variation I note when I move or otherwise alter the rim drive. It seems to take around 6 hours or so to settle back in to where I'm happy visually with the results I'm seeing on the KAB strobe. During this time I don't notice any real sonic problems; that's all. Others don't seem to report this. Am I doing something wrong or am I noticing something they don't? Who knows? I do feel better to see a frozen display though and I can't imagine this table sounding much better. On a scale of 1 to 10, 8-9 easy. Much better than the original belts in my opinion.
As for the new belt, I agree with Stringreen that it is an improvement over the old compound. It has a better grip on the platter and turns it more smoothly with less contact noise. The strobe reading has settled back down for me. The change in sound with the new belt seems somewhat subtle but it's a worthwhile change for all the things I just mentioned. They sent it for free. What other upgrade can you do for that price?
sonofjim
557 posts
 
You may have missed this in the above post, 8-9 I'd say. I don't really think anything deserves a 10 unless it's earth shatterring so that's a pretty good endorsement. Speed stability has normalized and the whole drive is more smooth and quiet with the new belt. I think I could spend tens of thousands more and only improve mildly, if at all, over the SSM with rim drive and 10.5i. Mine also sits on a Critical Mass Systems isolation platform which is another strong contributer to the solid performance I'm getting in my opinion. Set this stuff up right and it's hard to do better.
sonofjim
557 posts
 
New feet? Are these different than the replacement feet some of us are already using?
sonofjim
557 posts
 
What really helps optimize the performance of this drive is minimizing conatact pressure between the drive wheel and platter. I have found that the new belt's tackier grip enables lighter conact pressure than the old belt. This, along with it's increased compliance, is what helps it perform better. Fractions of a millimeter make a big difference. This is where patience pays off. The best placement seems to be a point where the heavy platter continues to turn briefly on shut down. This also tends to be where the speed will be highest. Also, contact noise is lowest to non-existent at this point and the KAB display is frozen. I think this is because nothing can be machined perfectly round and at this point any minute irregularities have minimal effect. Too much pressure and the display oscillates ever so slighty back and forth. For the perfectionists out there, patience and diligence pay off.
More to discover