I have owned many tables and the new VIPs with the clear acrylic platters where the absolute worse when it comes to static issues. I am not sure why that is. I am not a fan of the Acrylic platters VPI are using. I also still have an Aries 1 with the older platters that are heavy and produce or react very little to static. I had a horrible time with my scout master w/ jmw 9 arm and I sold it. I preferred the Aries over it. I also preferred the Jmw 10 arm as well. Again I have owned both these tables for quite sometime. I no longer use either. But I feel the earlier version aries which came stock with essentially what VPI is now calling a super platter is one of the best buys in analogue today. For the money they are tough to beat. |
Funny, I never thought of doing this ground wire spiral until I received the tonearm cable that came with my moerch tonearm. That's exactly what they do.
Bob |
Walt I forgot to mention:
You should loosely spiral wrap the additional ground wire by wrapping it around the tonearm cable pair for the full length. Fairly widely spaced coils perhaps 1.5" to 2" apart. Then attach to the ground post. This should help to prevent ground loop hum pickup. |
Thanks a lot for a very detailed instruction, will definitely try and will post the result for future generation / archives. Suggestions are much appreciated. |
Walt if your room humidity is adequate, then I believe that Scifi's solution will work for you; it is an easy fix. I had the same problem also. I tried the Zerostat too. The Zerostat neutralizes static initially, but it builds up again while playing the record. I have a wood body cartrige which does not permit static charge to drain away from the vinyl as it plays. A plastic body cartrige would also do this.
I have no photo to send you (no digital camera - sorry). Just get some stranded conductor wire - very small guage will work for you. Radio Shack is a good source. Ask for stranded 20awg or 22awg wire. (guage number means size of the conductor). It will be about the same size as the arm grounding wire which you should already have connected to your preamp ground post. Any color wire will work; ask for black color wire so it's less visible.
Strip about 3 or 4 inches of insulation off the end of the wire and then wrap the bare wire around the turntable bearing sleeve underneath your turntable. The bearing sleeve is the metal carrier directly underneath the platter center in the middle of the turntable underside. Wrap some tape around the wire to hold it in place, or use a nylon cable tie, also available from Radio Shack store.
Now strip about 1/2 to 3/4 inch of insulation off the other end of the ground wire, which you have cut to a convenient length to reach the preamp ground post. Fasten it there along with the arm ground wire you already have there. It's that simple.
You could also ensure the ground of your electrical power outlet is actually grounded. An inexpensive three-prong tester light will check that for you. Found at hardware stores or probably also available at the Radio Shack. |
Try rerouting ICs downstream of the phono stage and preamp to be sure they avoid AC or other interference. Though it seems improbable, this can sometimes causes problems with noise from phono source. |
before parting with a rack (that was custom-made, although not really audiophile), do you think would a layer of "something" between the rack and TT could solve the problem (like a layer of anti-static floor vinyl, glass, laquered IKEA shelf etc)? had a VPI on the top of that rack the whole last year without problems. just putting a TT on an IKEA rack would not solve problem either as isolation etc will become issues. next thing is probably a proper wall shelf if i really have to do this, but before parting i will try all other DIY and zerostat 3. |
Waltwalden: since you do have an Ikea and you have tried all or most suggestion's pertaining to grounding the table. Then I would at this time isolate the VPI by separating it from it's Oak rack would be best. |
no carpeting, pure linoleum floor. i was indeed wondering if the wooden rack might be the source of problems, will see to it, maybe put something in between the rack and TT (there´s indeed an IKEA around). the ground was hooked to the RCA junction box initially, i then checked it to phono stage (you can indeed put Graham Slee amp underneath VPI TT, so the ground reaches it), not much changes either way. thanks for suggestions. |
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You said you checked the ground from the TT to the Phono Stage. Did you check the ground from the underside of the arm to the RCA junction box?
BTW- Your English is great! |
Assuming you have carpeting. Spray static guard once or twice a week over where you walk. |
are a wide range of factors that can affect the amount of electrostatic charge that can build up as a voltage on personnel. Some common major factors include:
The floor material and its electrical resistance, and resistance-to-ground
Personnel footwear, especially the materials of the shoe sole and its electrical resistance
Atmospheric humidity
The manner in which a person walks, e.g. scuffing and friction of the shoes against the floor
Actions of brushing against furniture, sitting and rising from seats
Static electric charges are separated whenever two materials make and break contact. This occurs with regularity between the shoe sole and floor material in walking action. Charge tries to dissipate and recombine where possible, but this cannot happen if it is prevented from moving by insulating materials. Charge builds up if the charge is generated faster than it can dissipate, and a high voltage can quickly result.
Shocks are felt by people when they touch a discharge path (e.g. metal frame or another person
I would now take the Turntable off the "OAK RACK" and isolate it from the other euiptment. Place your VPI on a seperate table such as an IKEA lack table. If you have an ikea near you or even a Lowes they sell a small table that is made of composite materials this might work best. |
the environment is very plain office one, only walls and some furniture, no carpets, rugs etc. there is an air conditioner though, so the air us pretty dry indeed. scifi, can you send a pic to me of what you did to waltwalden at hotmail dot com if you still have your vpi around. i read a posting on TNT and static as well and was wondering if that would do the trick for me, but have not tried yet.
this is quite frustrating if one has invested so much into it. thanks for your contributions. |
Walt,
I had the same problem with my VPI TT awhile back. It got so bad that static charges would occur during the playing of a record and emit a loud pop through the speakers.
I cured the problem by taping a piece of wire to the outside of the metal shaft under the TT that the platter bearing sits in. I then connected this to a grounded source. In my case it was another wire run from a cold water pipe but I suppose you could try connecting it to the grounding terminal on your preamp.
Give this a try and see if it does the trick.
Good Luck!
Scifi |
Tells us something about your environment that your gear is surrounded by? I ask this because it just might not be your gear at all but "YOU". I say that because you might be causing it does your room have a wool area rug, is your room very dry with no humidity? These all can contribute to static, and by ridding yourself and cleaning your surrounding's you should see and hear an improvement? Once this is addressed then you can look at your gear. I would recommend placing large plant's if you can in your room and also a humidifier if the room is much to dry. Let us know and ai am sure we all can come up with an amswer. |
Perhaps getting a humidifier will help, it can clean up the sound. Look for the German unit Venta, great method. |
