Walker Vortex Vacuum Wand for VPI

I've been using the new Walker Audio Vortex Vacuum Tube for the past couple of days and have been comparing it to my stock VPI vacuum tubes. I am very impressed with the results! Lloyd has once again taken a concept to the next higher level of execution and performance.

The new Vortex tube is a direct replacement for the VPI RCM stock vacuum tube and is made from a soft Delrin material. As Markd51 points out, it doesn't have the felt strips on either side of the vacuum slot. Additionally, the slot machined into the Vortex tube is narrower than in the VPI tube. The result is much higher vacuum suction (Lloyd says two to two and a half times more) than the stock VPI tube provides. This is readily observable in use: with the Vortex a single revolution leaves a completely dry record surface. This never happens with the stock tubes.

The other big advantage for me is that I can stop swapping vacuum towers/tubes between the cleaning steps and the rinse steps. Switching the stock tubes was a important step to eliminate cross contamination between cleaning and rinse steps and doing so improved my results. The Vortex tube largely eliminates the risk of cross-contamination because with the pure Delrin material there is nothing to hold moisture from one step to the next. A quick wipe of the tube with a paper towel between steps eliminates any remaining possibility.

I've always liked the speed of cleaning with the VPI because the vacuum wand covers the entire surface of an LP in one pass. The speed difference of a VPI as compared to a "string cleaner" like the Loricraft or Odyssey RCMs is significant. With the greater vacuum suction delivered by the Vortex wand, I suspect that the cleaning results may now be comparable, but I don't have any way to that make a comparison. In a conversation this evening with Lloyd, he said that he's made the comparison about 50 times at this point and he's convinced that the results he is now getting with his VPI RCM fitted with a Vortex tube is at least as good as the results he gets with his $7,000 German built Odyssey string cleaner RCM that he's used for the past year or two. (He says he's selling his Odyssey.)

Markd51 mentions the O-rings. I asked Lloyd about them. He says they are nothing special, just O-rings that accomplish what he wanted to accomplish in floating the LP above the surface of the platter. (He says that floating the edge of the LP keeps the surface off the platter to minimize contamination and allows the LP to pull into contact with the vacuum tube more readily.) He provides them with the Vortex tube, but one could use any number of other solutions -- the O-rings were cost effective.

Is the Vortex replacement vacuum tube worth it's not inconsiderable cost? For me, the answer clearly is YES! It's improved the sonic results I'm getting from my multi-step cleaning regimen, it allows me to stay with the VPI RCM I've been using for 20 years now, it eliminates having to change vacuum tubes between steps thus simplifying the cleaning process, and the VPI/Vortex tube combination cleans much faster than any string cleaner design.

If you use a VPI record cleaning machine, purchasing a Vortex vacuum wand should be a top consideration for your next upgrade. I'm delighted with the results I'm getting here. (In fact, I just re-rinsed with the Prelude Final Step 4 rinse and Vortex wand my copy of The Malcolm Arnold English Dances on Lyrita SRCS 109 and am sitting here just being blown away by the improvement I'm hearing in a record previously cleaned!)
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Hi Mark,

I take seriously your concern over "the possibility of contaminants being wedged in between the mating surfaces." But, I see the same risk with the felt edges on the stock VPI tubes. After some consideration, I decided that the Walker Vortex is actually less risky in this regard than the VPI tubes.

With the VPI tubes, I've always been careful to rinse and "scrape down" the felts at the end of each session because I've always worried about something getting trapped in the felt and then scratching my vinyl. I don't have the same worry with the Delrin Vortex tube. The material itself is fairly soft (not like the hard VPI plastic of the tube), and it's easy to assure oneself that it's clean and not harboring some grit that might scratch.

Could some grit sitting on the surface of an LP get caught against the tube? Sure. But it could as well get caught against the felt of the stock tube. Still, we've all got to make our respective choices in the matter and I certainly respect your concern.

Oldvinyl, glad to hear you're having the same experience with Lloyd's newest creation as I am.

Regards,

Mark, why do you think Lloyd did not? The locating slot is machined on mine. FYI, some older towers do not have a locator pin. I have my original tower with no locator pin and a more recent tower with locator pin. But even with the locator pin, there is some tolerance for the tube to be twisted. Why does Lloyd mention installing the slot at exactly vertical? Because VPI has us trained to offset the slot a few degrees, which works best for the stock tube but not for this replacement tube. And, there are grey haired guys like me who have those original towers.

...and for the cost that Walker is charging, which is not at all cheap for a piece of tubular Delrin, with slot, why didn't Walker then cut the proper locating Slot in the Delrin Tube End, mating correctly with the locating Pin in the VPI Wand Tower?

As to cost, I'm sure Lloyd would encourage you to feel free to make your own. He's the one who worked on the design, going through multiple iterations of materials and configurations, and it's his time invested in getting the materials, doing machining and making the product available. I don't understand poking at a guy over charging for his product. The cost of a second tower and tube from VPI so you can swap wands to avoid cross contamination is $50, the cost to replace the arm tube every few years is $25 per tube. (Sure, I know you can remove and replace the felt with some other after market solutions for the felt.) Lloyd gives us, imo, a superior solution that has far greater vacuum suction at the surface of the LP, doesn't wear out, doesn't have to be replaced, and pretty well eliminates cross-contamination thus eliminating the need to have two wands. I think that's a pretty reasonable exchange for my cash.
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Yes, I'm using the o-rings and gentle scrubbing is not a problem. But, I never apply a lot of pressure to my scrubbing. I let the cleaning solution do its work and the "scrubbing" is to make sure everything is getting stirred around well with some gentle action of the scrub pad fibers.
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Sonofjim, the o-rings are not a necessary component to this. If you're steam cleaning, like the results you're getting and concerned about not having the LP fully supported when applying steam, just don't use the o-rings. The Vortex vacuum wand will still work.
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Jamesbrianc, here's what I'm doing or have done:

Use a microfiber cloth to carefully clean all the accessible surfaces of the tube to make sure nothing is stuck to it from packaging and handling.

Seat the tube all the way into the tower if necessary to get the beginning of the slot above the lead in grooves of a sample LP. There apparently is some variability among the VPI towers and/or deck mounting position from what I'm hearing via some email correspondence with other users. (Remember, VPI has been manufacturing their RCM for 30 years.)

For my tower, I ended up removing the locator pin (push up from the bottom through the top of the tower) in order to push the tube further into the tower. Now, when looking inside the tower from the bottom, I can see that the end of the tube is pushed all the way against the bulge of the back wall of the tower. You may need to do the same.

Use one of your thin LPs and position the locking ring on the tower so the tube can drop down to the surface of the LP. Leave the locking ring at this position. Thicker records should then be fine.

Experiment a bit with orientation of the slot over the LP to get it as directly above the LP as possible.

On non-warped records, when suction is applied, you should not see any light between the tube and the surface of the LP across most of the length of the tube when looking from the side at the level of the LP. You likely will see some gap at the very outer edge of the LP. This location is always going to be somewhat variable due to the varying outer edge profiles.

When aligned, a single rotation should remove all moisture across the grooved area of the LP. If some moisture remains at the lead in groove or in the dead wax area, I use a clean microfiber cloth to wipe those areas dry if needed.

Wipe down the wand on the slot side with another clean microfiber cloth from time to time. I'm still playing around with the need for this and currently am doing it only after finishing a cleaning session.

I hope sharing these steps that I've used may be of some help.
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JB, I'll measure the slot in my tube and will post the results. I may not be able to get this done today, however.
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JB, I just measured the slot opening in my Walker Vortex tube: it's 81mm. Very close to what you measured on yours.
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Madfloyd, try moving the stop ring higher up on the tower to allow the tube to pull all the way down onto the record.
Another new user I've been emailing with was having a similar problem to your first post (not the screeching, which I don't have either) because he was trying to use the stop ring to limit the tower to what he believed was "just the right height." Once he gave up on that idea and moved the stop ring higher, he started getting the good results that I'm getting here. Good luck, keep experimenting. The results when you get it right are worth the effort.
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Sorry to hear, Madfloyd. I'm well over 100 LPs with the new Walker Vortex wand and continue to get much better results with it than I was getting with the stock felt lipped wands (switching between two). A half a dozen friends in the Philadelphia Area Audio Group also have switched to the Vortex wand and are getting great results thus far. Clearly one of those "ymmv" situations. Thanks for the report.
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Get your Vortex wand now if you're interested in one. I talked with Lloyd today and he told me he's discontinuing the product. It's just taking too much time to build them. So, what's in stock at various retailers now are the last there will be. (I'm getting another one to hold as a backup.)
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Hi Albert, yes, Lloyd had spent a lot of time on this project and it was time to make the next level of investment in production or pull the plug. In my experience, his wand on a VPI not only made for "quick work" it yielded superior sonics as the end result.A loss to the community of VPI users.

Regards,

Hi Madfloyd, as I've tried to describe from my experience with this wand elsewhere in this thread, just as with the VPI stock wand, one doesn't adjust the height of the tower for various record thicknesses. What has worked here is to adjust the collar on the tower to work with the thinnest record and then forget it. The vacuum suction does the rest by lifting the LP up against the wand.

You guys are amazing. "Suspect"? You have to be kidding me. "On sale"? Get real, every retailer has sale prices on all their stock right now.

Markd51, you certainly are being blunt, but you have no experience to support your concluding assertion, which is simply uninformed and wrong.

"a product that apparently just didn't seem to do what it was supposed to do"

Sonofjim, if you choose not to try the wand because you have concerns or reservations, or because you there is inconsistent experience being reported, I respect that. But to suggest there is something "fishy" I find outrageous.

The Vortex wand does do what it was designed to do, and for a number of us it is doing that supremely well. As I've reported here, I use the wand and it does exactly what Lloyd Walker says it does. Oldvinyl uses the wand. Sbank uses the wand. We've all reported our positive experiences in this thread. Another audio acquaintance I know has sold his Loricraft and gone back to using his original VPI 16.5 because with the addition of the Vortex wand he's now getting better results from the VPI.

Madfloyd has not found the wand to to meet his expectations, but at least he has actually tried it and posted about his direct experiences. I value his contribution because it is based in experience, even if different than mine. (Lloyd Walker offers a money back guarantee on all of his products, so I trust that Madfloyd will send it back for a refund.)

The Vortex wand is working here exactly as intended and designed, it is just as adjustable "to any thickness of vinyl" as the stock tube, and it significantly improves the results I'm getting from my VPI HW-17 based on my comparative listening.

I'm sorry, I just find the preceding two posts insulting. I hope those of you who know me in this forum through my contributions will recognize I am out "of character" here, and I apologize. But this is too much. End of rant.
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