VPI upgrade?

I will add to what @russ69 ​​​​@tablejockey said. Once I went to my Hagerman trumpet and then added the Hana everything changed with regard to the music sounding like music. No longer did I mess around with the Ortofons (always seemed to be listening to the gear and not the music) I would monkey with the Ortofon black (and bronze) too much to try and get it to sound decent on the vpi. I know there are a lot of people using them with great results but with my equipment they never did jive with the sound I wanted to hear.

I have never heard your pre and I certainly would never be able to tell you if changing your pre would help, but perhaps the table (unless you are ready to move on) could stay and different gear might help?

just my thought after going through my latest gear upgrades.

db

@larseand , No, it is not a significant up grade. Your best move is to replace that tonearm. I believe the VPI gimbal arm is a direct swap. Once you have swapped arms you can move up to less compliant cartridges if you like. I suggest an Ortofon Windfeld Ti or a Lyra Delos. If you do not want to go low output then a Soundsmith Voice would be perfect.

Thanks,

I know I have a decent table, just need to tweak the variables.

I just realized that's a $4500 tone arm recommendation :(

I almost never agree with mijostyn but this time I do in part and not in part. He is right, the VPI unipivot arm is a total pain for the average schmo, though my trusted set-up expert Brian Walsh says he can make them sound very good and he has no problem with them. Where I disagree with him is on the suggestion that you spend a lot of money on a VPI gimbaled arm and $5,500 or so on a Windfeld Ti or similar combined with a $2500 drive unit. I have about a dozen cartridges ranging in price from $1,000 to $9,000 and the qualitative difference, while real, is not proportionate to the cost compared to differences in tonearm and tonearm wiring quality. So I do agree with upgrading your tonearm (or moving to what imho is a better turntable/arm) but I would not sink more money on a VPI arm and a $5,500 cartridge. 

Where does VPI go wrong? I think they have never figured out how to engineer there decks to sound lively and not plodding/boring. They appeal to the eye but the high mass platter, unsophisticated bearing and low to mid-mass plinths are just not a good synergistic combination. The belt drive motors are nothing special and every few years VPI changes them. VPI is an enigma-on the one hand the decks are built to last compared to a Pro-Ject and on the other hand they are largely kluged together. The only VPI deck I would consider owning is an HW-40 and even then it would be with a non-VPI arm. But that is just me. 

There are lots of good turntables on the market but one I would take a hard look at is the Pure Fidelity Encore with the Origin Live Zephyr arm.