The Better Table?

Stringreen, my HRX motor assembly has rubber feet. They are not especially soft, but they are definitely not metal. I gather that VPI might have made some modifications to the motor assembly feet over time. Another factor influencing the performance of my turntable is the fact that it sits on a Silent Running Audio VR isolation base. The base does an excellent job of absorbing vibration energy, and this could be a reason I have never experienced any noise or feedback problems with the rim drive mechanism.

Stringreen, do you know whether VPI is advising that feet such as the plastic ones on my motor assembly be replaced with new footers? I suppose I could just send an inquiry to Mike at VPI, but I thought I might go ahead and get your perspective here.

Cincy_bob.. yes...get rid of those feet and get the soft rubber ones.. I think they improved the sound of my VPI. Call Harry..he sent mine for free, and will probably do the same for you. Coming...is a new formulation for the ring around the drive wheel. Regarding your Silent Running base. Make sure the motor assembly is decoupled from the table proper. The table should be solidly anchored to the floor, but there should be a bit of "give" (the reason for those new rubber feet) to the motor assembly. If you have that..fine...if not..., get the table off of the Silent Running base and try it without using the above suggestions. You can always put it back if you like the sound better that way. I tried a number of platforms, and the way I have mine set up is the way I just recommended. Happy listening...

Stringreen, thanks for your input. I sent an e-mail to VPI to inquire about the new footers. I noticed in your virtual system thread that you mentioned you have implemented a "side thrust compensator" in your turntable. Can you elaborate on this a bit? Is this just a fancy way of describing the horizontal compliance inherent in the new soft rubber footers, or have you done something further to improve the interface between the flywheel rim and the platter?

One other thing that occurs to me is that my turntable is the latest model TNT with the Gingko-style air bearning footers. These turntable footers allow for horizontal compliance (i.e., some "give" in the horizontal plane) that might well accomplish something similar to the higher compliance footers Harry has introduced for the motor housing.

Side thrust compensation is the same as anti-skate. I should tell you, that after much listening, I have concluded that anti-skate (side thrust compensation) should not be used. First of all, it's impossible to set correctly, since it is constantly changing. All anti-skate devises intrude on the sound. When Harry at VPI said don't use it, and then sold an anti-skate device for his arms, I figured that it was a good thing. I can tell you truthfully, that the sound is better without it...that's true of a number of arms that I have tried. Perhaps you should try using no anti-skate (if you have a VPI arm, detach the nylon thread from the device. This will give you an approximation of its elimination. If you feel that you have to have anti-skate, by all means apply it, however, if you feel that you can hear no difference, remove the device completely from the arm (a real pain to do, but worth it) and listen again. When I did that, I heard an improvement. Anti-skate really dampens the label side of the cartridge forming an imbalance. ..also, all anti-skate devices resonate to some degree. Speaking of resonating, the Rega tracking force adjustment should be set to its maximum, and the vtf should be adjusted by moving the weight back and forth until the proper VTF is applied. That spring resonates. Using the Shure scale, understand that it reads slightly wrong. A more accurate way to measure the weight using this scale is to set the front 2 feet (the right side) so that it is off of the edge of the turntable, then proceed as directed. Regarding Gingko. They are very nice people and provide great service. I use their dust cover which transforms my VPI table to a museum piece. When I have company, the first thing they gravitate to with awe is the VPI turntable under the Gingko dust cover. You might try their platform...it just didn't work for me. The Gingko balls are not filled with air. They are of a material that is squishy and feels like a tennis ball, but they are solid material. I believe the TNT footers from VPI are of a much more complicated and different design.

Cincy_bob,
I have the rim drive on a SSM as well and have just implemented a Critical Mass Master platform with it. This, I think, is similar to your SRA. I have currently stopped using my replacement feet in favor of the rubber feet which came on my particular motor housing unit coupled with adhesive felt pads from Home Depot. This is working quite well for me currently and I suspect if you're not noticing a problem you don't need to change much. Get that softer drive belt when it's available.