VPI Classic 3 or SME 20/2

Congrats on your SME 20 purchase.

A really great reference table

A few more thoughts:

-I thank you bpoletti for talking about careful setup because I had taken the previous owner's set-up for granted in some ways due to the fact that I picked up the table and consequently didn't have to remove the arm. But when I took a closer look I realized the suspension was not properly adjusted. Very easy to do (as is pretty much everything with this table) but I was glad to have done it.

-I am not at all a fervent believer on either side of this highly polarizing debate, but I have to say... the speed controller seemed to benefit from a power cable upgrade (master coupler) and going into my power conditioner (RSA Elgar). Going to straight into the wall with a purple jellyfish, speed was drifting from one side to the next. With the SR going into the Elgar, steady as can be and spot on at 33.3.

-Based on what I've read it seems that among British audiophiles the SME is known for it's black backgrounds (and I can attest to that for sure - you ask yourself how much more black could it be and the answer is none... none more black) while Linns are known as the ultimate PRAT machines (they do love their PRAT those Brits). I have never owned a Linn so I can't comment other than to say that this 20/2 I'm listening to is the PRATtiest damn PRAT monster in PRAT town. I'm not sure I ever even  understood the notion of PRAT before I heard this thing. Which makes me wonder if Linns possibly have too much PRAT? Can one ever have too much PRAT?

-Only thing I don't like about the tt so far is the clamp. Sounds livelier and more open to me without it. With the clamp there's a slight muffling effect and the (ample) bass gets a little slushier.

-Speaking of that ample bass, that is my main issue right now, more an issue I think with my speakers and my room than with the SME, although taken as a whole it is resulting in too much bass. I have a small almost square room (14x13) and Verity Parsifal Encore speakers which have rear-firing woofers that produce almost subwoofer quality bass (I've had people come in here to listen and assume I had a subwoofer). You can adjust the amount of bass you want with the Veritys depending on how closely you place them to the rear wall (closer, more bass) but given the size of my room I'm limited in my wiggle room there and have them out about as far as they can go now. With the VPI C3, not a bass shy deck by any means, I would now and then encounter boomy bass of the room mode variety. I was concerned about this being a problem with the SME having read that it produces heavy bass, and indeed it does. Tonally perfect I must add, to my ears at least, tight and amazingly well articulated at the lowest registers, that kind of "wow I never knew what he was actually playing during that passage before" type of articulation. But I am definitely encountering the "too much bass" phenomenon more often with the SME. I listen to primarily jazz and Brazilian music, and with the majority of my records the SME bass experience is exquisite. But it booms in here with more records than with the VPI. I've only had the deck a few days and I am still playing around with various parameters so we'll see. Someone I have made deals with in the past has a Triplanar Mk VII he's getting rid of and I admit I am tempted to try it. Seems like the go-to arm for many with the 20 tt who want to be able to adjust for azimuth and also according to reports has a milder bass presence. 

@davelarz, before making a radical change to the arm, I'd suggest trying to play with your setup in the room and room treatment. Many in squarish rooms have reported improvements by going to placement of the speakers across a corner at 45 degrees. Bobby at Merlin and others have used this setup at shows with square rooms to great effect. 

There are tons of threads to read about bass traps, etc. If your room is peaking at a certain low freq. you can often fix the problem with traps in the corners behind the speakers (or all 4 corners). DIY traps are high performing if you are so inclined. To test the theory you can even buy a few of the round roll bags of fibreglass at your local Lowes or Home Depot and put them in the corners. RealTraps and GIK are two worthy commercial products that are fairly priced. Mio Weave are bargains for treating echo and mid/high reflections if you decide to treat the room in total. Cheers,
Spencer

Did you try different VTA adjustments? If not you should raise the VTA and see if it improves the bass problem!

Dialing in VTA, and the settings overall, has certainly helped. I love this tt. Hard to say when and how the upgrade jones will strike next but at the moment this really seems like the last record spinner I'll ever need. 

I put up a post at the Hoffman site and I'll do it in a separate post here at the Gon but thought I'd tag this thread too: Can anyone lend me the height adjustment gauge for the 20/2. Mine did not come with it to accurately adjust the suspension. I've jerryrigged something to give me what I believe is the requisite 3mm but being an obsessive completist (anyone here know anything about that?) I would like to use this gauge, especially since it seems that SME thinks everything through and gives you exactly what you need to make the exact right adjustment as easy as possible.

That said, having just splurged for the tt, I'd like to avoid shelling out $65 (SME-Height Setting Gauge-Model 202-System Set Up Tools|Acoustic Sounds ) for something that seems like a one-and-done adjustment so was hoping someone wouldn't mind sending me one and then I'd send it back when I'm done (obviously I'll pay your postage). Thanks - Dave