VPI Direct Drive Turntable

I am curious about status of VPI. In the past TNT I thought was highly regard as among the big league table. HR-X was also no slouch. At that time, it may not be a Rolls Royce of turntable but probably quite a bit more than a Toyota, I would think.then it seems that in the last 6-7years, while many companies start making outrageously priced table, VPI went the opposite direction and aim for mid market instead with the Classic line. other companies then introduce cheaper tables as triggered down product while VPI made trigger up (is there such a word?) product, continuing to evolve Classic Line into more expensive products. Kind of strange. At one stage, I heard that VPI was even going to make a whole new table with DD that would come with its own stand and all but may be it proves to be too costly or HW may thing it would be too big a jump in their price structure? I definitely am curious to see if VPI rather unorthodox approach is going to work or not. No big word out of Miles yet but his one liner on wbf seems to be very positive for DD so far.

If Harry is using the TT-101 as a reference for his VPI Direct......it bodes well :-)

Before VPI came out with the HW-19, they made bases for JVC and Denon direct drive motors. I'm not sure of the extent of his involvement, but I've read that he also repaired and did other contract or authorized work on DDs.

While most companies specialize, at least to some extent, in a particular segment of the market, it doesn't necessarily have to be that way. Back in the day all the mass market players had flagship tables and some are of the most revered today. BTW, Sony made some great tables and their BSL (brushless/slotless) motors were in many of their mid priced tables.
The point is, other business models can work.

VPI is coming out with a new table, Voyager. $1K includes a cart, built-in phono stage, and a pr of Grado headphones.
I've read that they can hardly keep up with overseas orders for Traveler. This and Classic popularity gives them a solid foundation for introducing new expensive tables. It's not like they're coming out with a $150K table as their only product. If they only sold a few Classic Direct, I'd bet they'd be okay, but I'd also bet they sell quite a few more. When they come out with a new flagship it will probably look more like an HRX. I'd bet that it sells too.

HW says it is a $4000 part, is that really the price from ThinGap?

I recall reading on one of the audio web blogs that Mathew Weisfeld is taking on a higher profile VPI management role and Mr. W is giving MW breathing room. Wish I could recall where I read this.

I'm glad to read Dnath's post that the Traveler concept is taking root. I also recall that MW is the motivating force behind the Traveler. Kudos to MW.

The Weisfeld family has gone through some tough times. I wish them the best. And I celebrate their innovation and success.