Hey all, there are a lot of responses so I'll try to hit everything with my post on this subject. First of all Harry is retired and is very happily away from this craziness while still consulting and helping with VPI designs. The PR team is me. I've had companies ask me who are PR firm is and personally I don't believe in PR companies. You're either excited about what you do or you're full of it. The one time we tried a PR person, he was completely full of it and we tossed him out the door pretty fast. Anyone who has to "beware" of a 3D printed tonearm has never actually heard one. If we want to talk about marketing it is in reverse. I'm sitting on tons of metal arms that no one is interested in because of the sonic excellence of the 3D arm. If we wanted to "move product" I would make up something magical about the metal arm to move the inventory. The metal arms are still great but the 3D arm is superior.
We pulled away from the Classic Direct Drive because of me. I don't like anything that I can't personally take apart, put together, and fix on the spot. The Direct Drive motor is very technical and specialized. Also very delicate in shipping. When a Direct Drive motor is damaged, it HAS to come back to the VPI factory and be fixed by a trained VPI technician. However, that VPI technician with the capability is Harry. A lot to of ask of a guy who is trying to enjoy his retirement.
Another issue... not issue, rather a perversion of our industry is how expensive turntables get. The Direct Drive is very expensive to manufacture. When we released it at $30,000 that was actually cheap compared to what we should have sold it for. Also, at that price you can only mount 1 tonearm. Eventually the technology will trickle down and become more affordable but it simply isn't there yet. Harry has done many listening tests of our Direct Drive versus the "Great" Japanese Direct Drives and the VPI DD eats there lunch and every other meal as well. They sound slow and bloated in comparison.
That brings us to the Avenger. The Avenger technically started as a design concept over 10 years ago and Harry had worked on the project as a different shape version of the HR-X. He had the Magnetic Drive in mind, but never finished it because, you guessed it, he made the Classic Turntable instead. The Classic overwhelmed the production pipelines and essentially killed all design work on the "Tripod Project" (the original name). Last year at our dealer Training event I found the dust caked original chassis while we started our renovations. With the binder identifying it as the Tripod and a very early stage design for what would be the Mag Drive. We dug it out, cleaned it up, Harry finished it, and the prototype gave the Direct Drive a serious run for its money.
Avenger Vs Classic Direct
Before we talk about the sound quality, we need to talk about the design for the customer. The Avenger is the ultimate High-End Sandbox for the customer. You can start at $9,500 and slowly upgrade all the way to the $30K three arm model. You can mount any length arm, any manufacturer's make, and up to 3 of them. The Classic Direct can only house 1 arm. (technically you can mount a second but it is a DIY mess that isn't fitting for a $30K table). The Avenger is mechanical. Live on a mountain in Wyoming? No problem we can send you a replacement part that you can install without a degree in electrical engineering. The Classic Direct... hope you have a UPS store within 100 miles of where you live.
How does it sound... I'm going to copy and paste exactly what Harry says about the two tables...
"We have done the listening test with all three tables having a 12" 3D arm and moving the same Lyra Atlas between the three of them. The Mag Drive feels quieter than either DD but the DD has a slight advantage in power or shall we call it dynamic range. Hard to define but the bottom line is the speed stability of the DD is still unmatched but the Mag drive is so quiet and so close to the DD it is simply different color roses, not roses verses carnations!!"
Well this post has gotten much longer than expected, thank God I don't a PR team because if they wrote it it would have cost a fortune! Hope this clears things up and happy listening!
-MW
