VPI acrylic vs. aluminum

Slaw....correct....and in listening to the Classic, the acrylic seems slow and laboring.  In light of that statement, some say the Classic is bright..but I find the Classic portraying much more music, dynamics, color, and whatever we audiophiles value.

This is getting a bit personal. I’ll try to explain without returning the favor.

At one point in my hobby I traded a VPI aluminum/lead platter for a virtually identical acrylic/lead platter. The improved performance of the table was clear for me to hear, also a reviewer. This was a perfect and controlled experiment for nothing else was changed. Once having done that I never saw a reason to go back to aluminum.

My platter does not carry a static charge. I brush each disk with an AQ carbon fiber brush. Perhaps that discharges static; it is supposed to. Or perhaps it is the ground wire from the TT. Just never has been an issue.

It has been claimed that the acrylic/lead platter was the best performing one VPI ever made. I am not a machinist, but my platter seems superlatively machined to me. I notice that many who use aluminum platters seek some kind of platter mat, just as was the practice with the original aluminum platters. People with acrylic platters do not. The acrylic only clear platter made for a long while by VPI was inferior to what I have as acrylic is relatively light weight. That platter was too light IMO, and many replaced it, first with the super platter, and later with the 20 lb. aluminum platter. My acrylic/lead platter weighs the same 20 pounds. Lead is an almost perfect dampening substance. You can make a bell out of aluminum. But then try making one out of acrylic. Finally, try making one out of lead!

The job of the platter should be to dampen the disk. But some people like the distortions given by platters that don’t do that. Some feel it gives the sound more life, or even PRaT. I don’t believe that the platter should add anything.

At one point I traded my bearing for the TNT Mark V bearing. I believe it was the last, or one of the last, non-inverted bearings VPI made. It was said at the time that the Mark V was released that it was the best they ever made, and by a very wide margin, and was perhaps the principal reason for the Mark V version. I was certainly able to hear the improvement. An improved bearing provides a quieter background and a more stable speed.  I’ve stuck with the non-inverted bearing for that allowed me to stick with the acrylic/lead platter.

"The non-inverted bearing is subject to more things being in absolute alignment, and also that alignment needs to be accurate on much more ’bearing shaft surface area’". Perhaps. What that means is that for equal quality, the non-inverted bearing is more expensive to produce. That is another way of stating that the inverted bearing is LESS expensive to produce. In the world of business that is often the controlling factor. That is also certainly a factor in the return to aluminum.

In any event, many of the best ($$$) turntables in the world use non-inverted bearings. And the best belt driven TT that VPI makes uses a non-inverted bearing as its principal bearing. Properly made, the two types of bearings are indistinguishable in their performance IMO.

If my re-stating your previous point to make my opposing point seems like a personal attack, I apologize.

It may be true that your particular platter/TT/non-inverted bearing works best for you and your tastes. I have no reason to contest this.

The fact that a non-inverted bearing is more expensive to produce, (on that one merit), surely doesn't mean that it is superior in every application. I've found through the years with many things, simplicity in design and execution is more often than not, superior in most ways. In a non-inverted bearing, the more surface area of the bearing shaft = more surface area contact which causes friction/vibration/resonance.

The Classic platter... in addition to being self-leveling, is also self-centering.

Happy Listening.

"The Classic platter... in addition to being self-leveling, is also self-centering." Which means what exactly? And why would I care?

So far as I know, my platter is level and centered and has no play whatever that I can discern.  Is there play in the Classic bearing?

I can only speak to my experience with the platters that work with non-inverted bearings where the platter sits on top of the bearing supported be three set-screws where the spindle has rubber o-ring/s to off-set (some) of the play that is inherent in this design.

I use a square or something that I know is square (sometimes a business card works if checked for square, or you could invest in a dial indicator) to set on the plinth close to the platter as it spins. I've always seen the need to adjust the platter on the bearing by sliding it slightly in one direction in order to get close to no wobble or "out-of round" as possible. (With the Classic platter/bearing design, the only way for it to be off-center would be for a machining error, otherwise, there is no play there). (I find it hard to believe that anyone who's ever checked this, hasn't experienced the same thing.) This is why when I say the Classic platter is "self-centering" it makes a big difference. The only other possible measurement left to deal with is the precision of the machining of the run-out tolerances for the platter to run true, therefore have correct, consistent speed leading to more musical satisfaction. I believe, according to VPI, the Classic platter has closer machining tolerances that most older platter designs. (This is why I care.)

When one obtains more expensive, more closely machined devices... this is where a lot of the improvement in sound quality originates and separates good sounding components from great sounding components. (Another reason why I care.)