@bpoletti Yes, you'd think "a small box swap-out" is a simple thing, but the problem is that to change it out you need to remove the entire tonearm. The pieces that make up the base two pieces of the "dog leg", the VTA tower, etc. all separate. After swapping the rectangle box, when you then align the base pieces they need to be at the exact same angle as before, but there is no way to guarantee the correct geometry. And guessing or going by sight alone will cause serious detriment to the ability of the cartridge to track correctly and do its job.
When I called Harry after buying the XLR "little box" asking for direction on how to reassemble the arm and pointing out the lack of markings etc. to him, he wowed me by telling me to send back the arm and that he would replace it with the then-new 12.7 at zero cost! He even told me to keep the old arm-wand and use it as a spare. That was great service. That VPI is no more.
A friend of mine is a professional musician for one of the top 5 orchestras in the US. He bought a Prime directly from VPI and for months knowing exactly what he should be hearing on most classical recordings, he had a strange polarity problem that resulted in weird soundstage effects like instruments in the wrong place and no depth. After checking & rechecking his cabling, turntable setup etc. and having a couple of friends do the same, they all concluded that the table was hooked up right. He called VPI's service mgr., (Mark?), and then Mat. They both blamed his mis-wiring the cartridge connections which was triple-checked, then the phono stage. So he sent that in for service, which of course wasn't needed.
After waiting for phono stage return, at the end of his rope with no solution in sight, I brought another whole analog setup over and switched out everything one at a time to debug it all. At the end of the day 3 of us concluded that the "little Din-RCA box" on his VPI arm was improperly wired inside the box. Mat laughed at the suggestion, but eventually agreed to have it sent back. Weeks later, a correctly wired box showed up and everything finally worked as it should. After that whole fiasco, I can't recommend VPI to anyone anymore. There are too many great products & great companies with stellar support to accept anything else. Yes, VPI has it's fans, but all is not wine & song. At least no one is suggesting that @jetson order one from advertised "#1 VPI dealer" Soundstage Direct. Cheers,
Spencer
When I called Harry after buying the XLR "little box" asking for direction on how to reassemble the arm and pointing out the lack of markings etc. to him, he wowed me by telling me to send back the arm and that he would replace it with the then-new 12.7 at zero cost! He even told me to keep the old arm-wand and use it as a spare. That was great service. That VPI is no more.
A friend of mine is a professional musician for one of the top 5 orchestras in the US. He bought a Prime directly from VPI and for months knowing exactly what he should be hearing on most classical recordings, he had a strange polarity problem that resulted in weird soundstage effects like instruments in the wrong place and no depth. After checking & rechecking his cabling, turntable setup etc. and having a couple of friends do the same, they all concluded that the table was hooked up right. He called VPI's service mgr., (Mark?), and then Mat. They both blamed his mis-wiring the cartridge connections which was triple-checked, then the phono stage. So he sent that in for service, which of course wasn't needed.
After waiting for phono stage return, at the end of his rope with no solution in sight, I brought another whole analog setup over and switched out everything one at a time to debug it all. At the end of the day 3 of us concluded that the "little Din-RCA box" on his VPI arm was improperly wired inside the box. Mat laughed at the suggestion, but eventually agreed to have it sent back. Weeks later, a correctly wired box showed up and everything finally worked as it should. After that whole fiasco, I can't recommend VPI to anyone anymore. There are too many great products & great companies with stellar support to accept anything else. Yes, VPI has it's fans, but all is not wine & song. At least no one is suggesting that @jetson order one from advertised "#1 VPI dealer" Soundstage Direct. Cheers,
Spencer