New Air Suspension Footers for VPI TNT

Well, I have managed to do some listening since putting the new air suspension footers into my system. The improvements in sound were:

1. Lower noise floor - I should note that, while I had the turntable dissassembled, I took the opportunity to clean and re-lubricate the bearing, bearing shaft and bearing well. This might have contributed significantly to the lower noise floor. Whatever the underlying cause, it surely is a welcome improvement.

2. Stability in Peak Passages - In peak orchestral passages when the typmani or tom-tom is struck, the sound is now tighter and more stable with no sign of "cracking up." With hindsight, I would say that the vibration from these sorts of musical passages was previously causing the plinth of the turntable to move slightly on the spring suspension, thus causing the sound to "crack up" a bit particularly in trailing edge transients.

3. Treble Extension - Again, apparently due to the pneumatic air suspension footers providing more stability than the old model spring suspension footers, there is noticeably better air and treble extension with the new footers in place.

Overall, I would say the new air suspension footers are definitely a worthwhile upgrade from the old spring suspension footers.

I just exchanged e-mails with Vihn Vu at Gingko Audio. The new VPI TNT footers utilize Vihn's squishy balls. A mini-review of the new footers on Arthur Salvatore's website (http://www.high-endaudio.com/) said the following:

"VPI TNT HR-X- One of my associates recently received the new (Gingko, modified, 'squash-type balls') "footers", which directly replace the original air suspension inserts within the four posts, that are used for isolation. He informed me that they definitely made some sonic improvements*, along with eliminating the annoying requirement to regularly pump-up the air isolators, which inevitably leaked a tiny amount of air over time. I don't know the cost and/or availability of the "footers" at this time.

*My associate felt the sound was "rock solid"; with greater "purity"; as well as more "impactful", "punchier" and "tighter bass"; and had a "more open and focused soundstage". He used the expression "greater solidity" more than once."

FYI, the "squishy balls" that VPI is using in the new air suspension footers are paddleballs - specifically Reactor brand paddleballs:

Reactor Paddleballs

The good news is that replacements should be readily available at your local sporting goods store in the event paddleballs supplied with the footers were to gradually lose pressure.

With these new balls. How do you balance the table considering the additional weight where the arm sits?.
That has significantly more weight the the other 3 legs.
With the air bladders you pump up the bladder to a higher air pressure to balance it.
Do one of the balls have a higher air pressure to cope with the additional weight at the arm?.

Or do you then have to screw the back right leg up higher?

The paddleballs are all the same - they are literally the balls that are used in the paddle sport. Given that the paddleballs come packaged in the original Reactor canister, I don't believe VPI has modified them at all.

The pressurized balls provide suspension that is quite firm in comparison the spring suspension of my previous footers. Because of the firmness, the added weight of the tonearm does not cause the right rear corner of the turntable to be out of level my much at all. Unless your shelf (or isolation base) is perfectly level, I think you will find yourself using the leveling adjustments to correct the leveling of your shelf more so than to correct for the effect of the weight distribution on the plinth.

Balancing of the turntable is accomplished through the leveling adjustments on the four footers. The new leveling adjustment is in the form of a ring around the base of each footer that is rotated clockwise or counterclockwise in order to lower or raise the respective corner of the turntable. I like the new leveling adjustments better than the ones on my previous footers that required the use of an allen wrench to adjust screws at the top of the four footers.