VPI arm damping

Hi Mike,

I've found that damping the arm to VPI's recommendations works much better than using no oil. Using the supplied oil, fill the cup about halfway, then seat the arm. Give it a minute and lift the arm, if you can see a thin strand of oil lifting up with the arm, then you know that you have sufficient damping. If no oil, add a tad more, until you get the thin strand upon the lift test. Go slowly, and do not overfill the cup.

I've had my 10.5 for a couple years now, and it is a great tonearm when properly setup. The proper damping did make a significant improvement.

Cheers,
John

hello john and thanks for the info, the itch to add oil got the best of me last night and i added enough to fill about half way, i found the sound got on the lifeless side so i took almost all of it out but a small amount on the very bottom of the well, the sound became much more open and airy, and better than no oil, on your findings what differences did you note when adding the damping oil, thanks again, mike

Hi Mike,

Well I guess it all depends on your cartridge/phono stage/amps/speakers. I know when I left the bowl low, the sound became thin and two dimensional. In my system, when the oil is applied as described, the soundstage opens up and becomes more realistic, especially in the midrange.

To each their own, but do keep experimenting by all means, and do report back on your findings...... it should be interesting.

Cheers,

John