The biggest improvement you can make to your system is to quit buying the latest gadgets that VPI makes (and they offer 100 new upgrades each month that makes the last 100 upgrades from last month obsolete)and buy yourself an outstanding reel to reel deck for under $1000.00. I own a VPI TNT MKIII (sitting on the VPI TNT stand of course)that I upgraded the motor with the 300 RPM motor, ET-2 arm driven by two pumps through a surge tank, Denon DL-103R cartridge run through a Counterpoint SA-2 and then into an upgraded SA-5.1(both line and phono stage by Mike Elliot). And yes, I have a VPI 16.5 cleaning machine too. I could bring my Revox A-77 deck to your house and make you feel stupid for spending crazy money on your LP playback system that will not sound as real and as live as the sound that snaps off of tape. Sorry, but it's the truth. And you can tell me that your LP playback system is way better than mine which I wouldn't believe until I heard it myself (and mine sounds DAMN good), but it won't change the fact that tape sounds better and we have all been led down the wrong road by chasing our LP playback tails like a possessed dog hunting for that last thing that will take us to nirvana. I feel sick that I am a johnny-come-lately to the world of tape and that I have wasted my entire adult life chasing improvements in LP playback when I could have been investing in great tapes and decks all these years. So, instead of spending $1000 for a rim job, I dare you to spend $500 on an A-77 in really good condition and buy yourself some used tapes on Ebay and prepare to be amazed. Don't get me wrong, my LP playback system sounds great and it blows the uninitiated away, but it doesn't sound as real as tape. I can just imagine what 15ips two track tapes made from masters would sound like. Now that is tail worth chasing. As good as LP playback can be, I have never once been fooled into thinking that live music is being played in my room. With 7 1/2ips 4 track tapes, I have been fooled into thinking that I have been transported to the room where the music was made and that I am there hearing it live. And here is one more thing to feed that part of your brain that always craves that latest gizmo that you hope will make a startling improvement in your LP playback, and that is all LPs are limited in their performance and fidelity to the master tape because they have to be comprised due to the physics. Mastering engineers have to choose which songs to give the greatest bandwidth to and place them as the first 2-3 cuts on each side. The closer you get to the label, the less room mastering engineers have to work with and they have to cut back on the bass and treble they encode in the grooves. You start off with 12" of real estate turning at 33 1/3 RPM and you end up with a much smaller diameter disc still turning at 33 1/3 RPM and you simply can't cut at the same levels as you could at the beginning of the disc. So, ever wonder why the best sounding cuts on your LPs are always the first couple on each side? Now you know. Tape doesn't have that problem. The last cut can sound just as amazing as the first cut. The engineers can really give you everything the master tape has to offer. RCA knew that back in 1958 when they started releasing 2 track 7 1/2ips tapes and they thought it would be the death-blow to LPs. They didn't count on women and lazy men not wanting to take the time to thread tape. If you are crazy enough to put up with LPs, you are crazy enough to put up with tape. The payoff is higher.
