The VPI Rim Drive

"threadcrapping"-I like that term. Well, I personally don't think most people know that RTR sounds better than LPs and that was my point. As for how many of your records from a 30 year collection are available on RTR, if you mean currently other than Ebay, the answer is 0. If you mean how many were available when the LPs first came out, probably many of them were. If you are willing to spend the money, you could have a RTR collection that numbered in the high hundreds if not thousands-never mind 5. Like I said, I wish I was hip to this many years ago so I would have amassed a big collection of RTR tapes instead of jumping down the LP rabbit hole where I hit all types of blind ends and got mugged while I was in there. And the LP rabbit hole has gotten deeper over the years and there are many more people waiting inside to mug you now and take all of your cash for some earth-shattering improvements that don't amount to a pimple on an elephant's ass compared to the difference between a really good table and a really good RTR.

I didn't mean to pick on VPI in particular, just the LP rabbit hole in general. And as far as Stringreen's statement that anything Harry has ever done has been an improvement over what came before it is flat wrong. I was told to get rid of the additional pulleys on my TNT table by VPI because all they did was add noise. So out they went and I capped over the holes with plugs from VPI. And isn't his "new" super platter a variation on the TNT MKV platter? Sure looks like it to me. Back to a metal composite sandwich vice the chunk of plastic that came on the TNT MKVI that was supposed to be better than the old metal composite sandwhich platters. And now rim drives are better than the belt drives that superceded rim drives. I wonder what old idea he will revive next to replace his past improvements over the old ideas? See my point? And I say this as someone who owns a VPI TNTIII and a VPI 16.5. I have also owned a JMW 9 and JMW 10. I sold them both to go back to an ET2 which IMO is a much better arm. As for your Gordon Lightfoot ephipany, when you say you hear "2 Gordon Lightfoots," do you mean his voice is doubletracked or that he has recorded two separate tracks that are spaced enough apart in time that it doesn't sound double tracked? Either way, I am surprised that it took the rim job to bring this out. I am going to buy a copy of that LP so I can hear it myself and hear what you are talking about.

RTR is a great playback system, EXCEPT there's never been an adequate selection of software. I got into RTR in the 1960s. Mail order wasn't what it is today, but it was tough finding the best recordings by the best artists on RTR. By comparison, today on SACD and DVD-A there's way better selection than there ever was on RTR.

LPs are also much easier to care for than RTR. It may seem like RTR is more trouble free until you get about ten-years into a collection in Florida, with high humidity reaking havoc. My LPs going back to the late 1950s still sound great (I always took care of them). Many of my RTRs are unsalvageable.

I've got a superior format to all in my system right now, 5.6HHz 1-bit DSD. Problem is, there's no software available, other than what I record myself.

Finally D2D beats R2R in my experience. Unfortunately there's the same problem, not enough software. At least you don't need a special machine.

Enjoy your rim drives.

Dave

I

Stringreen,

Did Harry mention what led him to reject alternatives to the two remaining rubber belts? IME the only advantage of soft rubber belts is ease of set-up-- and ease of set-up and consistency of results is a big consideration when you're a large manufacturer. I'm still hoping that someone with VPI rim drive will try threads(which are tricky to tension correctly) and report to this forum. I would be surprised if you don't hear an improvement.

I just saw the new Absolute Sound... Harry mentioned the new rim drive very positively and a full review is in the works.