I've spoken to AJ. The list of upgrades is not short and not cheap in the aggregate: belt, bearing, suspension, power supply, vector tonearm (to replace triplanar III) and vacuum. Still materially less than buying a new Debut, though. Not sure how much of this I will do, though am leaning toward all of the above other than the vacuum.
Unlike in the 90s, when he tended to downplay the effect of upgrades, AJ now "admits" that each upgrade is material, especially power supply, tonearm and vacuum.
His view on the vector tonearm, which has no on-the-fly VTA adjustment, is interesting. I had been brought up to think that to sound its best, every LP needs its own VTA tweak, hence the need for arms like the triplanar. I understood AJ to say that he has never heard any difference from record to record in adjusting VTA, other than perhaps records of different thicknesses. Ie, once VTA is set properly, there is nothing to be gained by adjusting on the fly, and in fact that it suggests that something is wrong, either with the setup or the arm, when improvement appears to occur when VTA adjustments are made on the fly and are different from LP to LP. I respect his judgment, but certainly this is different from many design philosophies out there.
In this regard, though, I have followed the thread on the Mint Tractor. It seems that most people who have used it now realize that their prior setup was off by a material degree. Is it perhaps the case that if the basic setup is not exactly right, then VTA adjustments for individual records might indeed make a positive difference in the sound? Whereas, if the setup is right from the beginning, then a properly designed tonearm does not need constant VTA tweaking?
I don't have the experience to be able to make a reasoned judgment. I would appreciate input from those who do.
