VPI Rim Drive


Amongst the bills that came today was a number 10 envelope containing a new belt for the rim drive of my Superscout. The belt is a brown color replacing the black one and feels more "tacky" and soft. I pulled out the first album my hand fell on and played the first track with the old belt. I then removed it and installed the new belt, pushed the table to the motor assembly and listened again. The new belt is better by far. The layering of instruments was much more pronounced, although the width of the stage retained its proportion as before. The highs are certainly cleaner, clearer, and the whole spectrum is faster. Instead of hearing blocks of instruments, I hear seperate instruments cooperating in the event. Loud and thickly arranged sections are effortless unraveled - you can clearly identify all the separate instruments in the cooperation of the piece. Chords can be heard as separate tones contributing to the quality of the chord. Tambourine and other percussion instruments are fast and clean..the jingles are more delicate, brassy, and separate. The lows are more effortless...not louder, just at ease going down, down, and down. I encourage all of you with the dual motor VPI rim drives to get one of these new belts. It is a pain to put on, but you only have to do it once.
128x128stringreen
Johnjc,

Please post the results of the VPI Verus comparison. I am interested in hearing the differences.
Johnjc and Slowhand,

If the turntable comparison is not made in the same system then it's a system comparison... not a turntable comparison.
It will be made on the same system and we both will hopefuly balance out any bias towards what we own, we may even try them in both systems; not sure yet and not sure when we will get to doing this. But it will not be a system comparision
The new belt arrived yesterday, impressively fast. It does feel like a compound better suited to it's task. So far I only have about an hour of use on it but it does provide better grip on the platter with even lower contact noise. It seems every adjustment to this drive requires a degree of patience as things settle in but I'm expecting further improvement as it does.
Stringreen, how long did you run yours before you felt the belt was properly "seated"? So far I'm finding I have to dial up the speed on the SDS a bit to maintain the same speed.
..just an album or 2. I was very careful not to twist it during installation. I heard the increased performance immediately.