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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
mred
88 posts
 
Sonofjim,

When you said that yours "sounds fine as well" and then later you said "To be honest, I don't notice a huge change in the sound" it sounds like your just lukewarm about the upgrade.Since, mostly, the consensus has been that the upgrade was quite substantial; am I reading you right? I'm curious........ on a scale of one to ten how would you rate it? Was it worth it?
zenieth
381 posts
 
Mred, The Rim Drive beats the pants off of the belts, hands down. The upgrade is well worth the money. The new Rim Drive replacement belt doesn't sound any better than the original belt (OEM). The difference is that the replacement has silicon as a component and the original did not. To each is own in what they hear! If silicon breaks your bubble then have at it. Hype sometimes persuades the mind to speak way above it's means! Honesty is always the best policy no matter what! Even with belts that drive the Rim! :))
sonofjim
557 posts
 
Mred,
You misunderstood what I wrote I'm afraid. When I said I didn't notice a huge change in sound I was referring to the slight speed variation I note when I move or otherwise alter the rim drive. It seems to take around 6 hours or so to settle back in to where I'm happy visually with the results I'm seeing on the KAB strobe. During this time I don't notice any real sonic problems; that's all. Others don't seem to report this. Am I doing something wrong or am I noticing something they don't? Who knows? I do feel better to see a frozen display though and I can't imagine this table sounding much better. On a scale of 1 to 10, 8-9 easy. Much better than the original belts in my opinion.
As for the new belt, I agree with Stringreen that it is an improvement over the old compound. It has a better grip on the platter and turns it more smoothly with less contact noise. The strobe reading has settled back down for me. The change in sound with the new belt seems somewhat subtle but it's a worthwhile change for all the things I just mentioned. They sent it for free. What other upgrade can you do for that price?
stringreen's avatar
stringreen OP
6,478 posts
 
To these ears, there is a significant improvement in the sound. I talked to Harry, and he agreed. I suspect there have been many versions of the belt. My rim drive is one of the first that was shipped. Perhaps there are those with an improved original belt as compared to mine, however, in my system with the 2 rim drive belts I have, the newer one is significantly better.
mm2550
16 posts
 
Has anybody compared the Rim Drive to Teres Verus yet? I have a VPI Scout, but I might eventually might want to upgrade to a Teres/Graham Phantom one day. I think the Verus might be a great intermediate step to hold me over until save up for such an expensive upgrade...which could take a few years.

By the way, I know the Rim Drive does not work with the Scout yet, but this is a moot point, because VPI will a Rim Drive for the Scout is a few months...

Thanks,

Mark
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