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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
johnjc
63 posts
 
I hope to compare soon In engineering terms think the rim drive wins as it uses a massive flywheel and using a far better motor, my friend had a lot more set up issues with his Verus and he is a lot more skilled around set up than me.
You could also change to a super scoutmaster the price is $350 not bad! just means you have to transfer bearing arm and platter I just went through a similar process as I had a HW19 Mk4 and keprt arm platter and bearing so now have a super scoutmaster with a old lead platter and the Terminator tonearm so not only did I get the upgrade from the rim but using a arm that is a lot better too
As soon as we do our comparision we will both print out our thoughts here we will use the same system to compare and put both our opinions in print so hopefuly it be as balanced as we can get it
mred
88 posts
 
Sonofjim,

Thanks for clarifing; I misread your intent. So, 1-10;how worthwhile is the Rim drive?
sonofjim
557 posts
 
You may have missed this in the above post, 8-9 I'd say. I don't really think anything deserves a 10 unless it's earth shatterring so that's a pretty good endorsement. Speed stability has normalized and the whole drive is more smooth and quiet with the new belt. I think I could spend tens of thousands more and only improve mildly, if at all, over the SSM with rim drive and 10.5i. Mine also sits on a Critical Mass Systems isolation platform which is another strong contributer to the solid performance I'm getting in my opinion. Set this stuff up right and it's hard to do better.
mred
88 posts
 
Sonofjim,

Thanks for the further clarification. That's a great endorsement and seems right in line with most comments I've seen.I guess I'm going to have to get a Rim Drive!
Now, the only question is do I need the double mototr w/flywheel version or will the single motor version(that I hear rumor of)do the same job?
stringreen's avatar
stringreen OP
6,478 posts
 
I don't think the single motor flywheel is available yet...however, it is in the works. Contact VPI for confirmation
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