VPI Speed Problem


I have a VPI Super Scoutmaster with SDS. Fabulous sound, had it for about a year. I moved to a new place about 5 months ago and have had it set up and working well for about 3 months in the new location.

Recently, I thought the first song on some album sides sounded slow, but as the album played a minute or two, all sounded right again. Now, everything sounds slow all the time, both 33's and 45's. I tried bypassing the SDS, though there is no speed setting on the motor assembly, so I don't know if that should sound right, but it sounds very slow and muddy as well.

Any thoughts on what might be wrong or how to troubleshoot? Any insight would be appreciated.
kthomas
You have to check the speed over the entire playing surface of the record. Anti-skate force and drag will differ towards the middle and end of LP. That is why I use my ear to fine adjust, after using the strobe. Play an original LP and early un-remastered cd of the same title. It should not be hard for you find an early cd that used the exact LP master. Sync the sound and see if they track each other perfectly thru the entire side. Look, I'll throw you a bone, you convinced me to some extent. A rimm drive may indeed hold the speed more accurately. But I find constant prat and bass drive to be very distracting to say the least.
Thanks for the bone, I guess. My 12" tonearm has no provision for anti-skating and the shorter arm on the same table is used without anti-skating. I've done the CD/LP comparison in the past before I got the KAB strobe. It's a pain in the neck and I found that the spacing between tracks was dissimilar in some cases, rendering the whole thing inaccurate.

We have now gone WAY off the track. My apologies to the OP.
Problem solved - I got the white lithium grease and applied it to both the flywheel ball-bearing as well as the platter ball-bearing. The TT measures perfect 33 1/3 and 45rpm speeds.

Thanks to all for your help - a pretty basic problem, I suppose, but I am new to this and relatively lame when it comes to anything mechanical, so I learned a lot :-)