VPI bearing oil/grease?

Frogman: Yes, the heavier, thicker lube makes for a less lively, thicker, muddy, uninvolving sound that makes listening a chore.

Dover: Thanks for the Motul suggestion, I remember now, hearing guys involved in motorcyle racing mentioning this oil.

On my Final Audio ( 22kg platter/inverted bearing ) I use the 5W40 (motul)

Dover, how do use this oil on an inverted bearing? Don't most use grease?

Brf,
The Final Audio uses oil in an inverted bearing. The tolerances are very fine and the oil holds. Reseating the subplatter/platter takes about 6 hours when I change the oil. In the 25 plus years I have owned the Final it has never run dry.
Most inverted bearings run grease as you say but there are some exceptions.

Dover: I purchased a quart of Motul 300V 5w40 and installed it as I've done other oils, as stated above. (The dealer had no 5w30 and since I found that (standard 40w) had the basics, regarding sonics that I like, I went with the 5w40). I put on the Classic re-issue of Peter Gabriel "So", (my regular issue is too forward sounding and the whole sonic frequency range seems to me not integrated well) it has always been somewhat darker with a little (more pronounced bass). The overall presentation is more "quick on it's feet", bass is not dark sounding and has nice definition and solidity, some faint inner detail I've barely heard before is much more noticable now. I'll post again after more listening regarding how it's done on various records but this is my initial finding to keep the thread going.

I've been listening more, here's my thoughts...

These type of issues shouldn't be of much consequence until one has established their own "life-time" system. By this, I mean, taken on a whole, you're system meets all of your requirements, room volume/system output, component synergy, an established reference cartridge/system adjustments for this, ROOM ACOUSTICS.

If you're at the level of what oil to use in your tt bearing, all of these (and probably more) issues should have been addressed.

Here's what I'm hearing now...

After all of my grease/oil experiences, I'm loving the latest Motul 300v 5w40 in my non-inverted VPI bearing, using a custom outboard motor enclosure and #2 silk bead cord. When you take as a whole, the different spectrum of recordings out there and with current ones being more "forward/bright", you have to find a happy medium.

Right now, the Motul 5w40 is my happy medium. I hear, especially in the bass region, more detail. There is also a sense of warmth, that on the wide variety of recordings, I translate in to this being a "go to" oil for me.

I could certainly see that trying 5w30 may be worthwhile. Only you can decide for yourselves. Me, for now, I'm going to sit back and enjoy, finally!