What's your SDS setting?

65.75

BUT many years ago the rubber cable broke on my original Aries and I replaced it with a double run of fishing line.... Works great and maintains a constent 33.3

Tony

65.75? Holy cripes! I was told silk thread renders sonic benefits on VPI tables, but since you cannot move the motor on the Classic to adjust tension, silk threads or fishing lines will not work. I saw an A-gon member using the Teres speed controller/motor with a mylar belt with his Classic, which I guess is a very advanced option, but otherwise the rubber belt is it.

Regarding different settings for different platters, I think I might just send an email to VPI so that they can hopefully clarify it. I don't have engineering background, and I might be misunderstanding the role of the SDS, but it seems to me that since all VPI tables are fully functional and quite accurate without the SDS, it should not matter how many belts, flywheels, or what kind of platter you have as far as the SDS setting. It should ideally be as close to the standard 60 Hz as possible, and really used as a fine tuning tool, rather than a full-blown replacement for the power supply. Reading the manual, the SDS is more about the stability of the power than changing it.

If your current has a frequency of 60 Hz and you need 65 Hz to get your platter to spin at 33 1/3, your table would be useless without the SDS, which would be absurd. Less than 2 Hz makes a tremendous difference in the speed of the platter, and can easily be heard. I just don't see how this can be reconciled unless there is a serious anomaly in the power supply.

From my frustrating experience with lubricating the bearing on my Classic, it became quite clear to me that the platter needs to be optimally lubricated so that the SDS is not used to force the motor to work harder to counteract the resistance within the bearing, rather than simply supply a stable current to the motor. As the lubrication settled, the SDS is now set to 60.25 Hz as opposed to close to 62 Hz when I first used the bike grease. Both settings resulted in the perfect speed, but obviously the motor had to work much harder to maintain 33 1/3 rpm at the higher setting. That transferred to the quality of the sound.

If anyone has a deeper understanding of the SDS, please chime in.

60.14 for my Super Scoutmaster w/rimdrive.

I've never seen any of the VPI Classic Tables in the flesh up close, so I am unsure of this?

But I will ask, does the Classic's Drive Motor possess a simple two step (33-45rpm) Pulley, or does it have a longer "stepped" Pulley like I've got on a VPI SAMA Motor?

If it does have a Stepped Pulley, preliminary initial speed adjustments can be performed right at the Pulley first by moving the drive belt up-down into the number of grooves, and usually, one will then be able to set a smaller deviation from a reference 60.00hz at the SDS.

Probably doesn't make much of a difference sonically actually, but thought I would mention this feature if the Classic, or others have it? Mark

Mark,

Yes, the Classic has a stepped-up pulley with three possible positions for 33 and 45 rpm each. The latest models come with a different, wider pulley, and I'm not entirely sure with how many positions, but I'd think it'd be the same deal.

The different pulley positions are useful if you don't use the SDS as apparently there are differences in speed (Fremer found the top position to be most accurate for 33 rpm when he was reviewing the Classic III). With the SDS however, you just use one pulley position as you can make way more accurate speed adjustments through the SDS. Also, you want to use the same pulley position when setting the speed from 33 to 45; the SDS automatically adjusts to the higher speed (you still have to make small adjustments to dial it in perfectly initially), and if you switch the pulley position the speed would be way off.