HRS ADH Record Weight

Happy New Year everyone!

I recently got the Harmonic Resolution Systems ADH record weight ("H" in "ADH" stands for "heavy") to use with my VPI Classic turntable and felt compelled to post my impressions as I've been mighty impressed, to put it lightly.

I've never been a tweaks and gimmicks guy, but agreed to give it a try when my dealer told me I'd be blown away by the ADH. I took it for a weekend trial and bought it without reservation. Everything was improved: the background noise dropped quite dramatically, the sound became fuller, separation of instruments improved, bass became cleaner and deeper as if the speakers gained low frequency extension. Music sounded louder at the same volume level. Everyone I tested it on noted immediate and same improvements, with or without blind testing.

Since the ADH was designed to reduce air and structure borne vibration, none of the improvements should be shocking, especially given the fact that I live on the 4th floor of an apartment building in Southern California, but I am still blown away by the degree of improvement.

I wonder if anyone else has it and experienced similar effects on their system. I'd also like to know what my fellow A-goners think about its potential long-term effect on the turntable bearing since it weights almost two pounds. Since I also use the VPI periphery ring with my Classic and the two combined doubtless generate significant stress on the bearing, it is of great concern to me.

Lastly, I find it very interesting that HRS states in the manual that the ADH is designed for use with tangential tonearms and non-threaded spindles. I'm still waiting for a response from HRS what makes the weight more suitable for turntables with those features vs. unipivots for example, if safety precautions are observed as far as making sure the cartridge doesn't come into contact with the weight at the end of the record.

Any comments or feedback are welcome.