VPI Hw-19 Jr. Thoughts?

As much as I would like to consider a SOTA, there are no dealers in my area and I want to test the table in my system first.

I had a VPI HW19 jr and while it was a nice table, it was somewhat of an entry table. It bought one to upgrade from a Music Hall MMF-5 and wasn't overwhelmed. It's a sturdy table, but I think most folks want them because they can be upgraded to the better models. That's my 2 cents fwiw.

FWIW, I wouldn't sell my VPI HW-19 for anything. It is somewhat of a custom build, but that's the nice thing about the HW-19 tables. You can upgrade/modify them with better platters, plinths, arm boards, motors, feet, suspension, arms, etc.

I was a VPI dealer for many years and have personally owned 40-50 different HW-19s. I LOVE this table.

Are there better tables out there? Sure, but the current prices for the HW-19 make it a wonderful buy.

Great table,I have a MK3 and have enjoyed it for 15 years.Put a nice tonearm and cartridge on it and you will have a first class system!

The HW19 Jr. is not the same as a HW19 MK?. The Jr. uses an inferior bearing, platter and chassis. If you want the speed stability and tonal fullness of a full fledged HW19, the only thing you can keep from Jr. is the plinth (outer wooden box). I found the Jr. to have unacceptable speed stability issues and lacked the low end weight of the HW19 MK2; and certainly nowhere near that of the MK4. I would not consider the Jr. to be an upgrade from what you have at all. Go to AudioAsylum (and here) and read the various threads about the various iterations of this table before you decide to try and upgrade a Jr. to a full fledged 19 MK?; it is not that easy to find the chassis, platter and bearing upgrades. The HW19 is a very good table. Good luck.