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New VPI 3D Arm

At last I have the arm in place and set up - though I think the tweak adjustments are still far from done. I had in place a VPI 10.5i arm with a Benz LPS, on a Superscoutmaster/Rim Drive with Bearpaws in place of the original VPI mini feet. The rest of the system is an Ayre K1xe preamp with their phono board in place, an Ayre V1xe amp, and Vandersteen 5A speakers. I set the new 3D arm with a MINT protractor, and a Fozgometer. The arm was sent to me with a standard rear counterweight of 120 grams that included a Soundsmith Counterintuitive to ease the setup. How Nice I said to myself, however, Harry himself recommended a 200 gram counterweight because my cartridge was so heavy. The new weight was sent to me, without the Counterintuitive...when I inquired why not, it seems that the C/I wouldn't fit the larger, heavier counterweight that was needed for my cartridge. So..off I go to set up the new arm. Let me tell you the setup is the clunkiest, most time consuming, most exasperating work, I have ever tried. I just gave up after many hours, and contacted VPI to vent. Harry told me that if I oiled the inside grommets of the rear counterweight, it would move much easier/smoother....and so it did, however, I would grade it as a D+...better than the F before, but not good at all. When moving the counterweight it still gripped the tonearm make any kind of precise movement a matter of luck. Harry told me he was working on (almost done - ready to market in about a month) a new counterweight system that would permit easy fine tuning with no problems. I suggest anyone who is about to get a 3D arm to insist that the new counterweight be included with your purchase. Harry promised me one of these, and I will report on these pages when I get it and how well it works. Anyway...probably most of you want to know how the new arm sounds. I must remind you that the arm is still new and really not tweaked to the nth degree. My first album told me immediately that this arm was completely different than the 10.5i (which I think is a great arm when set up correctly). The music from the speakers with this arm is completely relaxed....that hits you in face immediately. I'm not sure I can explain it further then "relaxed". When playing Paul Simon's new album with the 10.5i, I had to strain to hear the words to the tunes....which was odd to me since Paul's prowess as a poet is hard to criticize. With the 3D arm, the words and Paul's talent is completely exposed. Instruments are much more rounded and in their own space - individually...as in real instruments playing. Right now, I would describe the low end as a bit weak, however, the cables are not broken in yet, and back end of the arm just may be too high. After all of the aggravation and hours of setup, I'm not ready to adjust anything yet...just want to rediscover my vinyl. This is a work in process, and I will post again.
128x128stringreen
stringreen's avatar
stringreen OP
6,470 posts
 
Hiendmuse....no such issue.... I suspect that you have the larger side weights (the new ones) and I don't. When I sent pictures of my setup, VPI said that my side weights are fine ...but didn't really tell me they are the larger new ones or older ones. The larger weights give the arm more stability (although I really can't complain the arm tracks like a train).
hiendmuse
257 posts
 
Mat emailed me late last night and said there are different clearances between the black and silver color towers, so I requested the black VTA tower instead of having the side azimuth weights shaved down.

Also, the 180 gram counterweight specified for my Titan-i cartridge seems to be too heavy when including the weight of the CounterIntuitive, so a lighter counterweight is needed. The standard counterweight is a tight fit on the 3D arm so making slight and precise adjustments without the CounterIntuitive will be a real challenge and a test of one's patience.

Mat has been very responsive and eager to help take care of the 3D tonearm issues. I am impressed with his timely emails and willingness to address these glitches. Mat and VPI are a class act.
vpiindustries
18 posts
 
I have 35+ years of different models and slight changes that Harry made that I have to keep up with. I have been trying to standardize everything so current and future models will always be seamless. Actually I'm going to copy a part of the email I sent to Hiendmuse:

"Yes, the VTA towers were adjusted in their dimensions. From silver to black... of course this vital bit of information wasn't apparently important enough for Harry to share with me. (It isn't his fault he is doing the best he can to teach me everything.) Sometimes I like to think this is dad's way of forging me to run this company long term through fire and dropping little hand grenades for me. We can either change your VTA base which will make it so the side weights you have work, or we can shave the side weights on your current 3D arm down."

Also, we can avoid this problem when we are aware of the turntable model the 3D arm is going on. A lot of 3D arms that shipped out to dealers were for their own stocking purposes, which is an easy swap on the current models (the products dealers are stocking). On the bright side, you all can consider yourself pioneers in the journey to perfecting the setup and listening experience with the 3D arm :)

On a side note: Actusreus thank you VERY much for the kind words! I appreciate when people share constructive criticism but also love the positive reinforcement!
peterayer
1,382 posts
 
I just think it is very cool that a son would take over his father's business and continue to look for ways of improving it. Congratulations Mat.

SME is another example of a son having been groomed to take over his father's turntable/tonearm business.

I wish you and VPI much success.
hiendmuse
257 posts
 
I finally installed my cartridge onto the 3D tonearm for my Super Scoutmaster Rim Drive Reference table with Classic platter. I drove to VPI (about an hour from my home) and they helped get the right counterweight and made a few preliminary adjustments to the arm (Thank you Leo!!) as I was shipped a 180 gram weight for the JMW metal arm included with the 3D arm which does not fit on the 3D arm. They also changed the mounting base for my VTA tower, as the 3D arm was hitting the side of the tower on the original baseplate. The 180 gram weight is way too heavy for the Titan-i cartridge which was previously recommended on the VPI website for this cartridge. I believe I ended up with a 140 gram weight with a small fine counterweight adjustment attached.

The CounterIntuitive that came with the 3D arm was too tight on the counterweight and very difficult to adjust even after putting on some oil, so I did away with it, which made adjusting VTF & azimuth easier. I also started using the SoundSmith cartridge screws (aluminum) but found that the high profile made it more difficult to adjust azimuth, so I ended up using regular screws with tiny washers which came with the SoundSmith screws. All in all I spent about 10 hours installing the cartridge, as the Mint LP protractor is extremely precise with very thin lines.

I used the Mint LP protractor for this arm, as I had also used it for the 10.5i tonearm. I used a Fozgometer, a CartridgeMan digital force gauge and digital level, a magnifying glass and a good hand-held LED light (Larry brand).

I will make a separate review of the 3D arm, but my initial listening shows that this arm brings more music, more information, is tonally more accurate, and is more detached from the speakers with more impact and better attack, sustain, and decay.

I want to thank Mat and Harry at VPI for their help, support, and hospitality. They were truly great to deal with and helped correct the glitches with the 3D arm. I was also invited to Harry's house to listen to his various listening rooms with different systems- I thought I was in audio heaven- it was great to listen and spend some time there while my tonearm and turntable were being adjusted and corrected. Harry is truly a music lover and audiophile of the highest order. Thank you again Harry & Mat!!! You guys rock!!!
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