VPI Direct Drive Turntable

Lewm,I apologize for not reading more carefully,... Years ago some of the serious and more innovative DIY craftsmen on various sites abandoned constrained layering using MDF, aluminum and various mass loading technics for other more effective materials with some involving measured results of various materials before building .

One of a few good examples is what Albert Porter and Chris at Artisan Fidelity use which is panzerholz. Extremely dense, difficult to work with and expensive but very effective even on it's own.

Steve Dobbins as a table manufacture took this to a another level with his own mix of materials for good reasons and all of it comes together with astounding results, a friend has one and it looks I may have to have one also.

My question for VPI is where's the BEEF,,,,,,,? the "majority"of your table is built from maybe $40.00 worth of material, two inches of MDF with a 1\2 inch sheet of aluminum glued to the top of it....the motor maybe fantastic however I just don't get how you arrive at .$30,000.00.,,,,,??

In-shore, so if VPI made the top plate out 1 inch carbon fiber at a cost of $1,000, you would be alright with the MSRP? Some manufactures introduce exotic materials to differentiate themselves from their competitors, and necessarily for improved sonics.

I would hazard a guess that ½" thick machined aluminum plinth bonded to a 1/8" steel sub plate, bonded to 2" of MDF creating a plinth cost more than panzerholz. Also, don’t forget the $30K includes the VPI 3D tonearm.

Nonetheless, still a lot of coin, but I guess that is the entry cost for that last 5% of improved performance..

Hi everyone, Bifwynne, really appreciate the positive words :) Not too sure about the Skala because i personally haven't heard that one enough. The Kleos and Delos (staying in the Lyra family) have both sounded fantastic in our listening room and I can recommend both very highly.

Suteetat, our Bangkok distributor has one on order but to our surprise this 30K table is actually on back order! We have 3 more US orders to make/fill then we are going to start working on our OS orders. Hoping to have some tables heading to your area by the end of February.

In_shore, I kind of agree with Brf; "exotic" and "proprietary" are not always indicators of exceptional performance. I mean no slur on the named companies in saying this. In fact, I too am a big fan of the Beat. (Have not yet heard any product from Artisan or Porter.) Nevertheless, the point is that proper engineering trumps everything else, IMO.

IMO, you can't explain away the retail price point of any piece of audiophile equipment by looking at the sum of the component prices. If you did this then Lamm components wouldn't sell for any more than a Van Alstine. So I never find an argument stating that the parts only cost xxx to have any validity.

Audio components used to be priced based on a performance scale. Now it seems to be priced on a how ludicrous I can get away with scale.