VPI Prime speed issues. Recommend an affordable speed controller.

By affordable, I don't mean the 1K VPI wants for its speed controller... which I still don't understand how it works as there's no sensor but whatever.

Anything much cheaper that would work very well and is reliable?

 

If it really has speed issues, surely it must be up to VPI to fix that for free.

 

Agreed. I've been following vpi for years and speed isn't a complaint I normally hear. I haven't experienced it.

 

What speed is it running?

 

Turntable speed controller

I have been looking too!

 

It's impossible to determine how fast it's running at but it's almost certainly running too fast.

What I'd like to find is a speed controller which can fix this issue for a reasonable fee. Spending 1K to get proper speed after all the money I threw at the Prime would be a joke.

I might be able to find a cheap tachometer which could confirm what I'm stating and by how much. From that point on, if people believe VPI should address it, I'll bring it up to their attention.

For now, I'd like to compile a list of speed controllers which would work similarly to the Phoenix Engineering one but without the need for spending 4 figures. Any ideas?

 

What a timely post!! I just got a Prime. I am very sensitive to both speed and off center pressings. The speed was dead on but after a few days it is running just a tad slow and it's driving me crazy. I haven't gone through this thread yet, but I would love to know how I can get it back to where it was without spending a grand introducing something else into the equation. My Technics was dead on for years.

 

Isn't that for sure! Sound Stage is supposed to call me Monday to see if they can resolve it. I kinda feel like for $4000 it should be running at the right speed without buying their speed controller. Geez, a U-Turn table probably runs at the right speed! For now I'm assuming it's something to do with the proximity of the motor, or a belt issue. Dang it sounds good though!

 

Either of these apps will help you determine how fast it's running.
For iPhone: Turntabulator on the App Store
For Android: RPM Calculator - Android Apps on Google Play

 

Can't you just move the belt up or down to a different step on the pulley?

 

Do you have a strobe disc? It's good to have. Also if your pulley is like my stock pulley was you have different diameters that will speed up or slow down, look at it closely.

I have a Scout and I bought the VPI SDS speed controller and it was worth. You can really nail the speed. I don't regret it at all.

In time you may want to start tweaking it may be an option.

 

you beat me to it.

 

You know, I'm listening right now and now it seems fine. I know the pully can self align. I wonder if it jumped a rung?

 

Was there any other benefit? I'm kinda ocd about getting add ons while you can get it but $1000 is extravagent to me for what I thought it would do. You must have great reasons to be happy with it and I would love to hear why as maybe I will have to spring for one.

 

I don't have an iPhone. The Android phone sensors aren't amazingly accurate, hence why it's recommended to take the results with a grain of salt.

 

Good luck with that. I sent an email 3 days ago about my tonearm issue and never heard back.

I guess once SSD has your money, you're dead to them...

Doubt I'll ever buy anything from them if that's what I have to expect as after sale customer service. I wouldn't be so upset if this was a $40 item. At 4k, you bet I expect more than to be ignored.

 

I also got a 600 rpm motor. I had a problem with minor motor noise and tried the faster motor. Then I was reading about the HRX pulley and guys were using multiple belts. With the HRX pulley you have to have the SDS to control the speed.

3 belts actually made more noise and I figured out the noise was traveling through the belt and by lowering it as low as I could go on the platter made a big improvement.

Back to your question; they say the voltage is locked in and will have less wow flutter. The one big cool thing you can play a 45 with a push of a button.

 

Wait what? Two of you here just very recently purchased VPI Primes at $4,000 per, are struggling with speed issues and not sure where to turn? On multiple levels, how is this possible?
Is it really true that $4,000 doesn't buy reliable turntable platter speed in 2017? If the dealers aren't helping aggressively, have you tried to contact VPI directly?

FWIW I've used a couple of different platter speed apps for Android and both seemed to work perfectly on numerous occasions. Strobe discs are also ubiquitous and easy as pie to use. First thing though is that you need to confirm whether a speed issue exists so that you can monster-truck-stomp whoever needs to be stomped in order to get these boutique machines working as promised.

My opinion only, but it is highly illogical for you to even consider extraneous extra gadgetry to control speed on such very, very high-end and expensive machines. It makes me shake my head to think of it, and yes, many of us out there own machines like the Orbit that have platters that run on-speed. How can a VPI Prime not be perfectly on-speed, like forever, in addition to playing beautiful music and maybe folding the laundry and making you an omelette?

 

Well, I get what you are saying and I would be a lot more upset if there were other issues but the darn thing just sounds so good! And they didn't know about the speed issue until end of day Friday so Monday will be the first time they will have to contact me. So, for me it's too early to get upset. Also, tonight it started running correctly so I think I may have pulled the belt up or down a groove. I know the belt can auto center so perhaps it returned to it's natual center and that is why the speed seems right now. I was monkeying around with it for hours setting up the arm/cartridge properly so I certainly could have done that.

 

VPI referred me to the dealer (SSD) for my tonearm issue. I'm going on day 4 without hearing back from anybody after dropping an email to Seth who was quite motivated to make a sale but doesn't seem quite as motivated to get back to a customer encountering issues. Not even an acknowledgement reply stating he's quite busy but will get back to me in a couple of days. Just radio silence.

This is all new to me. What I should have done is bought an Orbit and learn a few things before making big purchases.

In the last month, after extensive reading, I now realize I have a cantilever that had never been straight right out of the box, a tonearm which is defective, and my turntable motor which seems to run a bit too fast and certainly wavers to a degree I can easily hear. This is becoming more and more of a project and I'm frankly getting a bit disheartened at the extent of time and effort I need to put in in order to have an optimally running turntable and the ridiculous amount of ducking any and everybody seems to do when I try to turn to them for assistance after the purchase is done is making me doubt there is any customer service in the industry to speak of. It's also making a believer out of me to buy USED as I no longer have any incentives whatsoever in giving more money to people who don't care about whether I'm happy. I might as well save 30-50% off the price and buy from an individual who'll give me the same treatment. At least, I'll know what to expect and save money in the process.

Although I'm being emotional about this due to sheer frustration, I hope I'll calm down in the next day or so. I love great sound and going back to vinyl showed me possibilities I wasn't even aware of before. But I'm not a guy who wants to fiddle with things for hours. I just want a simple turntable that works perfectly so I can have tremendous sound at the end of a hard day and enjoy myself to a ridiculous degree while doing it. I'm fully aware of how carefully these things need to be calibrated... initially. What I shouldn't have to do is continuously monitor everything as if the turntable is some sort of toddler just waiting for the opportunity to cause trouble.

I'll have to confirm the speed issue with a tachometer because strobe discs don't work for me. I've tried a couple of apps on my phone and none seem to register anything with great consistency which renders the results useless. I can use my eyes but that won't do for this experiment. I could buy a KAB disc but that's another $110 just to get confirmation on how much it's off by. Android phones' sensors aren't as precise as iPhones which is the reason not much stock is put in the results but for the record, the result I got from using the RPM Calculator was a range of 33.4 to 33.6.

There's a video of a Prime on YouTube with a Phoenix tachometer. In its proper position, the Prime is running at 33.5 and varies in speed but hovering around that figure. Putting the belt up barely has an effect hence the need for the Phoenix power supply to do its job in administrating the voltage the motor gets to ensure perfect 33.3 stability.



Lots of music I listen to has decaying piano notes or guitar chords held for a while. Even perfectly centered records sound slightly wavy due to the speed variance and it's extremely disappointing that dropping this much coin on a turntable doesn't at least give me the stability that so many much cheaper turntables enjoy. I could go on, but boy... this has been a brutal education, let me tell you.

I love the sound and hate everything else ; how the tonearm is defective, that the speed isn't rock-stable, that the dealer isn't communicative, that I might very well be stuck with a 1K cart with a stylus which isn't centered, etc...

If I suddenly were transported back to a time before any of these purchases were made, I'm not so sure I'd be springing for a Prime, a VPI for that matter, or that I would buy from SSD at all. I'm now at an age where I find competence depressingly pleasantly surprising and would find it refreshing if instead of what I've encountered that I'd be met with proactive people who would take ownership of the situation and ensure that I'm happy in the end. All this nonsense... it's just not worth it.

It's past 2:15am, here. And I find I could probably rant about this frustrating situation for many more paragraphs. If by some miracle I manage to get everything sorted out and don't encounter any more issues, the bad memories will fade away, I'll be happy in the end and therefore change my viewpoints on everything I blabbed about above but for now, the wounds are still fresh and the lack of action is contributing to my ever increasing frustration.

I'm not an unreasonable person by *any* stretch of the imagination. Don't think I'm asking much, really. Merely that my expensive turntable works properly.

 

^ This is certainly reflecting pretty badly on Seth and SoundStageDirect.

If you're reading, guys, you might wanna get in touch with Strat and do some CS. Or at least let 'im know that he's in the queue.

The #1 reason why many ppl are reluctant to do the online thing as opposed to dealers is stuff like this.

Which, apparently, is a valid fear.

 

Hi this is Seth from SSD, I am set sorry about the issue and this is the first time I am hearing any this . I do not see an email.

I can call you today or you may call my cell 609-575-3400, please PM me your phone number .

My email is [email protected]

Thanks

Seth

 

Hi this is Seth from SSD, I am set sorry about the issue and this is the first time I am hearing any this . I do not see an email.

I can call you today or you may call my cell 609-575-3400, please PM me your phone number .

Thnaks,

Seth

 

Hi this is Seth from SSD, I am set sorry about the issue and this is the first time I am hearing any this . I do not see an email.

I can call you today or you may call my cell 609-575-3400, please PM me your phone number .

Thanks

Seth

 

Hi this is Seth from SSD, I am set sorry about the issue and this is the first time I am hearing any this . I do not see an email.

I can call you today or you may call my cell 609-575-3400, please PM me your phone number .

Thanks

Seth