My final table , hopefully !

Many years ago I had a VPI HW16 (IV) with a Graham arm on it.  That was a very good table that is completely trouble free (it is still at work in a friend's system.  Before that, I had the older, non-golf ball version of the WTT (it had a plastic disc that sat in the damping fluid).  I called the WTT the La Brea Tar Pit because some bugs were attracted to the damping fluid and ended up being drowned and preserved in the fluid (too much trouble to fish them out).  I cannot comment on the difference in sound because the setup and cartridges, etc. differed.  For ease of use, the VPI with the Graham arm held an advantage.

I currently own a Basis Debut with a Vector arm and it is much better than the others, albeit, MUCH more expensive.  Basis makes tables that are machined to absolute perfection--there is no run-out slop so there is absolutely no wobble in the platter when spinning (if you look closely at most tables, you will see wobble or the eccentricity of the platter).

As for your candidates, they all seem like good choices.  While I had nothing but good experience with my old VPI, I know a dealer who sells their tables but doesn't like them that much because he has a very high rate of problems with their tables compared to that of other manufacturers; he thinks they make too many models and make too frequent changes to be really on top of the actual manufacturing of the tables and arms.  He likes the Clearaudio tables.  I have heard several models of their tables and I like them too.  They are, like the Basis tables, on the "darker" side (very low noise, good at damping ticks and pops on records, very composed sounding, but, not as lively sounding as some other table/arm combinations).

I have heard a lot of really nice sounding setups using Garrrard 301 and 401 tables and Thorens 124 tables.  These ancient tables, once they are properly reconditioned, will give MANY more years of trouble-free service.  I have heard them coupled mostly with Moerch arms and the current top of the line Ortofon arm.  These arm/table combinations are very lively and punchy sounding.  Most modern systems need this kind of pick-me-up because they tend to be somewhat thin and lifeless ("bloodless") compared to the old school sound I prefer.

Moonglum,

Good to hear that your table is working so well for you.  As I said, I never had problems with my HW19 and it is still going strong in someone else's hands.  My mild concern with VPI is not with the number of models, but, rather, with how often they adopt and then discard various basic approaches to design--frequent changes in the composition/construction of platters, changes in bearing design (regular bearings and inverted bearings), short-term adoption of idler/rim drive combined with belt drive, standalone flywheel, direct drive motor, etc.  They may be good at adopting new innovations, but, one has to wonder if they have taken the full measure of such things before they adopt them and then when they discard them.  Still, it is the result that matters and the tables I heard sound pretty good.

As to the floating magnetic bearing of the Clearaudio tables, that approach has been used before by some VERY good table manufacturers, such as Verdier and Gabriel.  Other high end tables float the platter using air instead of magnetic levitation, but, it is for the same purpose--to reduce noise generation/transmission cause by the weight of the platter grinding away on the thrust-plate of the bearing.  I suppose there could be an issue of the platter moving up and down, however slight that might be, but that would be a tradeoff made to reduce bearing noise.  I know of a few tables that actually use partial magnetic levitation to reduce, but not eliminate, the contact pressure on the thrust-plate which appears to be a compromise approach.

emailist,

The insect tweak is part of a comprehensive approach I take to just about all my endeavors--If I can get away with doing nothing, that is how I will handle it.  That is why I also use "dust damping" for my turntable and other components--I let dust collect on everything based on the convenient theory that this natural form of damping will improve performance.