The Better Table?

Call VPI. They are intimately familiar with both of them, have heard them with a variety of cartridges, and are the best people to know the differences. I always found them very reliable in their assessments. I have a Superscout with rim drive and love it.

Yes..there were problems at the very beginning of the rim drive's release. It seems that the motor assembly must have soft feet, and the table assembly must be solidly seated. If the old solid metal feet are used on the motor assembly there is a speed fluctuation, and an arm instability. VPI now includes soft rubber feet. These problems are now gone. The rim drive is a very big improvement to the already excellent belt drive.

Cincy_bob.. yes...get rid of those feet and get the soft rubber ones.. I think they improved the sound of my VPI. Call Harry..he sent mine for free, and will probably do the same for you. Coming...is a new formulation for the ring around the drive wheel. Regarding your Silent Running base. Make sure the motor assembly is decoupled from the table proper. The table should be solidly anchored to the floor, but there should be a bit of "give" (the reason for those new rubber feet) to the motor assembly. If you have that..fine...if not..., get the table off of the Silent Running base and try it without using the above suggestions. You can always put it back if you like the sound better that way. I tried a number of platforms, and the way I have mine set up is the way I just recommended. Happy listening...

Side thrust compensation is the same as anti-skate. I should tell you, that after much listening, I have concluded that anti-skate (side thrust compensation) should not be used. First of all, it's impossible to set correctly, since it is constantly changing. All anti-skate devises intrude on the sound. When Harry at VPI said don't use it, and then sold an anti-skate device for his arms, I figured that it was a good thing. I can tell you truthfully, that the sound is better without it...that's true of a number of arms that I have tried. Perhaps you should try using no anti-skate (if you have a VPI arm, detach the nylon thread from the device. This will give you an approximation of its elimination. If you feel that you have to have anti-skate, by all means apply it, however, if you feel that you can hear no difference, remove the device completely from the arm (a real pain to do, but worth it) and listen again. When I did that, I heard an improvement. Anti-skate really dampens the label side of the cartridge forming an imbalance. ..also, all anti-skate devices resonate to some degree. Speaking of resonating, the Rega tracking force adjustment should be set to its maximum, and the vtf should be adjusted by moving the weight back and forth until the proper VTF is applied. That spring resonates. Using the Shure scale, understand that it reads slightly wrong. A more accurate way to measure the weight using this scale is to set the front 2 feet (the right side) so that it is off of the edge of the turntable, then proceed as directed. Regarding Gingko. They are very nice people and provide great service. I use their dust cover which transforms my VPI table to a museum piece. When I have company, the first thing they gravitate to with awe is the VPI turntable under the Gingko dust cover. You might try their platform...it just didn't work for me. The Gingko balls are not filled with air. They are of a material that is squishy and feels like a tennis ball, but they are solid material. I believe the TNT footers from VPI are of a much more complicated and different design.