In 1986 I bought an HW-19 Turntable and an HW-17 record cleaning machine. The turntable has needed only routine lube for the bearing and the occasional belt. The record cleaning machine needed service due to operator error (that would be me using too much cleaning fluid) about 30 years ago. It has been fine ever since. VPI sponsors a very helpful forum that you might want to visit on their website where you will get an idea of the kinds of questions and issues that owners share. VPI is a great little company. I also own a Prime and am happy with it too, as well as a Technics SL1200GAE, which is also excellent. You can't go wrong with any of these.
VPI 40th Anniversary Table After Warranty Support Question
Hey guys. I am new here and I wanted to bring up a "thought question/experiment". While talking with a friend about turntables, I brought up the new VPI 40th. My friend mentioned a few interesting points that made me think before jumping on it.
The main question is "What will the after warranty service be like?". Will VPI continue to support this table after the 5 year warranty and for how long? This product is a limited run item so it brings up the question of will there still be parts or replacements for it after 6, 10 or even 20 years? Would it even make sense to stock extra direct drive motors for that long? Would there be applicable "aftermarket" options?
We can reference the Traveler turnable, which started selling in 2012-2013 but discontinued not even 5 years after, as a cautionary tale. Other members on this site have tried to get their Traveler tonearms repaired through VPI only to be told that they cannot be fixed because there are not replacement parts to fix it.. A replacement "used" arm would cost $500, almost the same amount as the resell value of the table itself. This also shows a severe depreciation in value (about 50% drop from MSRP) for the Traveler. In a broader light, are people still able to acquire parts, like the bearing, at a reasonable price for older tables (HRX, TNT, Aries, Classic, HW-19 or HW-17/27) from VPI?
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/vpi-turntable-repair
The other question refers to the reliability of the table. Even with a 5 year warranty, nobody wants to have to use it. VPI is pretty well known for "1st gen" problems. Easy examples are again the Traveler, but also newer products like the ADS,the Nomad, and even the Prime tables. And a constantly revolving issue is the 3D tonearm, with the most recent issue being leakage.
http://vpiforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=9674
http://vpiforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=10772
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/need-help-and-advice-on-a-vpi-3d-arm
With a limited run table like the 40th, it would be pretty costly to redesign a V2 version. Have they performed an extensive quality check? Or will problems start to arise 1 year after? And if problems can hold out past the 5 years, how costly would it be to the user? Or would there be no parts for it?
Similar, but obscure discussions were brought up about the Voyager Preamplifier, which I have only seen article reviews of but no customer/ end user feedback. Any information on is also limited to 2017, nothing in 2018.
http://vpiforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=9514
So what are your thoughts on the new VPI turntable?
The main question is "What will the after warranty service be like?". Will VPI continue to support this table after the 5 year warranty and for how long? This product is a limited run item so it brings up the question of will there still be parts or replacements for it after 6, 10 or even 20 years? Would it even make sense to stock extra direct drive motors for that long? Would there be applicable "aftermarket" options?
We can reference the Traveler turnable, which started selling in 2012-2013 but discontinued not even 5 years after, as a cautionary tale. Other members on this site have tried to get their Traveler tonearms repaired through VPI only to be told that they cannot be fixed because there are not replacement parts to fix it.. A replacement "used" arm would cost $500, almost the same amount as the resell value of the table itself. This also shows a severe depreciation in value (about 50% drop from MSRP) for the Traveler. In a broader light, are people still able to acquire parts, like the bearing, at a reasonable price for older tables (HRX, TNT, Aries, Classic, HW-19 or HW-17/27) from VPI?
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/vpi-turntable-repair
The other question refers to the reliability of the table. Even with a 5 year warranty, nobody wants to have to use it. VPI is pretty well known for "1st gen" problems. Easy examples are again the Traveler, but also newer products like the ADS,the Nomad, and even the Prime tables. And a constantly revolving issue is the 3D tonearm, with the most recent issue being leakage.
http://vpiforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=9674
http://vpiforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=10772
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/need-help-and-advice-on-a-vpi-3d-arm
With a limited run table like the 40th, it would be pretty costly to redesign a V2 version. Have they performed an extensive quality check? Or will problems start to arise 1 year after? And if problems can hold out past the 5 years, how costly would it be to the user? Or would there be no parts for it?
Similar, but obscure discussions were brought up about the Voyager Preamplifier, which I have only seen article reviews of but no customer/ end user feedback. Any information on is also limited to 2017, nothing in 2018.
http://vpiforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=9514
So what are your thoughts on the new VPI turntable?