Bsion I'll be sending my JMS tonearm in on trade tomorrow towards the Fatboy. purchase. The trade-in certainly helps defray the cost. Hope you can get one for yourself sooner, rather than later. Good luck with that.
Mike
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Tablejockey, I’d like be able to watch how he does the setup to see what can be learned, I will note the brand protractor as you suggest, and if possible, see how he does the alignment. He mentioned he uses a computer program during the set-up process, so that would be interesting. I did the set-up on my current tonearm and cartridge, but have no idea if it could have been done better.
If you haven’t mentioned it already and I've shamefully forgotten, what cartridge and arm do you have on your Classic? I’ll let you know here once the Lyra Kleos comes in how it sounds in tandem with a Fatboy, compared to the current Ortofon 2M Black on my JMW 10.5i. tonearm. Hopefully the improvement will justify the cost and be worthy of some envy.
I need to find out how long the Lyra Kleos takes to break in or begin to start sounding as it should. My Magico A3’ speakers sounded just awful the first few times they were used. Luckily they blossomed shortly thereafter, and relieved the equally awful feeling in the pit of my stomach. Does anyone know if tonearms have to break in as well? I can’t imagine why that might be, but that doesn’t mean it’s not the case.
Mike
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Andirocks, thanks for that info.. Once the Kleos comes in I’ll wait a bit before posting here how its sounds.
Tablejockey, Its too bad that when you spend twice as much you usually don't get twice as goog with most equipment upgrades. Diminishing returns set in quickly with this hobby. I bet your Kiseki Blue sounds real nice though. I'll have to look that cartridge up.
Mike
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Badgerdms, so would it be wrong to think you don’t feel the Fatboy would be that much of an improvement over the current JMW 10.5i SE, as it’s limited by the VPI "house sound"? I’d be horrified if I spent $4500 on one and couldn’t hear a substantial performance difference. I don’t mind the sound of the current VPI tonearm, having nothing to compare it to. I’m only getting convinced it wouldn’t be up to the performance level of the Lyra Kleos.I really wish there was any place near here to go and listen to other possible choices as you suggest. But that would be too easy. Thanks for your input,
Mike
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Tablejockey, enjoyable is what I’ll likely end up settling on rather than optimum performance. The turntable you linked to is certainly a nice one, but realistically out of the picture due to its’ price tag. I put a bundle into a whole new system a couple or so years ago and don’t wish to continue spending on it.
However I think I underspent on a cartridge when I originally laid out a budget for my new system. So primarily I’m looking to make up for that oversight. I’m not thrilled that I should be looking for a new tonearm for my new Lyra Kleos cartridge on order. But I am willing to consider the possibilities if it would truly enhance my system’s performance, and fit my budget down the road. With the stock market tanking, inflation and other unrelated expenses, that may be down the road a good piece.
It’s interesting listening to folks opinions which are all over the place. But not to worry, I’ve a level head when it comes to making choices and spending resources. It doesn’t hurt to ask though, and doesn’t cost a thing. Since it’s a mutual interest, I enjoy hearing what you all have to say too. It’s not like anybody I usually run into would know anything about this stuff. Take it easy.
Mike
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Dover, thanks , I’ll check out your linked discussion straight away.
Tablejockey, so true. I do hear what you’re sayiing, loud and clear. Thanks. I’m forewarned.. It is all too easy to get caught up in this stuff. Especially when enabled here and you’ve a few bucks in your pocket. Three thousand for a cartridge has already certainly been enough of an expense. You can see how I miss the tempering influence of my late wife, who’d have shared your assessment, not to mention was feisty enough to have laid down the law. Good couple of posts. Made me laugh too.
Mike
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Mammothguy54, thanks for the tip.
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Stringreen, I meant to ask for comparisons of the Fatboy to other similarly priced brands of tonearms. I’m hoping for comparison to gimbaled tonearms only amongst those. I should have been clearer.
Fuzztone, you’re so right. The last time I tried to stay in a hotel on Long Island some fitfeen yeats ago, a hotel we stopped at asked for a thousand dollars for one nights stay. It wasn’t the Ritz either. At least we could afford the gas to get there then. Haven’t slept in the car since traveling cross country as a young man, but may have to take your advice if hotels in D.C. are anyway near that price nowadays.
Mike
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Noromance, me too. I’ve found vey few reviews online about Fatboys either. One review was more or less glowing, the other more reserved in its’ praise, Other were more short and sweet, along the lines of "Here’s a great new product". I’ve yet to look through the annual product reviews or "Best of" lists like Stereophile or other audio mags run, so maybe something will show up there.I’ve also found a little bit in Audiogon and other audio forums, but not a great deal.
The VPI Fatboys have been out at least a few years now, so somebody must have noticed them and have an opinion, Or maybe this thread can turn into a definitive exposition on Fatboys and their ilk in this price range. We’ll see.
There’s a lot of expertise here, So hopefully this thread on Fatboys will take off tomorrow and we can both learn something here. I’d really welcome peoples advice on a major purchase like this. On the other hand I may get lucky and make an uninformed, but fortuitous decision. More likely not.
Mike
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Gentlemen, below are a couple of pictures, front and back, of the model VPI Classic 2 I own. To me this tonearm set up looks like a fairly complex mechanism in total, that I’d be afraid to mess with. For those of you with expertise in this field, it may be easy pickings to deal with. But I’m not at the place where this is somewhere I want to go.
It is doubtless you could getter a better tonearm onto the Classic 2 readily with your admirable knowledge and skills, but please understand that process is more than I want to deal with now. So I’ll have to settle for less than the best, as long as the Fatboy is a reasonable choice.
At this point I’d like to find out if the Fatboy would be a a good replacement for my current tonearm, maybe not the best, but hopefully not the worst in it’s class. I am hoping this thread might address that concern. Mike’s suggestion the Fatboy is run of the mill, but certainly better than what I have now is more the type input I’m looking for right now.
 
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Thekong and stringreen- Thanks for your clarifications.
Anybody have any thoughts on the Fatboy’s performance versus it’s peers? Love to hear some .of your thoughts on that. Why did you get your Fatboy if you have one.
Mike
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Gbg4blu, I did read a similar observation in one review abut the unipivot Fatboy having a cleaner midrange, versus a stronger base response with the gimbal version. Lyra recommends a gimbaled tonearm so i guess i’d have to be happy with the better bass response.
Mike
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Lewm. The VPI Classic 2’s tonearm is composed of a number of interconnected platforms, arranged somewhat in the manner of how you might picture a split level house.is constructed. All the various platforms sit on a fair sized round disk attached to the plinth.
Its not readily apparent how the lowest disk is attached to the plinth, or how easily it could be removed to retrofit another tonearm. Could be it’s sitting in a big round hole, or screwed in from underneath, or some other arrangement. It would take some exploratory surgery to figure this out to see if another tonearm mechanism could be attached to the plinth. Might turn out to be something simple, might not.
It might be possible drill. three holes in the uppermost platform where the JMW 10.5i arm sits on it’s pivot to place another tonearm mechanism, but this is unlikely as the new tonearm would probably sit way too high.
If the Fatboy sounds a bit worse than any of the tonearms you mentioned, I’ll live with it, rather than take a chance on mutilating the Classic 2 turntable or otherwise making a mess. I’m either being realistic about my DIY skills, or simply. too lily livered. Appreciate your thoughtful suggestion anyway.
Mike
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Lewm, the more I look into it, the more the VPI Fatboy seems to be the logical choice. I’ve emailed VPI a week ago to see if they feel the Fatboy is compatible with the Lyra Kleos cartridge I have on order, but haven’t heard back yet. I think I read a Lyra cartridge was used to demo the Fatboy at an audio show when first introduced. But I would like to get that match confirmed by them with the current iteration of the gimbaled Fatboy.
They offer the Fatboy in three different lengths, 9’, !0" and 12".. It would be nice if they answered to be able to figure out which to choose.
Mike
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Dodgealum, when it arrives, I’ll be putting the Lyra Kleos on my current tonearm. The VPI Fatboy is going to be a future purchase for budgetary reasons.
Thanks for describing the way the sound improved with your 3D arm. the Fatboy likely delivers more of the same since it’s also 3D printed, along with other improvements. I read one review that said the same thing you described with your 3D unipivot arm. That is there is a more detailed performance than you ger with the gimbaled arm, With the gimbaled Fatboy the trade off is described is a more solid base response than you get with he unipivot. Guess you can’t have both..
Did your 3D come with a choice of arm lengths? I was reading up yesterday on why you might chose one length over the other of the three different lengths VPI offers the Fatboy in of 9", !0" or 12". It’s another complexity to try and understand.
Mike
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Mijostyn and lewm . For the reasons mentioned a few posts back, I’ve decided not to perform any major or minor surgery on the turntable to install another tonearm. I will instead wait until I feel comfortable budgeting the resources to purchase the gimbaled VPI Fatboy, which drops right into the current tonearm’s base as an upgrade..
Although it would be easy for either of you to do otherwise it this was your turntable, it’s more involved than I’d like to get. I do most things on a DIY basis, right down to building my own home, but I’m not going to mess with this. In any event this thread is about how the VPT Fatboy performs relative to other tonearms in it's price range.
Mike
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Lewm, if the consensus was the Fatboy performs way worse than other cartridges in its’ price range, then i would reconsider going that direction. That’s why i started this thread. I do appreciate you and others taking your time to make suggestions to help me figure out the best way to proceed.. Thanks again,
Mike
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Bill, will do, and thanks.
Mike
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Thank you Bill, that's encouraging to hear. Glad yours' has been reliable too. So many products aren't,
Mike
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Took the plunge today. One gimbaled VPI Fatboy is now on order. Hopefully it will sound great coupled with a Lyra Kleos cartridge also on order. What a splurge to get both. See you all in bankruptcy court.
Thank you all for your advice, encouragement and occasional lambasting. Couldn't have figured out what to do without your guidance over three threads. I learned a lot in the process
Mike.
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Thanks mijostyn. I’m thinking you made a good recommendation on the Lyra Kleos cartridge from the research I did. Hopefully the gimbaled Fatboy will nicely complement it, even though it might not measure up to the quality of your tonearm.
Did you have to wait a while to get your Lyra cartridge when you purchased yours? The seller was guesstimating three months to be built and shipped from Japan, but another person online said he had to wait five. At least the Fatboy should get here quickly as it’s only coming from VPI in New Jersey. With any luck the. Kleos will be here June 1.
Did it take long for your Lyra to break in once you started using it? One thread here claimed it took 50-100 hours for an MC cartridge to fully do so.
Mike
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Tablejockey- luckily the dealer selling me the Fatboy will be doing the installation and setup once the new Lyra Kleos arrives, so I’m in luck there.
Stringreen, I think the gimbaled Fatboy will bolt on with a single nut into the hole where the unipivot point currently resides, once removed. So it should be quite simple to install..
Below is a VPI Youtube video on how this is done for anyone's reference. The simplicity of this install was a big reason I ended up choosing the Fatboy. Videos like this are computer age equivalents to the "Volkswagen Repair for Idiots" book that got me through four years of college with my '59 Beetle.
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Badgerdms. I’ll keep you posted here. The Fatboy has come in at the dealer, but I’ve still probably a couple more months before the Lyra Kleos finally gets here from Japan. Then I’ll have both installed by the dealer and be able to report something to you all.
Glad to hear you had good results with your choices. How did your Pure Harmony setup compare with what you had with the VPI Classic 1, and what cartridge and arm did you have on the Classic 1 if you don’t mind my asking? My Classic 2 is so new to me, and such a major purchase after 40+ years with my old Bang and Olufsen Beogram 4002, I couldn’t bear even thinking of swapping it out, though you might have made a wiser choice by doing so.
Mike
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Todd, thank you for sharing your experience with your gimbaled Fatboy. I hope my results are as good as yours.. I’ll listen for the qualities you describe when the Lyra Kleos cartridge finally arrives. The Fatboy is already at the dealer who’ll be doing the installation and set-up once it does. I’m not going to attempt to set it up with my current cartridge first.
I looked into the Soundsmith Pau you have but it was unfortunately not compatible with my Luxman’s 507uX Mk2’s integrated amp’s built in phono stage setting. VPI indicated the Lyra Kleos wihich does match would by compatible. I read VPI has used Lyra carts to demo products at shows.
I hear you on the issue of not trusting your hands when placing and removing the tonearm/cart on a record. I hate that process too, as I notice a decrease in fine motor control at age seventy. Taking the arm off a record after it is done playing is much less nerve wracking though since I acquired a "Little Fwend" tonearm lift.
Mike
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Ghdprentice, Congrats on your new tonearm. Glad to hear you’re getting some real enjoyment out of your upgrade. What differences have you experienced listening to your records with the new Ekos SE arm installed?.
That’s a lot of records you have. I think I’ve maybe up to 1500 LP’s, but rarely buy any anymore, since used CD’s are some much more reasonably priced and usually in pristine condition, unlike used vinyl.
I’m hoping the Lyra Kleos cartridge will be in by the end of May so I can take a listen to how it will sound on the Fatboy.
Stringreen, I hope the Fatboy sounds better than what you describe. I’d hate to have wasted the thousands it cost. Most reviewers and Audiogoners have indicated it should be a significant upgrade over the 10.5 arm, but the proof will be in the pudding. We’ll see.
Mike
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Noromance, you’re no doubt correct, but it shouldn’t make much difference in my case knowing to know which is doing what, as it’s highly doubtful I’ll ever be upgrading these components again. I’m just hoping together they make a significant improvement, that is if the Lyra Kleos ever comes in from Japan to actually find out.
I’ve been waiting 4-1/2 months now for delivery. Anybody else order one of these and had to wait so long? I found one comment online about someone waiting six months for another Lyra cartridge. This is definitely trying my nonexistent patience.
Mike
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