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VPI HW-19 with Graham 1.5 arm Question/Suggestions

Greetings everyone, 

I have a very handsome, black oak, late model VPI HW-19 Mark IV with a black Delrin Aries platter.  The tonearm is a Graham 1.5 Basic tonearm sporting a Benz Micro MC Gold cartridge with elliptical stylus.  The tonearm cable is Audio Art IC-3 Classic phono cable DIN to RCA.

The sound is good but rather lightweight, neutral and nimble but polite, one might say meek with tight but lean bass.  It is not strident or shrill, or analytical, or bright.  Most of the turntable and phono upgrades I read about suggest that they will make the sound have more clarity, be more precise, more accurate, tighter, and lower the noise floor.  These qualities are not necessarily what I want. 

I would like the sound signature to be warmer, fuller, richer, more colorful, or more romantic.  

I am considering many options, including new phono cable, new footers, a platter mat (presently records sit directly on the Delrin platter), a different record weight-stabilizer (presently using a VPI Delrin screw-down clamp), a new shelf, and of course a different cartridge.

I welcome any suggestions from anyone on how to warm up or enrich the sound quality.

hoodjem

Showing 1 response by markd51

markd51
761 posts
 

I went from Sorbo Pucks to Herbie's Tall Tenderfeet. I used their extra firm model, a lot of weight with the inner Plinth on my HW-19.  They also make a standard model. I felt greater detail came, and better neutrality versus the Sorbo Pucks.

This though won't becessarily address a bass light issue though.  And likely an SDS won't either.  The SDS will address any speed issues, and perhaps lower noise floor of the motor a bit is all.

 

I'd say such is the Cartridge, and all that comes after it.   And such might take some sleeping on, and further exploration, with the theme of finding-locating your weakest links.

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