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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 2 responses by melm

melm
1,057 posts
 

Just two points from here:

Your physical set up seems good enough.  Others may advise about the quality of the phono pre you're using.  It could be that a change here will do the job. You can probably try some with a return privilege.

I do not agree about fooling with VTA/SRA.  VTA is not a tone control.  There is one correct setting for the max information off of a disk.  I suggest you look elsewhere for tonal balance.

melm
1,057 posts
 

I agree there will be tonal changes when you change SRA. However there is a correct VTA/SRA and the tone accompanying it should be accepted. It may or may not be the setting with arm exactly parallel to the disk, probably not. As I wrote, it should not be used as a tone control if you want the max information off a disk.  Your choice, of course.

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