Next step in Turntable

@unreceivedogma: Now get yourself the VPI SAMA (Stand Alone Motor), and you’ll be set! And if you can find a TNT-3/4 platter (a bottom section of 7/8" aluminum with a plate of cork-covered lead inserted into it’s bottom side, topped with a 5/8" layer of Delrin. The Aries 1 was fitted with the same platter.)---with dedicated bearing, that will give you a slight increase in sound quality over the HW-19 Mk.4 platter. Some like the TNT-5 platter (a bottom section of 5/8" stainless steel---no lead insert, topped with a 7/8" layer of Delrin) even more.

@bdp24 I have the SAM and … ‘a’, I presume ‘the’ … 3/4 platter. I was under the impression that those features is what converted the II into a IV. 

The HW-19 Mk.2 has a floating subchassis composed of a bottom layer of steel top with a 1/2" split-slab of acrylic (the split between the larger piece onto which the platter bearing is bolted, onto the smaller the tonearm), and a 1" Delrin platter with a thin slab of lead bonded to it’s underside and covered in cork. The Hurst motor is mounted onto the wooden base, as is the dust cover.

In the Mk.3, the subchassis’ steel bottom plate is replaced with stainless steel, the platter remaining exactly the same. Same motor mounting design.

In the MK.4, the 1" Delrin platter is replaced with a 1-1/2" lead-lined Delrin one, and with the better bearing from the TNT and Aries 1 tables. I may be mistaken, but I believe the 1-1/2" Delrin platter is also used on the original TNT table, and is definitely used on the Aries Black Knight table. I’m not certain, but I believe the base-mounted motor was still standard on the MK.4, the SAMA offered as an optional upgrade.

The 1-1/2" Delrin platter is replaced in the TNT-3 with the 1-1/4" aluminum/Delrin platter (still with a sheet of lead bonded to it’s underside and covered in cork) described in my earlier post, and retained in the TNT-4. That same platter is used on the Aries 1 table. That platter is replaced with a solid frosted acrylic platter in later Aries tables, not highly regarded amongst VPI aficionados, considered a major misstep on Harry Weisfeld’s part.

In the TNT-5, the 1-1/4" aluminum/lead-lined Delrin platter is replaced with the 1-1/2" stainless steel/Delrin platter (no lead in this one). In the TNT-6, that platter is replaced with the same solid acrylic platter as on the later Aries. Again, a mistake.

Confusing, ain’t it?!