New Air Suspension Footers for VPI TNT

FYI, the "squishy balls" that VPI is using in the new air suspension footers are paddleballs - specifically Reactor brand paddleballs:

Reactor Paddleballs

The good news is that replacements should be readily available at your local sporting goods store in the event paddleballs supplied with the footers were to gradually lose pressure.

With these new balls. How do you balance the table considering the additional weight where the arm sits?.
That has significantly more weight the the other 3 legs.
With the air bladders you pump up the bladder to a higher air pressure to balance it.
Do one of the balls have a higher air pressure to cope with the additional weight at the arm?.

Or do you then have to screw the back right leg up higher?

The paddleballs are all the same - they are literally the balls that are used in the paddle sport. Given that the paddleballs come packaged in the original Reactor canister, I don't believe VPI has modified them at all.

The pressurized balls provide suspension that is quite firm in comparison the spring suspension of my previous footers. Because of the firmness, the added weight of the tonearm does not cause the right rear corner of the turntable to be out of level my much at all. Unless your shelf (or isolation base) is perfectly level, I think you will find yourself using the leveling adjustments to correct the leveling of your shelf more so than to correct for the effect of the weight distribution on the plinth.

Balancing of the turntable is accomplished through the leveling adjustments on the four footers. The new leveling adjustment is in the form of a ring around the base of each footer that is rotated clockwise or counterclockwise in order to lower or raise the respective corner of the turntable. I like the new leveling adjustments better than the ones on my previous footers that required the use of an allen wrench to adjust screws at the top of the four footers.

I put in the balls on the HR-X. They work--more dynamic, snappier, better controlled bass.

Hi Gladstone,

Are the paddleballs a direct drop-in replacement for the air bladders, or are other changes needed. I have a TNT-V with the inflatable bladders. It would be nice if I could just buy the paddleballs, remove the bladders, and drop-in the paddleballs.

Thanks for your comments.