Burning In New VPI 3D Arm

[MylesBAstor]

It's not immediately apparent but the shape of the arm is reminiscent of a F-35 fighter The upper half of the arm is round while the bottom half is v-shaped and the very bottom is flat. Of course the arm is also tapered to the headshell. There are also no junctions as the arm is one piece from the headshell to the counterweight support. The fingerlift is the best and most ergonomically functional that I've run across. More to come.

The arm is unfortunately, not just a drop in and play. The new Unipivot bearing (without a damping trough "circle" and arm rest must be switched out. The latter is easy; the former takes a little grip strength

According to HW, the noise floor on the new arm is vanishingly low compared to metal arms. We'll see. Low weight, low compliance cartridges may need an additional counterweight that HW recommends getting from Soundsmith audio. Also HW recommends using Soundsmith's EZ mount in part because he feels the brass headshell screws damp the cartridge better than the Al or stainless steel commonly used; two, it's hard to overtighten the nuts and crack the headshell using the EZ mount; and three, the user can adjust the mass to the headshell by using the appropriate mass screw.

 

[mep]

I look forward to reading your thoughts on this arm once you have it installed and have had time to form an opinion.

 

[flez007]

Unipivots have a sonic signature that I tend to enjoy, more fluid and integrated compared to the sharp-razor extreme frequency resolution of good bearing arms. This one looks great Myles, let us know your progress and listening impressions.

 

[DaveyF]

Very interested in your thoughts on this arm. What cart are you planning on mounting? Also, how long are you burning-in the arm wires? I was told that arm wires only need a few hours to burn- in on a cooker, as they are conducting such low voltages that they don't take long to burn-in.

 

[MylesBAstor]

Very interested in your thoughts on this arm. What cart are you planning on mounting? Also, how long are you burning-in the arm wires? I was told that arm wires only need a few hours to burn- in on a cooker, as they are conducting such low voltages that they don't take long to burn-in.

I'm going to try 48 hrs. I assume that since there's not a lot of insulating material, break-in shouldn't take as long. I think the issue with tonearm wires is that they never fully break-in because of the low voltages/current involved. Even if overshoot, it'll just take a little longer to settle-in since burn in time is not an exact science. That said Alan has experience with a few cables and readily shares that info. Years ago used to rig up my tuner to the tonearm and that worked wonders.

As far as cartridges, I'll have the Atlas, Universe 2 and Proteus on hand. I also have the Ikeda 9TT but not sure how or if that would work in the arm.

 

[DaveyF]

I'm going to try 48 hrs. I assume that since there's not a lot of insulating material, break-in shouldn't take as long. I think the issue with tonearm wires is that they never fully break-in because of the low voltages/current involved. Even if overshoot, it'll just take a little longer to settle-in since burn in time is not an exact science. That said Alan has experience with a few cables and readily shares that info. Years ago used to rig up my tuner to the tonearm and that worked wonders.

As far as cartridges, I'll have the Atlas, Universe 2 and Proteus on hand. I also have the Ikeda 9TT but not sure how or if that would work in the arm.

That's probably more time than would be needed, but I'm sure no harm would be done by overshooting. I have a feeling you will be in for a treat.

 

[MylesBAstor]

That's probably more time than would be needed, but I'm sure no harm would be done by overshooting. I have a feeling you will be in for a treat.

Unless the wire melts

 

[kennyb123]

Is your 3D arm internally wired with Valhalla? Most of the pictures I've seen of these 3D arms showed what looked like their standard wire. Yours looks a little different - but it could just be wishful thinking on my part. I've been hoping these would be available with Valhalla too.

Burning in the Valhalla wire inside my JMW 10.5i noticeably improved the sound.

 

[Asamel]

Is this arm on the market yet?

 

[MylesBAstor]

Is your 3D arm internally wired with Valhalla? Most of the pictures I've seen of these 3D arms showed what looked like their standard wire. Yours looks a little different - but it could just be wishful thinking on my part. I've been hoping these would be available with Valhalla too.

Burning in the Valhalla wire inside my JMW 10.5i noticeably improved the sound.

No, IIRC this is a new, all Cu wire from Discovery.

 

[MylesBAstor]

Is this arm on the market yet?

http://www.elusivedisc.com/VPI-JMW-CLASSIC-3D-TONEARM-ARMWAND/productinfo/HW-JMWCLS3DW/

 

[hvbias]

Does VPI have any plans to make these in other effective masses?

 

[MylesBAstor]

Does VPI have any plans to make these in other effective masses?

Good question and don't know the answer. HW told me that all the cartridges he had worked in it well. IIRC he suggested adding mass via the Soundsmith EZmount or additional counterweight mass for others. I'll ask the next time we speak.

 

[hvbias]

Good question and don't know the answer. HW told me that all the cartridges he had worked in it well. IIRC he suggested adding mass via the Soundsmith EZmount or additional counterweight mass for others. I'll ask the next time we speak.

See if you can pry more information out of them about their direct drive as well

 

[Mobiusman]

No, IIRC this is a new, all Cu wire from Discovery.

Myles,

I just bought an Aries 3D which has the Discovery CU wire. Any thoughts if I should have it changes for the Valhalla?

 

[DaveyF]

Not Myles...is he still here???
However, IME the Valhalla is far more resolving than the Discovery CU wire and I would therefore do the upgrade.

 

[ack]

I have very high resolution with the Valhalla in mine as well; it offers exceptionally low capacitance and inductance as well