Anyone familiar with the VPI HW-19 Turntable?

[thedelihaus]

Anyone familiar with the VPI HW-19 Turntable?

Seems there's at least a MKII and MK III if not more.

All I know is they seem to have sported AudioQuest or Sumiko or Koetsu arms.

Dunno much more.

 

[Bob_in_OKC]

I saw one on Audiogon with a Rega arm.

 

[Tarl Of Gor]

I wouldn't mind having anything made by VPI. Pretty good stuff.

http://www.vinylengine.com/library/vpi-industries/hw-19.shtml

 

[vinyl1]

You could put on pretty much any arm you liked. I had one with an SME Mark IV, back in the 90s.

There was a Mark II, III and IV. The upgrades can be installed by the user. Parts are still available direct from VPI:

http://www.vpiindustries.com/products_hw19.htm

 

[markd51]

Shoot away with the questions, I know just about as much about the HW-19 as anybody. The others here, are Tedrick, and Muthafunk.

VPI doesn't exactly have everything for the HW-19, as they dropped support about 4 years back, when they dropped this model. Still, a good number of parts can be had.

Parts that aren't available, is the On/Off Switch, the Dustcover Hinges, the MK-IV-TNT Platter, that was black delrin-acrylic, with the Lead ring. no Sorbothane Pucks, or Springs left, just some cruddy footers they now sell. Plinths are not available, nor will VPI do any custom work, like Armboards.

The main heart of this Table, the Motor can be sourced from other places, rather than VPI, so it's not a "dead" table as far as keeping one up, and running for another 20 years. The Super Platter, weighing in at a whopping 25 lbs will fit, and as I understand it, Elusive Disc still carries stock, but not VPI.

Make a new Plinth, and any arm can go on, an ET Linear, a Triplanar, a Morch, SME, Graham, a Shroder, how much money do you have?

 

[thedelihaus]

Thanks Mark.

How did it stack up as a performer? Seemed a pretty good unit.

 

[markd51]

Thanks Mark.

How did it stack up as a performer? Seemed a pretty good unit.

I'll be honest about the HW-19. IMO, it is of course not the prettiest Table VPI made, is sort of dated, it certainly is not in the league of a TNT MK-5, or an Aries 1-2-3, but it is a very darn good table, a very tweakable Table, yet is easy to set up, one doesn't need a PHD in physics to play with, it is a durable Table, a quite heavy substantial, solid table, and attractive table with good basic lines, and if you've seen the recent pics of the new Classic, with the rounded corners base, this looks very similar to the HW-19.

With the right Platter, such as the MK-IV, or old TNT black acrylic lead ring lined platter, the sound is just beautiful. The Mk-III platter is also a good platter.

My HW-19 started life as a Jr model, with the 6 lb frosted clear acrylic Platter, Benz Glider HO Cartridge. McCormack Phono Stage. I enjoyed this table immensely for many years in this configuration.

I then went beyond, to 16 lb MK-IV Platter, Benz Ruby 3 Cartridge, VPI SDS Speed Controller, Sutherland PhD Phono Stage. Each one of those upgrades were substantial.
I swapped out the cheap rubber feet, for Brass Audiopoints, had a custom 1.00" thick solid Acrylic Plinth made, swapped the AQ PT-8 Arm, for a brand new AQ PT-9 Arm, and then came the ZYX Airy 3X SB Cartridge.

Again, the ZYX took this table into another whole new realm, dead quiet performance.

For the money invested, and since it was done over a period of a few years, I am totally happy with the performance I have achieved.

I see my biggest bottleneck in my system right now being the vintage McIntosh Amps. One day I'll hopefully either have them refurbed, or move past to more modern amplification.

I do highly recommend the HW-19 Tables, there are some good deals on them popping up from time to time. Find a really clean, well taken care of Table, and you can basically do no wrong IMO. Mark

 

[MuthaFunk]

I agree with all of Marks comments as well. I find the HW-19 has a very robust build quality that instils confidence when using it. I currently have a Rega RB300 mounted on mine and it's sounds great. The Mk.III, IV, and Super platters are typicaly the best performers as reviews have indicated. I have a Mk.III and it sounds great. You'll want to make sure it's been loved by it's previous owners because I've had very expensive problems with my MK.III platter falling apart. It must have been from past owner abuse because I've treated it with love. For the money the call right now used, I think you'll be hard pressed to find better sound quality.

Visualy, there is room for improvement. I had mine custom painted by an exotic bass builder:

The wood grain jumps out at you as you walk around it!!

 

[Tedrick]

Mark pretty much nailed it. The main reason I bought my HW-19 was the built-in upgradeability. You can tweak this 'table as far as your time, interest, and money will take you. Even better, VPI still offers some spare parts and support for this 'table, even though it has been discontinued for a number of years.

My HW-19 started out as a Mk III with the very serviceable Audioquest PT-6 'arm. I've since changed the platter and bearing to the Mk IV components; upgraded the suspension, feet, and tonearm cable; and added the stand-alone motor and SDS motor controller.

Though not very flashy, the PT-6 is actually a pretty good, medium-mass 'arm that works well with a wide variety of cartridges.

 

[markd51]

I was incorrect about one thing in my post, and that is, I forgot that currently VPI does sell a one piece Plinth, with Steel Sub Chassis, and I'm pretty sure they would drill the Plinth for a customer if they know the required distance.

There is a list on VPI's site, which shows what is still available for the HW-19

 

[Isotonic]

I have a Mark I that has been upgraded with a Mark III platter, sorbothane pucks, and cone feet. I have a Saec 403 arm that is very massive. Perfect for a Denon 103r. It sounds wonderful and easily outperforms my other turntables. I would like to get an Ortofon SPU someday.

 

[grinnell]

I just bought a mk IV over the summer knowing that some parts were no longer available but also knowing that most anything i needed I could source out or fab myself. I have the heavy platter and the sound is great, rich nice bass over my Pro-ject Xpression. I have made 2 armboards, thinking of playing with the suspension ( i have the heavy duty springs but want to try some custom cork supports).

You can still get bearings from VPI and I think they will convert platters from different bearing setups.

Great classic table and it doesn't look that bad

 

[markd51]

As far as I know, every Platter that VPI ever made, with the exception of the Super Platter that was expressly made for the flagship HR-X will fit the HW-19.

Whether conventional, or Inverted Bearing, Scout, Aries, TNT, and the Super Platter will fit without modification to the Plinth. The only problem which then arises, is achieving correct VTA height with Arm, due to the thicker platters, and increased height they have.

Basically, the only thing to go wrong is the Drive Motor, which VPI still sells, and one can I believe source this Motor from other companies for lesser cost.

One off parts such as Motor Covers if needed, Plinths, other misc parts can be fabricated from competent machinists, etc.

As Tedrick has discovered, the wonderful world of Herbies Products, in which Steve Herbelin makes-markets a host of suspension component goodies that can be very effective. Tedrick I believe IMO has found a killer combination with Herbies Iso Cups-Grungebuster Balls for Plinth suspension-isolation components, and I would like trying these myself in the future.

Muthafunk has found good improvements netted by adding isolation materials to the existing suspension springs, Motor Mount, etc. This Table is very accomodationg, and receptive to tweaking, and minor mods, which cost very little cash outlay to implement.

There's little doubt that a Tonearm imparts much of the quality of sound that can be attained with this Table, and I would think that although extremely expensive, a Graham or TriPlanar-Morch-Hadcock, SME, etc would certainly not be out of place.

The same holds true with a Cartridge in the same respect. With a good Arm, I don't think one would be foolish-crazy to have a $2K-$4K Cartridge on board a good HW-19 Table. Mark

 

[dminches]

Resurrecting an old thread...

Does anyone know if the phono cable is soldered to a PCB or is there a DIN connector?

 

[Descartridge]

My VPI HW-19 MK III, with Audioquest arm has a DIN connector.

 

[dminches]

Thanks for the reply.