VTA Adjustments On Pro-Ject Debut When Using Acrylic Platter Upgrade

[supremetech]

I've created and am currently selling an acrylic platter that is very similar to the acrylic platter that Pro-Ject sells. I've been selling it for about a year now, and have just now been made aware of a potential issue that I was wanting advice on. I know it is probably unusual for a supplier to make a request in a forum, but I hope to use any knowledge I gain in service of the community.

The issue I've been made aware of is that when placed on the turntable the top of my platter is higher than the stock metal platter would have been. I had thought there was a small possibility that I had made mine wrong, but apparently this is also an issue with the acrylic platter sold by Pro-Ject. The reason it is an issue is that from my recent research, it looks like you can't make VTA adjustments on the Pro-Ject Debut turntable.

One thing I was wanting to ask the community is whether this is still the case. I'm pretty sure the older Pro-Ject Debut turntables cannot be adjusted, but do the newest Pro-Ject Debut turntables also lack the ability to make VTA adjustments? Also, how big a deal is this? Most of my customers have been happy with the acrylic platter, and I was thinking maybe they found a way to deal with it, or maybe as long as they didn't have a mat it was low enough.

The final question I have is that I found a VTA adjustment add on, which I think is basically a thin metal shim, and I'm wondering if I should recommend it, or even possibly try to produce my own for people. The reason I'm uncertain about recommending it is that I don't know exactly how well it works, or how involved it is, and it has a warning that says "Unauthorized installations void the warranty". It is sold by Pro-Ject. Here's a link if you are interested: https://www.project-audio.com/en/product/vta-it/

 

[bimasta]

Acrylic is probably made in stock thicknesses. If your acrylic is made here, it might be a different thickness than Project's (cm vs inches). If so, Project's VTA shim may not work with your platter.

The early Rega arms had no way to adjust VTA, and a whole cottage industry sprang up – shims and other VTA gadgets. You might look at them to see if any are suitable.

If you can make your own without infringing someone's IP – and make it cheaply – that could be one way to go. But it's hard enough starting a business (marketing, distribution, etc) I suggest you keep it simple. Good luck, and keep us informed.

 

[supremetech]

Hey. Thanks for taking the time to respond. They do make acrylic in stock thicknesses, but my supplier has the ability to slice it to an exact thickness if I need it. I've attempted to make it a near duplicate, and I thought the thickness was a match, but after this, I'm going to do another double-check on it.

As to infringing on someone's IP, I don't think there are any patents on the platter by itself. I searched the patent database at some length and didn't find anything. Also, there's a German company that is already making acrylic platters for the various turntables and has been doing so for some time from what I can see. I think the platters are generic enough that I don't know that they can be patented. To have a patent, you have to do something original, and a lot of different turntables use the same kind of platter.

As to whether the shim would be patented, or could be, I don't know. I kind of don't think it would be since I don't think Pro-Ject probably makes enough off of it to spend the money on a patent. I'm not super tied to making one, and I wouldn't really be offering it to make money. It would be more a way to try to resolve the issue with selling the platter. I'd be just as happy recommending people buy the Pro-Ject shim, if it would make my customers happy. The bigger question with the shim is whether it's something I should recommend to my customers. I was hoping maybe someone had experience with installing it, or just with using an acrylic platter and how it affected playback, specifically with relation to the VTA issue.

 

[supremetech]

If you can make your own without infringing someone's IP – and make it cheaply – that could be one way to go. But it's hard enough starting a business (marketing, distribution, etc) I suggest you keep it simple. Good luck, and keep us informed.

I wanted to let you know that I went head and produced the "VTA Shim for Pro-Ject Debut and Pro-Ject Essential Turntables". If you have any interest in it, you can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZH6134Y.