Vinyl Asylum: REVIEW: Pete Riggle Audio VTAF Tone Arms by tubesforever

Model:	VTAF
Category:	Tone Arms
Suggested Retail Price:	$125.00+shipping
Description:	VTA on the Fly
Manufacturer URL:	Not Available
Manufacturer URL:	Not Available

Review by tubesforever ( A ) on June 08, 2005 at 21:46:10
IP Address: 24.176.178.84

Add Your Review
for the VTAF

Like many of you out there I love music. I am eclectic in my tastes. I can enjoy a Mozart piece, then listen to U-2 hammer out a great ballad. I have been spinning records since I was 5. 43 years later I still have a love hate relationship with vinyl.
What has always bugged me the most is that every album is so different. Different gram weights of vinyl. Different vinyl density. Different heights. Different groove widths. Different sound from one to the next. It is enough to make you laugh and cry. If you love vinyl then you know exactly what I am saying.
I am dialing in a highly modified "new" table, tone arm, and wiring. In this process I came across Pete Riggles' VTAF. I read the description, looked at the photographs and came to the conclusion that it was too good to be true. If it was half as good as he claims I would be really happy with the VTAF.
As for my background, I have sold scientific instruments for 13 years. I have a decent background in electronics, some engineering experience, some physics, and 5 years of high end audio sales experience. I have heard, sold, and set up some really awesome gear. Some stuff that a few of you lucky audio asylum fanatics own and love....or hate.
So when my VTAF arrived I carefully modified my Kenwood KD-500 tonearm mounting board for its bronze bearing insert. This took 1/2 an hour to an hour of sanding. Be patient. Get it right the first time.
I then ran out to modify the Kenwood tonearm base to accept the VTAF which was made for a Rega arm base. This was easier than I thought it would be. Some bronze bushings and some careful attention to installation and it was ready to run. I plugged it all in, dropped the arm to the bushing and sat back to listen to some favorite records.
Oh my gawd..... Heaven help us all.
Folks I have spent 43 years listening to compromised sound until today. All those wasted years of vinyl madness. Living with mediocre sounding records that I wished would sound like real music.
Now I am listening to my new VTAF and a simple adjustment up or down and the sound just snaps in place. You can hear it clearly if your table is between your speakers like mine is. There I am listening for the first time and my initial impression is "wow the bass is clear, tight, and perfectly extended."
If you have played live music like I do then you relish the sound of an upright bass both plucked or bowed. It growls. There is no boom boom or whoosh. There is an attack, a rising of frequency and a decay into the abyss. This is the natural doppler effect of sound as it compresses the air and then decays. It is natural.
The VTAF nailed the bass perfectly. So well that I still cannot believe it. Bass is the hardest thing for your table to reproduce accurately. And the VTAF allows you to nail the bass perfectly on every album you own.
Now with the improvement to the bass register, I was expecting the midbass to be light and unnatural. If the low bass got so tight and responsive -- literally it growled -- then I figure the mid bass would have a lighter shift too. Boy was I wrong. The midbass now had flesh. You could hear the skin on the fingertips slip past the bass strings as it was plucked. I never heard this before on my recordings. You could hear the flesh of a finger. Just awesome.
When it came to the voice I am still in disbelief. I could hear a human head singing to me from center stage, not a voice coming from between the speakers but the actual head. I have heard other reviewers describe this phenomena. These reviewers would explain how they would go from one recording to next just to see if this was repeatable. Folks it is pure fun to hear the singer right there in your room, mouthing the vocals of your favorite songs. On Sara Mac Laughlin I can hear her modulate her notes by changing the shape of her mouth. She twists her jaw as she sings and you can see her doing it in your sound field.
On the the upper midrange. This is where most high fidelity systems usually leave me wanting much better quality. Many systems I listen to have an upper mid range that sounds like cheap white noise.
Here is what I heard from the VTAF. I heard the drummer pressing the brushes into his cymbals. I hear his sticks being swirled on the drum heads instead of being struck against them. I could hear the percussion like you would expect to hear in the recording venue. With pace and rhythem, and emotion. This is so seductive. I love percussion. It is the heart beat of many genres of music. Well percussion lives and breathes in the upper midrange and the VTAF gave it to me in a totally live and realistic way. Just listen to some well recorded drum music and you will hear new magic you never heard before.
Now for the high frequencies, my complaint for most systems is that it is just a splash. In real live music the highs never assault you. They wash over you pleasantly in a way that reminds me of waves lapping against the shore line. High frequencies are critical to hearing the room response. Like low bass they help you define the recording venue. You hear the floor, the walls, the ceiling, and the audience if it is a live recording. The VTAF so improved my high frequency sound that I was transfixed. Really. I sat there in total disbelief. Never have I heard vinyl get a cymbal, a triangle, or a transient so accurately.
Today I get to listen to every record as if for the very first time. That is how dead on accurate the VTAF lets you nail each and every record. Look every record is thicker or thinner. VTAF lets you dial the sound perfectly every single time.
Every record is more or less dense. You can alter the VTAF so that it will make a thick sounding album sound more dry, or a dry record sound more full. I find some of my more marginal recordings of great music are more listenable--but still flawed.
Some grooves are steeper and some wider. VTAF will let you adjust the sound so the voices are perfect. Everything sounds better when you nail the VTA and you can do it in seconds. Then adjust it up, then adjust it down. You will not believe that 1-3 degrees up or down will effect the music how it does. But your ears will not deceive you. VTAF is the answer to getting more smiles out of every moment you listen to Vinyl.
So in summary the upside is your VTAF will reward you with the most natural, realistic, and high fidelity experience you could ever imagine.
The downside is that you will want to upgrade your turntable arms and cartridges to eek out the last bit of perfection you can muster. But isn't this why we love and hate high fidelity in the first place. We are all creatures who love music. We live and breath to feel those hairs rise up on the back of our necks. To sit there enjoying the loving performance of the artists we most admire.
I think you owe it to yourself to try this VTAF. It has made the most impressive change to my vinyl listening experience I have ever heard. I believe you will hear the difference with any arm you own and with any table you modify to accept it. I hope you will be brave enough to experience VTAF for yourself.
From a physics standpoint, decoupling the arm from your plinth is absolutely a good thing. It is so easy to do with this VTAF that I shake my head that no one did this back in the 50's or 60's. If you have a different brand of VTAF that does not decouple your arm from the plinth, then this VTAF may be just the sonic answer you are hoping for.
So Kudos to Pete Riggle Audio for a great contribution to this full fledged audiophile, musician, and tweaker addict. This is one purchase that I will never regret. It literally did everything better! Better low bass, better midbass, better midrange, better upper midrange, and better high frequencies. This was so totally unexpected. It was like the difference of hearing a performance from a hallway, and then walking in and taking the best seat in the house. It really was that good.
You sacrafice nothing to have smiles you forgot you could muster. I am in love with vinyl again because the VTAF lets me get play every record in the most accurate geometric set up.
I just cannot believe my luck in finding such a great addition to my vinyl reproduction system. Now be brave and willing to hear just what you have been missing for many years.
Cheers!
Jim Howard

Product Weakness: You will want to buy lots of cartridges and arms to see how differently they sound.
Product Strengths: Accurate, natural, realistic high fidelity sound that always satisfies in every area of sound reproduction.

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Precision Fidelity M7As 100 w per channel when strapped in mono
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Precision Fidelity C7 Modified with better caps, purely passive line level and solid silver core wiring.
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Kenwood KD-500 modified for better wow and flutter, and better vibration control.
Speakers:	Cremona Auditor Wanna Be DIY
Cables/Interconnects:	Hand made solid core silver DIY
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Classical, Jazz, RnB, Rock
Room Size (LxWxH):	25 ft x 11 ft x Vaulted
Room Comments/Treatments:	Pretty neutral, I like it as it is.
Time Period/Length of Audition:	6 weeks with every arm and cartridge I could get to.
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	Panamax and Monster HTS
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner
Your System (if other than home audition):	My PF amps can produce 400 watt per channel peaks with seductive EL 34 sound. Heavenly. My DIY speakers measure flat from my listening seat from 18hz to 40khz. I can only hear to 18khz but I swear I can feel the rest!

Product Weakness:	You will want to buy lots of cartridges and arms to see how differently they sound.
Product Strengths:	Accurate, natural, realistic high fidelity sound that always satisfies in every area of sound reproduction.