Vantage Audio upgraded technics bearing

Dave - my VA bearing looks broadly similar to the above one but the disc at the base of the thrust pad is black. Underneath this disc is a pair of further discs made of 2 different, soft materials. The lower one butts up against the base of the turntable chassis making the whole assembly very rigid - to fit it means pushing down firmly (but carefully!) on the main body of the bearing whilst tightening the 3 locating bolts.

The first thing that struck me about the sound of the 1210 with the new bearing fitted was how quiet background noise is - it was quiet to start with but now even more so. A small change in the sound of the system has taken place since leaving the TT running overnight, for the better I should add. The jury's out as to whether I prefer the sound of it now but I've got pretty much all day tomorrow with the house to myself so can do some extended listening at decent volume. :)

Hope you like it Richard , i felt it was better and still do ! than the Timestep bearing , despite the Extra Surface area which Dave keeps banging on about but the Timestep bearing also adds an extra surface which in theory will add more noise into the system !

To my ears at least the timestep sounded thicker and slightly heavy in the bass compared to the VA bearing , but i guess who cares really .

I'm hoping my 1210 will be back on air this week at long last :) , Richard is paying me another visit , though the poor chap seems to be under pressure to get everything done in time for Christmas , to be honest i could happily wait until the new year but it would be good .

Has any one had the chance to compare the VA bearing to the Mike New bearing, the VA bearing does seem good VFM:)

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Originally Posted by Tarzan

Has any one had the chance to compare the VA bearing to the Mike New bearing, the VA bearing does seem good VFM:)

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It would be an interesting comparison - Richard does by all accounts produce a much more 'elevated' design of bearing but this one at less than 90 quid is probably a no-brainer if one wanted to dip a toe in the water. Of course whether one feels it's a real improvement would be up to the listener. Jury's still out for me - it's different, but I'm working out whether the 'different is better' or the 'different is different'. When listening to a new bit of kit I always use musical criteria - the human ear is remarkably adept at adjusting to tonal colouration but musical/harmonic is more set in stone imho. Also, harmonic colour according to key - dark keys such as A & D minors or very bright keys such as D major - is this coming across?

I'm thinking my 1210 is going to be a 'Tecchy Lite' ie seeing how far it'll go without spending a fortune.

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Originally Posted by Gromit

Richard does by all accounts produce a much more 'elevated' design of bearing but this one at less than 90 quid is probably a no-brainer if one wanted to dip a toe in the water.
I'm thinking my 1210 is going to be a 'Tecchy Lite' ie seeing how far it'll go without spending a fortune.

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I've sent an email to richard regarding what upgrades he can do to the bearing.Im interested in what the ''more elevated design'' is about.

How are you getting on with your bearing richard?

I wanted to send my Technics to Richard ( Vantage Audio ) - but the website no longer works, is he still in biz ??

Think they went out of business a few years ago. I bought a bearing on the off chance from someone from here but failing that I don't think you can get them anymore.

I think it looks that way,, apparently Richard had some serious health issues, hope he is OK now, and enjoying his retirement.