By ANTHONY H. CORDESMAN
Company Address: 77 Cliffwood Ave., No. 3B, Cliffwood, N.J. 07721; 908/946-8606.
The search for ultimates in high-end audio is a search through extreme technologies for extreme performance, very often at an extreme price. In the case of VPI's TNT III turntable with flywheel, such an investment pays off with superb sound quality-showing that the best in analog can still equal the best in digital. But the investment is not negligible; the standard TNT III costs $5,000, plus $800 for a dedicated stand with a heavy acrylic top.
The version I assessed here, which substitutes an extra-heavy flywheel for the normal one, is $6,000, plus $900 for its matching stand (whose larger top is made of medium-density fiberboard).
Let me not give the erroneous impression that only the most expensive extremes count. Despite the advances usually found in many ex pensive top-of-the-line products, you do not have to pay such prices to enjoy LPs; you can enjoy them for remarkably little money simply by buying good used LP components, many of which are available at bargain-basement prices. You can spend less than $1,000 for a cartridge, tone-arm, and turntable and get 80% to 90% of the performance you'd get if you'd spent $10,000 or more. VPI, for example, has excellent turntables at lower prices, such as the HW-19 Junior (about $1,000 with a good tonearm and cartridge).
I do not, however, personally practice the restraint I preach. I audition every expensive cartridge, tonearm, and turntable I can, and I treasure each new small increment in performance. In fact, it is this search that makes me admire the current version of the TNT so much.
Like several other top-quality turntables, the VPI TNT III is the product of years of steady evolution and improvement. Throughout this evolution, I have enjoyed its sculpture-like styling and have consistently considered it a contender for the title of best turntable at any price. The TNT is also a practical in vestment (as practical as high end gets), since VPI has a proven track record of service and commercial stability, and each new version of the TNT has been upgradable. Each TNT has also been easy to set up, well made, free of mechanical and operating noise, stable in sound quality under all operating conditions, and reliable in performance. I consider these five traits essential in a high-end turntable.
The TNT III's chassis floats on four suspension springs. This pro vides exceptional stability when each spring is properly loaded and allows the use of virtually any tonearm without having to adjust the turntable.
The acrylic and aluminum platter supported by this chassis is also quite heavy, with a 15-pound lead-ring insert to reduce wow and flutter and the residual effects of stylus drag. It turns on a precision-machined bearing, 4 inches long, with support bushings widely spaced at the top and bottom to provide stable, totter-free rotation. A screw-down record clamp is used, offering most of the advantages of vacuum clamping; this is effective in coping with moderately warped records, and it avoids the potential pump noise and vibration of a vacuum system.
A well-proven synchronous motor rotates the TNT III's platter. VPI believes that the self-correction in a servo leads to audible modulation of rotation speed and that direct-drive motors set up too much vibration in the turntable. To make the motor quieter, it is now mounted in a recess at the top of a 21-pound cylinder machined from nonmagnetic stainless steel.
A redesigned electronic power-line conditioner (PLC) allows precise adjustment to any speed, from 33 1/3 to more than 45 rpm, with a separate toggle switch to change the basic two speeds. This supply is said to al low the motor to operate at the point where it becomes synchronous, which reduces motor vibration and improves the match between the motor's torque and the belt loading. The PLC feeds the motor current at 54 Hz for 33 1/3 rpm (and 72.9 Hz for 45 rpm), for further isolation from any 60-Hz power-line problems that might modulate the output of the PLC. The motor pulley is now oversized, to compensate for the resulting reduction in motor speed. This required some redesign of the TNT III's isolated drive system, which is said to reduce noise transmission to the platter, provide very stable rotation, cut down background noise, and allow better reproduction of low-level detail.
The turntable's drive system now uses passive side pulleys to load the belt and smooth out the residual togging of the mo tor. This three-pulley drive provides better balanced rotation, helps neutralize the side load inevitable in single-pulley designs, and reduces rumble and wear on the bearings.
The standard TNT III has a flywheel on the motor to remove any remaining pulses that might be transmitted from the poles of the synchronous motor. The version I tested had a far heavier flywheel, which was located between the motor and the platter.
According to VPI, this flywheel, turning at around 500 rpm, gives this TNT III version as much inertia as a 1,600-pound turntable turning at 33 1/3 rpm. Although I cannot verify this claim, I can state that the TNT apparently does have even better speed stability and an even lower noise floor.
No turntable can be reviewed without considering its coloration of sound via the tonearm, cartridge, and mounting system used to audition it. I used the TNT III with four different tonearms: the Wheaton Triplanar IV, Lustre, and Eminent Technology Two tonearms and a modified Bohsei AC-300 tonearm rewired with Discovery cable.
Similarly, I used a wide range of current and older cartridges-including products by Argent, AudioQuest, Benz-Micro, Decca, Koetsu, Monster Cable, Ortofon, ScanTech, and Sumiko. The AudioQuest AQ 7000NSX and ScanTech Clavis ( imported by Lyra) were my main choices.
Setup was remarkably easy. The TNT III gave me all the space I needed to mount any arm. I could repeatably switch tonearm mounting boards without having to adjust springs, weights, or damping for any arm.
The TNT III's shape, plus its dustcover's transparent base and fully removable top, allowed me to easily check cartridge alignment and to set azimuth, vertical tracking angle, and tracking force. These may be blessings only reviewers take advantage of, but they're blessings nonetheless.
The TNT III had remarkably small sonic interaction with different tonearms and cartridges. I heard no colorations I had not previously experienced with the cartridges and tonearms I used in my listening tests.
I used the VPI TNT III on the dedicated stand and on a RoomTune Justarack, both of which were in my listening room. I also set it up in my equipment room, well away from the speakers, so I could check for any effects of acoustic breakthrough. Mass and the proper suspension tell: There was remarkably little difference between the sound when the VPI TNT was in the room with the speakers and when it was else where, even at very loud volumes.
The most striking aspect of the TNT III was its exceptional ability to minimize noise and also to provide rock-solid stability of pitch. Audiophiles who have not experimented extensively with turntables or heard really good analog signal sources may not appreciate just how much detail is on many LP records and how much less noise is apparent with a really excellent turntable than with a merely very good one.
The VPI III helped get an amazing amount of music out of even the oldest members of my LP collection. This was especially striking with solo recordings--particularly of lute, guitar, piano, and harpsichord. Surface noise seemed to drop, and the music seemed to bloom. The natural character of the instrument was more apparent, and the small sound cues that humanize a performance were clearer.
I am a particular fan of chamber music, and some of the best records I know of were issued years ago on the Accent label-many recorded in Belgium, in rooms or halls where I heard similar performances when I worked for NATO. The VPI allowed another touch of realism in terms of clear ambience, imaging, and soundstage life to these records. In some ways, the VPI served as a time machine, taking me back to music I had lived through.
I also enjoyed an improvement in musical dynamics. This was most striking in the reproduction of low-level dynamic and transient information. Further, I got an excellent sense of space. The TNT III did not alter or expand the soundstage on a record but did do a remarkably good job of allowing the full width and depth of the soundstage to be properly reproduced.
While I scarcely have perfect pitch, I have always been sensitive to even small amounts of wow and flutter, both of which the TNT III appeared to contribute very low amounts. Coupled with a lack of mechanical noise, this reinforced the feeling of being at a live performance rather than just hearing one reproduced.
The VPI system does allow superb deep bass-and bass that challenges the best dig ital sound in terms of extension as well as definition and control. In lab tests, I realize that the bass of digital components measures much better than that of analog components. And yes, I can more accurately hear very low-frequency response with my test CDs than with my collection of LP test records. But at its best, analog bass is nonetheless superb.
This same neutrality in timbre is offered in the midrange and top octaves, and the TNT III helps keep both timbre and resolution consistently clear from the beginning to the end of the record. Vacuum clamping may work slightly better and produce slightly more consistent sound with some records than the TNT III's screw-down clamp, but nothing I have heard does a better job with as wide a range of records.
The TNT III is a truly excellent turntable, a new benchmark in the evolution of analog sound. A combination of this turntable with a top tonearm and cartridge will pro vide immensely musical and involving sound. There's no question that digital technology can provide far less measurable distortion, but I have great doubt that a dig ital system can provide more pleasure If you are willing to pay a premium for great LP sound quality, the TNT III can give you magic for your money.
(Audio magazine, Jan. 1996)
Also see:
VPI TNT turntable (Auricle, Dec. 1989)
VPI HW 19-MKII Turntable (Jan. 1987)
Well Tempered Turntable (July 1988)
Well Tempered Tonearm and Van Den Hul MC-One Cartridge (July 1988)
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