I have had a Traveler for about 2 weeks and one thing I can say is that it sounds completely different now than when I first set it up. It is currently running thru a CJ pre analog stage to Bryston monos to B&W 801, with a Ort 2M Blk.
Once up and running I noticed that the top pin of the gimbal bearing was not even touching the top spring loaded cup. I had to use a tiny (eye glass type) screw driver to adjust the tension on the north/south bearing axle. This had as much influence on the sound as vta. I found that the tension had to set to just enough to hold the axis in place but do not attempt to take any play out of arm with this adj (to do so seemed to create drag, which may be what original poster was experiencing). Also the instructions seem to imply that there is a way to adj the azimuth(page 6,C) I have not found how short of shimming the cart.I'm sure that I have not come close to fleshing out all that this table has to offer. The build quality is on par with other current VPI tables, tank like and left me asking "how can they build a table and arm like this for $1200-. The arm is a thing of engineering beauty. Faults: On/ off switch is not great (I also have had to push the button twice to get the "pop" which tells you that a vpi table is turning. I would think a little talc would prevent any belt squeek the original o.p.mentioned. I will be at CES so I look forward to meeting with the VPI crew and getting the latest on this table/arm.
Once up and running I noticed that the top pin of the gimbal bearing was not even touching the top spring loaded cup. I had to use a tiny (eye glass type) screw driver to adjust the tension on the north/south bearing axle. This had as much influence on the sound as vta. I found that the tension had to set to just enough to hold the axis in place but do not attempt to take any play out of arm with this adj (to do so seemed to create drag, which may be what original poster was experiencing). Also the instructions seem to imply that there is a way to adj the azimuth(page 6,C) I have not found how short of shimming the cart.I'm sure that I have not come close to fleshing out all that this table has to offer. The build quality is on par with other current VPI tables, tank like and left me asking "how can they build a table and arm like this for $1200-. The arm is a thing of engineering beauty. Faults: On/ off switch is not great (I also have had to push the button twice to get the "pop" which tells you that a vpi table is turning. I would think a little talc would prevent any belt squeek the original o.p.mentioned. I will be at CES so I look forward to meeting with the VPI crew and getting the latest on this table/arm.