Upgrading my Basis 2500. Vacuum or no Vacuum?

John - The vacuum pump does make some slight noise depending how high you set the vacuum. I have mine underneath a leather sofa in the same room. With music playing at quiet levels, you cannot hear the pump. Some prefer to put the pump in another room.
With the vacuum, bass is improved, the background is 'blacker', and there is some improvement in spatial orientation of instruments. It may have something to do with the vacuum decreasing resonances on the surface of the record. Check with A.J. Conti, the creator. He can best explain its advantage.

Thanks all. Right now I am leaning toward Debut over the
the 2800. I was told it would be better having the Debut's
suspension over my 2500 or 2800 on my suspended floor. I
already installed floor jacks in the basement to avoid my
origonal foot fall problem. Maybe with a Debut, this may not have been necessary, but regardless is a good thing.
I am still on the fence on the vacuum as I figure I can always add it. I havent heard any negatives yet, although
in the past I have heard it's not as lively of a sound with
vacuum. It seems like that even if this is true, the positives outweigh the negatives. Also saw the Debut with
dual Vector arms on their website. It not only looks awesome, but what would be wrong with Dynavector on one arm and a Koetsu or Benz on the other. Not too much !!

Although I have the 2001 Signature, I do have the calibrator base which made a significant difference. I also have the new Vector 4 tonearm which I love and would suggest for any upgrade or new table.

Dear Fjn04: +++++ " in the past I have heard it's not as lively of a sound with
vacuum " +++++

Other than the advantages that others already posted about is that with the vacuum the distortion is a lot lower: what the people think like a more " alive " sound it is only a higher distortion with the vacuum that " false alive " sound disappear and the real sound comes natural/neutral.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

I have the Debut with the vacuum "clamp." A friend has the 2800 without the vacuum. With respect to the difference between the tables, the 2800 is a much lighter table with a "lightly sprung" suspension. It is quite sensitive to footfall and bounces quite readily. The much heavier Debut is less bouncy, in much the same way that heavier cars are more immune to disturbances.

The vacuum clamp acts very much in the way Raul describes. At first, one may think the sound is too damped and lacking in life, but, after adjusting to the sound, one realizes how much purer the sound is with the vacuum, and what seemed like a little more "zing" to musical transients without the vacuum is really more like noise.

Care must be taken in the location of the pump. I think it is noisier than some others have described. I have not made a direct comparison, but, my impression is that it is noisier than the SOTA pump.

Another thing to consider is that some people have raised concern over the possibility of damage to records from the vacuum -- either from the vacuum causing gas to "bubble up" from the vinyl or from dirt being ground into the record from the high downforce. The recommendation is to use as little pressure as is necessary (adjustable) to hold the record down. I found that a record can be effectively clamped with a force that barely registers on the pressure guage, but at such low pressure, some records with edge warps become hard to clamp. With these records I have to either increase the vacuum, or I have to "assist" the pump by pressing down on the edge of the record until the rubber lip seals the record and allows for effective clamping.