SSM w/Rim Drive - Cloud 11 Vibration issues?

Zenieth,

My phono stage finally came in and I was able to play my system with the rim drive after having stabalized speed for about a week without music. The table sounds great with no indication that the rim drive is causing any problems or noise. Break in and attention to set up make all the difference with this drive. My guess is you should leave it on the granite. Mine's working great on maple while I wait for the Critical Mass platform to be completed.
I hope nobody has been discouraged from trying the rim drive by the dicussion of these "bugs". I can tell you they are minor and easily compensated for. If VPI does come up with a tweak upgrade or next generation I'll likely get in line for one. Until then it's really quite enjoyable as is.

My replacement feet showed up from VPI. They are a much softer material. They are much taller than the original stock feet. I haven't went back to the Cloud since the granite is working well. I do believe that the new feet would raise the motor drive considerably. This will create a problem since the Rim Drive needs to run in the middle of the platter. This wouldn't work unless you raise the table so that the rim can drive where it is suppose to. Then there is the issue " how do you raise the table on the Cloud 11? The table's own adjustable feet wouldn't be able to raise it high enough. I guess, I'll stick with the granite base.

My replacement feet arrived also and I would agree that they raise the motor higher than I would like. I tried them anyway and raised the table accordingly.(This may be easier for me since I have the mini feet) They do work well when set up this way but probably no better than with felt pads under the original feet. In fact, there may be a slight loss in livliness. It's a simple matter to switch back and forth if you're so inclined but if you're happy the with the way you have it, you may just want to leave it. I'm looking forward to trying the softer drive belt as this may obviate the need for softer feet.

Sonofjim, I believe that I will leave it on the granite base. I could have better bass than I currently have. I'll drop the rear of the arm later and see if that does it! I would have interest in trying the softer belt too. I have a slight noise in one motor. When I remove the ring clamp it goes away. I wonder if this will go away as more play time is accomplished? I never had the noise before I installed the Rim Drive. It's not loud enough to diminish sound but I know it's there. Any input?

If the noise seems to be coming directly from a motor it could be a problem with the motor. I think there's capacitor in the wire path to the motors that can drift out of synch somehow. Mike at VPI told me something about that. When you reverse the wiring it could introduce coginess to that motor. In that case, I'm sure VPI would send you a new motor. If the motor seems to be the source I would conact Mike. He would understand it a lot better than I do.
I would try to make sure that it's not drive belt noise by moving the motor assembly away from the platter. If your noise stops, try lighter conact of the drive belt with the platter and this will decrease or stop with time. Also you might try removing the belts from the motors and watching them run freely to see if one is more jerky than the other. Mine is running smoothly with barely notable motor and contact noise.
I hope this helps. I don't consider myself an expert on this, or anything really, but this is what knowledge I've gained from my experience so far.