I have my Classic now for a few months and it has been kind of frustrating for me a bit. I upgraded from an old Blue Note Piccolo to Classics with ring clamp and when taken each aspect of the sound, VPI seems to be better in just about every category, quieter, deeper, better clarity in the bass, smoother mid/high, more extended top, more detail, bigger soundstage but for some reasons, the Piccolo seemed to be more musical and more fun, although less refined sound. VPI seemed to be more detached and is very component/cartridge sensitive. I have been using ASR Mini Basis with Ortofon T100 SUT, Ortofon Jubilee initially. My Piccolo sat on Symposium Acoustic Ultra platform which VPI did not seem to like much at all. Switched to Ginko Cloud 11 improved things significantly.
With Koetsu Rosewood Signature, midrange was magical, piano and vocal music was all I could asked for but bass was too sluggish for me, especially for pop or large symphonic pieces. With Ortofon Jubilee, mid range is a bit too lean and detached but with excellent speed and clarity, pacing and rhythm. I burrowed an old Crown Jewel (?Shelter 501) to try and midrange was not quite as full or lush as Koetsu but also very smooth but bass was a bit slower than Jubilee. At the beginning of next month, I should get a Dynavector XV-1s which I heard at a local VPI dealer and seemed to be a good match for Classic. So far, I think the Classic has the potential to be very very good but it is very revealing and very picky about its associated equipment.
