Why does the VPI motor thump

04-16-14: Stringreen
..then why does my VPI turn off silently??

Luck? Or do you use the mute switch too?
No one said that every single motor VPI ever made thumps, but obviously there are enough of them out there on the market that do thump that threads like this are very common. Search the archives here and at AA, you'll see that this is a common problem.

John is right. Well known fact. I was a VPI dealer for many years and this goes all the way back to the HW-19 series.

I've personally owned well over 50 different VPI tables and most, but not all of them did this. I think it has a lot to do with the preamp and interconnect cables also. Many owners have stated that changing interconnects solved the problem.

It's not a VPI problem per se, but just the luck of the draw with associated equipment.

The thump is the collapse of the magnetic field. Some caps work better than others at killing it (basically slowing the collapse ofthe field down with the cap in there.)
So even the same TT with the same supposed cap one might not thump and another one will.
Cap have BIG variances. the 'good' one may be well over rating by 15%. the poor ones well under by 15%
so that is a 30% variance.

VPI folks may be annoyed at being asked to fix it. But they should do more to stop it.
It is a FAULT, and not a normal TT feature..

I've had a few good turntables. My Thorens never thumped. My Rega always thumped, and my Linn never thumps.

In my opinion, it's a flaw in turntable design. It's easy enough to implement a properly sized capacitor across the on/off switch so that this is never a problem. As a TT Manufacurer, VPI is aware of the thump potential and should design their tables to never thump.

Just another reason why to me VPI always see,s like a work in progress.

Before flipping the side of an LP I always turned volume down to 0, flip side, drop needle, turn volume up. I have never experienced any thumps with my Regas - P5, P7, and current P9.