I see that the conversation has drifted - but no complaints here :-)
1) Testpilot: I've had an Oracle Premiere Mk IV for many years, and can not say that it had no bass. In fact, it had very nice bass. It was not as big as VPI's, but it was clean and went very, very low. In fact, I find VPI HW19 Mk IV sound a bit dark compared to Oracle. Delphy, even V, is a different story, not in the same league as Premiere.
2) Had HW-19 Mk III and then Mk IV for many years, liked the table a lot, went the common upgrade route. Found a HUGE 2/3 stainless steel/black acrylic TNT platter, used, for $800. Enlarged the bearing hole to accommodate the larger bearing. Mounted it. The sub-platter chassis actually BENT under the stress. Motor had rough time pulling it, I used to help it by giving it a spin. Listened to it for a week, sold it. Sub-chassis sprung back. Problem? Even though it gave a table subjectively a more "OPEN" sound, it was artificial: the platter actually RINGS when you tap it. IMHO, the best platter for the Mk IV is the one that came with it (same as TNT I, black acrylic/lead/cork combo), or the next one later for TNT, with steel being only a thin layer. I prefer the original platter. I have since graduated to a Goldmund Studio, which uses the same combo for it's platter. Both of them are acoustically and mechanically DEAD. I tapped the new Classic platters at the Audio show yesterday here, in Brooklyn, and they seemed to me also pretty dead, while whenever I encounter a steel platter, they exhibit some sort of ringing, even molded to acrylic. So I will not argue for the new Classic platter (I think that Classic table is very overpriced anyway) until further research. The best sounding table at the show was - to my ears - Merril-Williams, with the Ortofon 101 arm (Jelco-built, rubber/resin dumped). Even more expensive than Classic III at $8K for the combo. They didn't have too much variety in tables, everybody pretty much uses VPIs.
