New HW-19 Turntable Resto/Upgrade

[Chris]

I keep finding great deals on my favorite turntable to restore and upgrade. This one sounds spectacular.

Original HW-19 Jr (motor date 1991) with upgraded 20 pound platter and acrylic armboard. This is the first Jr I have encountered with the addon acrylic armboard.

I re-lubed the motor and boiled and cleaned the clear belt and got near perfect speed results (see speed test below). Additionally, I replaced the steel ball bearing with a ceramic bearing. Ceramic is 10x smoother than steel.

I ordered a bespoke Classic Six tonearm from AudioMods UK. I also picked up the fantastic sounding VAS Nova cartridge with a boron cantilever and line contact stylus.

This turntable is tomb vault quiet. It's spooky. The bass and drum dynamic impact is very palpable.

[mark]

Chris -- That looks excellent, congrats!

What led you to that particular tonearm? I don't think I'm familiar with that manufacturer.

Mark

[Chris]

Thanks Mark. I am really pleased with the results.

This is the second arm I have ordered from AudioMods. I have an earlier HW-19 on which I installed a Classic 5 AudioMods tonearm.

I am continually searching for tonearm components that represent value for money. Unfortunately, the standalone tonearm market has really gotten very pricey in recent years. Most high-end tonearms start at $2K and quickly go to as much as $10K or more.

Right now, I think AudioMods checks all the boxes for a bespoke arm (carbon fiber, VTA micrometer, etc.) but keeps the price under $2K (I paid $1400). Jeff, the owner of AudioMods, says due to parts cost inflation he will have to raise prices soon. The other price value tonearm right now is the Origin Live range which starts at about $500 for the base model Onyx. I recently installed the Onyx tonearm on yet another HW-19 (circa 1983) I revived, and it is excellent.

I love the HW-19 as a platform because of its simple elegance and ease of upgrades at a reasonable cost (I paid $350 for this one). For example, I have determined that one can drill the same armboard up to four times for fitting a tonearm. I have produced techniques to cover previous holes for better cosmetics. Also, I have recently discovered that some of the steel bearings are not captured and can be replaced with better materials like ceramic for a few dollars. There are many other details that I have documented in my three-part VPI HW-19 series on YouTube.