News

VAS Introduces Made In New Jersey $1500 MC Cartridge!

Michael Fremer  |  Sep 18, 2015

I flew down for a few days to Atlanta, Georgia to attend the grand opening of the new HiFi Buys store. Yesterday I conducted three vinyl-related seminars.

Today's events included a presentation by VPI's Mat Weisfeld of the new Avenger turntable, which, at this event made its dealer debut.

The big news though, was the new VAS moving coil cartridge, made in New Jersey. The new cartridge features a boron cantilever and outputs approximately .4mV. The bigger news is the $1500 price!

I heard it for a short time this evening and it sounded very promising. I didn't come down here expecting to report any news but in this analog business, especially at this time, there always seem to be surprised.

Another surprise is how many female audiophiles attended and how many of them were vinyl fanatics.

COMMENTS
PeterPani's picture
Submitted by PeterPani on Fri, 2015-09-18 23:15

I can confirm that. Something is changing. In record stores in Vienna you can see young women buy vinyl more and more. And, since this media is a new discovery for the young, they seem to get interested also in record decks and how to play their vinyl. You can see female friends gathering around record decks. Could be, that out of the vinyl comeback also the behaviour of this generation towards music equipment is changing.

Merrill Audio's picture
Submitted by Merrill Audio on Sat, 2015-09-19 09:13

This is a sleeper cartridge and very good. It was played against several high end cartridges in the $10k range. While it did not beat the other cartriges, it was certainly very good, lacking only a little in the leading edge and bass extension. Mids were rich, clear. The one thing that stands out on this is that it is very musical and clean, as with the other more expensive cartridges. Setup is very important as usual. VTA if not correct will result in a defocused image.

For the price - highly recommended, if you can get one!!

We used the VPI TT and 3D arm on all the comparisons.

pbnaudio's picture
Submitted by pbnaudio on Sun, 2015-09-20 09:31

Any contact information on the Manufacturer ?

Thanks in Advance

Peter Noerbaek
PBN Audio

Ortofan's picture
Submitted by Ortofan on Sun, 2015-09-20 17:55

http://vasnyinc.com/pages/mcc.html
http://vasnyinc.com/pages/contact.html

isaacrivera's picture
Submitted by isaacrivera on Sun, 2015-09-20 18:24

This is a 0.8 volt, aluminum cantilever cartridge. Funny the picture Michael used seems to also be branded "Nova", but the specs are different. Is is an upgrade of the same cart? or is it a new, higher grade one?

MichaelTrei's picture
Submitted by MichaelTrei on Wed, 2015-09-23 16:06

0.8mV maybe?

isaacrivera's picture
Submitted by isaacrivera on Wed, 2015-09-23 19:22

Space for m, but you cant edit comments on this site.

audiof001's picture
Submitted by audiof001 on Sun, 2015-09-20 12:30

I'd love to know more about the maker of this cartridge.

Auric G's picture
Submitted by Auric G on Sun, 2015-09-20 14:11

a flash of brilliance, as I often do. lol.... ONLINE CARTRIDGE RENTAL SERVICE. yeah?

Prole's picture
Submitted by Prole on Mon, 2015-09-21 12:21

That's a great idea – not everyone lives close to a dealer.
Rent a cart for a week & test it in your system.
Someone could make a bit of money with this if done right.

Steve Edwards's picture
Submitted by Steve Edwards on Mon, 2015-09-21 15:11

That's interesting. I've got a friend who ordered a Prime at the RMAF last year and he just got it a few weeks ago. With that kind of delay in filling orders ........ another model?

billt1's picture
Submitted by billt1 on Thu, 2015-09-24 05:49

I have owned 3 wonderful VPI turntables but anything that had to come directly from VPI took months and months to get without apology. Acoustic Sounds stocks many tables and if in stock you would receive in a few days as I have .

http://store.acousticsounds.com/d/78445/VPI-VPI_Classic_2_Turntable_with...

billbrocket's picture
Submitted by billbrocket (not verified) on Wed, 2015-09-23 19:57

Wow, that's news.

Fremer, you shill really hard for VPI. If you get any closer to this company, you'll have to move in to the Weisfeld house!

Some, in fact most, turntable manufacturers slowly improve their very successful designs over years and decades as you are well aware. Must every single new product chez weisfeld be reported in such forensic detail? Just seems you're creating an unfair advantage in the marketplace for their products however excellent they are. I know you cover quite a bit of new and emerging designs as well but geez Mike, shades of Musical Fidelity here.

Mat Weisfeld's picture
Submitted by Mat Weisfeld on Thu, 2015-09-24 07:12

We ship Primes everyday, we don't know the order in which dealers have their inventory (if they have inventory at all). The cantilever is actually aluminum, that was a miss word on my part to Michael.

This report has nothing to do with shilling. We made a new table, Michael is reporting about it. I would hope all reviewers report on news regardless of their feelings towards the manufacturer. Harry and Michael have a bit of a "checkered" past so he certainly isn't being a shill.

AnalogJ's picture
Submitted by AnalogJ on Sat, 2015-10-17 08:51

In terms of the turntables, VPI's flavor was always to Michael Fremer's tastes. He has almost always put pace and rhythm over presence and weight. I think the original Scout was the first table that Michael Fremer really, really liked. But that WAS a turning point for VPI tables. It was lighter, more nimble, on its rhythmic feet over its predecessors.

wkhanna's picture
Submitted by wkhanna on Tue, 2015-10-06 15:12

In the photo it looks as if the cart is riding on platter?

vinyl1's picture
Submitted by vinyl1 on Sun, 2017-05-21 07:26

...and I thought it was pretty good. Then the guy doing the demo played the same track again, this time with a Lyra Atlas...

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