VPI Industries

Prime 21+ Turntable Package

From £4,500 (£6,500 as reviewed)

VPI's Prime turntable has been a feature in my listening room for several years now. I had looked at other record players, but this ticked several boxes for me. The elements of the design were readily apparent, such as the separate motor module, 3mm thick steel plate affixed to the plinth's underside, heavy platter and isolating Delrin spiked feet and cups. The deck is relatively easy to set up and has proved flexible with a range of cartridges that have since passed through my system. Then, at the end of 2020, VPI announced its successor.

The new VPI Prime 21 comes in at £4,500 and features a new and novel gimbal bearing 3D-printed tonearm, as well as updates and upgrades over the previous deck. Alternatively, order the Prime 21+ and the £6,500 package (below) arrives all set-up with the company's Audio Technica-built Shyla moving coil cartridge affixed and a Nordost-based Weisline tonearm cable bundled in.

Founded forty years ago by Harry and Sheila Weisfeld in Cliffwood, New Jersey, VPI cannot be classed as a newcomer. Harry retired in 2013 and handed the reins to their son Mat. The company continues to manufacture all its products in the USA, and sources materials from as close to home as possible. Chatting with Mat about the updated Prime, he told me that much of what we see on the Prime 21 resulted from customer feedback. Indeed, the Prime 21 seemed even less of a faff to set up than the already fuss-free Prime, especially compared to those record players that rely on suspended frames, and all the rest.

INTO THE GROOVE

The most apparent difference between the two versions is the feet. The Prime 21 borrows these from the £15,000 anniversary HW-40 turntable, which Mat describes as the “unexpected star” of that particular release. However, during our chat, we both acknowledged that as good as the spike and cup feet of the original were for isolation, they can be a complete pain in the posterior should you need to move the turntable for any reason. Not so with these new ones.

Additionally, footage from the videoed VPI House sessions has shown Mat and company slamming things down near the deck without noise transmitting through. Elastomer pads at the bottom also provide some degree of self-levelling, whereas there is also more thread adjustability on the new feet. Overall they are much more user-friendly, which seems to be the chief driver of all the changes seen on the updated Prime.

The next user-friendly tweak was to offer the turntable with a smooth-action, 10.5-inch gimballed tonearm instead of the unipivot default. Previously a gimbal-bearing arm was an option, but as Mat pointed out, “when more people are requesting the special option, then that should be your new standard”. Additionally, the arm, which comes pre-fitted to the armboard complete with on-the-fly VTA adjustment, is much easier to work with and less daunting to use. More importantly, set-up is much quicker.

This is partly due to the nifty arm weight adjustment, the mechanics of which started back with the brand's Traveler but was refined for the VPI Fatboy tonearms and then trickled down to the Prime 21. Replacing the free weight held in place by a screw, the new design can be adjusted by turning a dial at the end of the arm – a much more elegant solution, and again more user-friendly for those of us that tend to regularly swap out cartridges. Naturally, a unipivot arm remains a cost-free option for those who have a preference.

The arm comes fitted with a VPI Shyla cartridge – named after Mat's daughter, by the way – if you go for the 21+ package; this is based on Audio-Technica's great moving coil all-rounder, the AT-ART9. VPI is no stranger to working with cartridge manufacturers, having previously partnered with Dynavector, Soundsmith and Grado. However, the Japanese cartridge specialist proved to be the one that would go the extra mile this time around. After hearing the ART9, it was decided back in Munich 2018 that this would be the basis on which the new VPI cartridge would be built. Harry demanded that the coil and dampening on the new design should be tuned to favour vocals. Having spent plenty of hours with one, I can attest that the Shyla does indeed have a talented midband, but without that bright sheen sometimes apparent with Grados, for example.

Mat told me that Audio-Technica sent three final sample models to test, and these possessed very different attributes. They were in turn “secretly tested on human guinea pigs at Captial Audio”. Thankfully, the test winner was also the one Mat and Harry had given the thumbs up to, and features a line contact stylus mounted on a 0.26mm diameter boron cantilever. So what about that burgundy and gold colouring? Well, that is officially a ruby colour signifying VPI's fortieth anniversary, while the gold is more nerd-friendly and was chosen for that added Iron Man aesthetic. Way to fly your geek flag high, Mat!

The Prime still rocks a hefty 9kg 6061 aluminium bonded platter with an MDF damping plate, but the 43mm thick plinth design has been smartened. What started off as an aesthetic tweak of moving the thick aluminium plate to the top of the 53mm black vinyl-wrapped chassis (a walnut wood finish is also available pictured below) as it would take “some nice silkscreen” printing unveiled itself as a performance improver, too. VPI soon realised that the metal plate could wrap around the whole corner post, resulting in improved bracing and resonance cancelling.

Finally, the 300RPM AC motor unit has also had some attention. You still get the substantial 2.4kg high mass aluminium casework to control resonances, but the internal control circuit has been updated to help with speed stability, we are reliably informed. However, swapping between 33 1/3 and 45RPM remains a manual duty, consisting of moving the belt from one cog on the motor pulley to the next.

Everything else appears to be business as usual with the Prime. There's an inverted main bearing design that utilises a hardened steel shaft, a 60 Rockwell hardened chrome ball, and a phosphor bronze bushing completed by a PEEK (polyether-ether-ketone) thrust disc. We are promised precision, low noise and longevity with this arrangement. You also get the familiar screw-on steel and Delrin record clamp. VPI says the Prime 21 has a wow and flutter figure of 0.08%, with 0.08% speed accuracy and rumble quoted at -80dB.

SET UP

The company claims that this turntable package can be up and running in around twenty minutes. As I am familiar with the Prime, albeit one with trickier feet and a unipivot arm, I was safely within that. Even if this is your first VPI record player, there are plenty of helpful things to help you get sorted. Top of my list is the brilliant metal alignment jig that puts many paper, card and plastic efforts to shame. Also, you get some neat electronic stylus scales and a complete manual saved to a USB stick that also contains a handy step-by-step video. While these latter accessories might not be expensive to add in, they are almost priceless to those who find they need them.

It also helps that anti-skate is handled by the wire that loops out of the arm to the connection box on the rear of the armboard, which – should you need to – can be twisted to fine-tune the anti-skating force. I have found this to function perfectly fine on both my older deck and the 21. However, you do have the option of a more standard thread-and-lever bias mechanism. Beyond levelling the deck, there was a little VTA and cartridge alignment fine-tuning to take care of and, once the arm weight was fitted, dialling the tracking force in. Apart from that, all was ready to go.

THE LISTENING

The updated Prime retains the confidence and presence of the original, and any misconceptions that the gimbal tonearm would be less sure-footed than my preferred unipivot were soon dispelled. A great deal of the Prime's character comes from how it presents bass, which is rich and warm without being woolly or leaden. Indeed, drop the needle on something that demands speed and agility, and you will discover that this New Jerseyite is no slouch in that department, either.

Its low-end talent was evident when listening to Massive Attack's Group Four. As it dreamily rumbled away through a pair of Audiovector R3 Arreté loudspeakers, the lazy bassline seemed more present than when played on my older Prime. This could be partly due to the Shyla cartridge putting more meat on the bones than my Sumiko Songbird l/o, which I also fitted to the 21 to compare. However, the new record player does seem to bring more to the table in the lowest ranges. Possibly a result of the new construction, the tonearm (I admit I didn't swap them between decks), the feet, or all of the above.

Pale Shelter from Tears For Fears presented all the snap expected from an early eighties recording. The machine-like bass sound mixed with the compressed snare, as the shimmering acoustic guitar leapt into the centre stage. Vocals were exceptionally natural, aided by a bit of reverb, but stood proud of the rest of the mix. Backing vocals added further depth and emotional richness with clear separation. That low-frequency boost really worked its magic when Curt Smith goes from single bass notes to octaves, after the track's halfway mark. This served to lift the track into the middle eight and added a little bounce, with the Prime 21 happy to groove along.

All that midband focus and bottom end punch has not dulled treble extension, mind. This remains clean and precise. Although not an inexpensive turntable, the Prime 21 is perhaps entry-level high end in relative terms. However, I have heard more expensive decks get into trouble trying to reproduce the cymbals on Rush's Subdivisions. True, the Shyla was a little more rounded at the top than my Songbird, but that still did not detract from the great Neil Peart's stick work on the ride cymbals and crashes in particular, let alone his antics elsewhere on the tinware. The sharp closed hi-hats were the initial standout for me until the Prime 21 dug out the strikes on the ride's bell. Even though I'd say the Shayla comes over as less forensic than the Songbird, it still managed to project some elements better than expected.

That detail retrieval continued with a more modern cut, in the form of I Need The Night from London Grammar. The track starts with synths and a lone guitar before the vocals come in. This sets up how the song slowly builds throughout its four minutes and twenty seconds. As each extra layer arrived, the Prime 21 expanded the vista allowing each new element space in the mix without pushing anyone to the back – similar to taking one of those wide-angled school photos instead of cramming everyone into a photo booth!

Dynamics were similarly deftly handled with an impressive showing of Rhapsody in Blue played by the London Symphony Orchestra with Andre Previn at the helm. The Prime 21 had no difficulty projecting the dynamic shifts or laying out the piece's individual threads, thanks to its expansive soundstage and keen instrument placement. Granted, on occasions, the Prime 21 can be obviously bettered by more expensive turntable offerings, such as the slight opaqueness detected when the clarinet hits its upper ranges. Still, the detail and harmonics of the piano and strings, for instance, balanced things out to my ears.

THE VERDICT

The VPI Prime 21 takes all the good points of the original turntable and builds upon them by factoring in customer and reviewer feedback. The result is another confident and competent performance from the New Jersey brand. While there's plenty of competition at this price point, I have yet to find a turntable able to match the drive and presence of the Prime, along with its ability to let the music do the talking.

Those seeking transparency and a more laid back ride could spend more and consider the Origin Live Resolution IV bundle, or perhaps go for a smoother and more polite presentation while keeping some money in your pocket with Rega's fine Planar 10. However, I am a fan of the Prime's aesthetics, as well as its cheekiness and forthright approach as to how it gets to the musical point. Before checking out turntables that cost north of £5,000 and still need the arm and cartridge to be factored in, I strongly recommend that you audition the VPI Prime 21.

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