The apogee of HW-19s from 1992:

VPI HW-19 MK IV with viscous-damped SME III arm, Grado Platinum cartridge, Stand-Alone Motor and PLC power line conditioner.

This last of the line has the TNT heavy platter and super armboard.

I was able to travel just 70 miles (HAH!) to pick it up from a terrific new audio friend, Herman Ford, on the south side of Cleveland. Before packing it up we sat and listened to Ben Webster and a RED disc Count Basie. Yeah!

Turns out Herman just returned from RMAF, his third, and related some of his impressions. He's got a Scheu on order to replace the VPI and settle in with his Cary components and B&W speakers. Nice rig!

Made for Jazz. Listening to Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Brown and Mickey Roker: "The Gifted Ones" Heard it a dozen times with the Technics/Benz Ace combo. The Trumpet is less a Trumpet with it but overall, and especially the best cymbals ever, a gas!

I do miss the flexibility of interchangeable headshells and a higher mass arm but I can always make another armboard. Too, the HW-19 seems to store and release bass energy with a vengeance so the darkish Platinum may not be quite the best match on the bottom. But really, except further up the Grado line, what else is there?