Vinyl Asylum: Re: VPI Power Conditioners: SDS vs. PLC ??? by Mike Burns

Grant,
I do not recommend the PLC. I tried one on my HW-19 MK IV turntable and it made the turntable motor hum/vibrate so loud that you could hear it 6 feet away and feel it if you touched the turntable base. The sound was worse, probably as a result of the motor hum/vibration. The PLC has also been discontinued because, I believe, a critical part is no longer available. This would make a used one hard to fix if it broke. I was able to trade it back in and get a real good price on the SDS. The SDS seems to give a "cleaner" sound with better timbre and maybe a bit more precise imaging. It got rid of the motor turn-off pop also. If you switch back and forth, I always prefer the sound with the SDS. I would classify it as a minor improvement. The only thing I don't like about the SDS is the fact that you can't turn off the large bright LED display.

The MK IV upgrade will probably make more difference than the SDS. You will get a quieter bearing and a more constant rotational speed from the heavier platter. I think the more constant speed and improved damping from the heavier platter improves the sound more than the better average speed accuracy from the SDS. I once played around with speed variations on my Technics DJ turntable and found that my ear easily notices a change in pitch more than a couple percent slow or fast.

This is unrelated to the SDS, but when you upgrade your TT and have it apart, check the screw-in rubber feet on the base. Mine were held in with junky prong-type press-in T-nuts. The threads were sloppy and the feet wobbled. You can epoxy in the T-nuts and use Teflon pipe tape on the threads to tighten the assembly up. Eventually, I removed the factory stuff and put in 1.5" by .25" threaded sleeves and brass speaker points. Looks cool, absolutely does not wobble or skip when you jump on the floor, a little better bass, but probably overkill. Check motor mounting fastners too.

I do not think that the SDS will help your soundstage width problem. The first thing to do is see if you have the same general problem when listening to CDs. If so, then it is not a deficiency of your analog front end. Experiment with the distance between speakers, speaker toe in, and other speaker/listener position variations. Reflections off the side walls of your room and floor can mess with this as well. Experiment with blankets or other absorbent items to rule this out. Check things like channel balance, stereo/mono switch, and speaker polarity too. If the CDs have the width of soundstage that you want, your cartridge, cartridge/arm setup, preamp, etc. is more likely the culprit. Finally, soundstage width is determined by how the recording was recorded and mixed.

Mike