Why the middle man?
Hi Folks, this is a really interesting topic - I'm glad I found you guys.
Here's my perspective: Why buy a VPI or Rega bearing? Are they special, or fitted to a mount or sub-platter that's easy to use? These are cost-constrained items that they're marking up before selling to you, so perhaps with some searching we can find bearings that far exceed our TT needs, and leave us never wanting for magnetic bearings again. Bearings have been improved so much in the last 20 years at every price point.
Here's an example. This bicycle bearing has balls that are round to 5 millionths of an inch - worth a Grade 5 precision rating. That's 0.000005 inches of wiggle. I don't think it gets much better than that.
"Starting with vacuum de-gassed alloy and hardened to Rockwell C-64, these super high precision races are cryogenically treated not once, but three times during the final super polishing phase."
http://www.neuvationcycling.com/parts_promos/bearings/ceramic_bearings.html
They want $100 for this (I think for a pair, actually). How much does Rega or VPI charge for a bearing, and can they claim this level of precision? Is there something that's special or more 'musical' about their bearings?
Of course, this bearing is not design primarily for axial load - I just picked it kind of randomly on the web to find an example of value outside the audiophile world. Then again, it's spec'd to handle 200lbs of cyclist going over cobblestones and jumping off the occasional curb, so it should support a 20lb axial load at 33RPM for a long time without problem.
There are other bearings designed for high speed that are very well balanced and incredibly smooth - capable of handling loads from all directions at 300,000 RPM in spindles like this:
http://www.sycotec.eu/drives/index.htm
My point is that there's a whole world of bearings out there beyond what mainstream TT manufacturers use, at reasonable prices. How much do you think the bearing in a $5,000 TT costs? Do TT manufacturers use the same bearing in their $1500 TT as their $5,000 TT?
Cheers,
Anthony