VPI Goldy

It makes sense; if you’re an established turntable maker whose products are usually sold with third-party cartridges, why wouldn’t you want a piece of the needle action? I hadn’t realised that the brand had started selling cartridges until the VPI Goldy turned up, yet it appears to be one of four VPI Partner models in the range. It seems that the American company realised that building a cartridge from the ground up would be a significant investment in time and money, so it decided to work with established cartridge makers who could make custom versions of existing models to VPI’s spec. Three VPI moving coil models are made for them by Audio Technica, while the Bloodwood is based on a Miyajima Takumi.

The VPI Goldy uses an AT-OC9 starting point with the same aluminium body, special line contact, nude stylus and boron cantilever. It differs in using internals from the VPI Shyla with damping mods and “other material changes”. The Goldy is a low mass MC at 7.6g which makes it well suited to my Rega Planar 10, it’s the first third party cartridge I’ve tried that hasn’t required a heavier counterweight. I guess VPI likes this quality, too, as both their other MCs are similarly light. The Goldy has typical MC specs with downforce in the region of two grams and recommended load impedance at 100 Ohms, albeit this is a minimum. The 12 Ohm coil impedance would suggest something in the region of 120 Ohms is closer to perfect.

Easy install

The VPI Goldy has threaded inserts to aid installation, and it’s easy to see the cantilever and stylus when setting up with an alignment gauge. Both factors are by no means guaranteed with modern moving coil designs. As a result, it didn’t take long to install and set up, and within a few tracks, the suspension had warmed up sufficiently to give a good idea of its capabilities. Chief among these is speed. Goldy does not hang around; to put it another way, it has no trouble keeping up with the vibrations in the groove and translating those undulations into thrilling and highly resolved musical entertainment that is broad in tonal and dynamic terms.

This was very much in evidence with Chasing the Dragon’s direct-to-vinyl cut of the Four Seasons, where the tone of the original instruments was rich and gutty, and the image perspective particularly strong, ‘Autumn’ is delivered with all its vivacity and spirit. It also worked a treat with a couple of dub tracks, bringing out the bounce and the body of the vintage sounds. There is a physicality to the VPI Goldy’s sound that is particularly appealing, it has drive and excellent timing but feels solid with it which is a nice combination.

The VPI Goldy is a highly engaging and entertaining cartridge. That it suits a turntable so different from VPI’s own is a testament to its all-around capabilities. If you are after an infectious vinyl sound that will put a broad grin on any music lover’s face, the Goldy certainly fits the bill.

Technical specifications

• Type Low output moving coil phono cartridge
• Stylus/Cantilever Special line contact nude diamond stylus, boron cantilever
• Tracking Force 1.8g–2.2g (2g standard)
• Load 100 Ohms plus
• Compliance 22 × 10-6 cm/dyne
• Output (at 1 kHz @ 5cm/s) 0.4 mV
• Weight 7.6g (without stylus cover)
• Price £1,250, $1,300

Manufacturer

VPI Industries

www.vpiindustries.com

+1 732-583-6895

UK distributor

Renaissance (Scotland) Ltd

www.renaissanceaudio.co.uk

+44(0)131 555 3922

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