Building A Player at CAF 2016

Marc, Rich, Jan building a player. Picture by Eric Shook.

We take great pride in making our products in America. However, it is common for a lot of companies to move production overseas when making products more entry level. This is not the case with the VPI Player, our entry level/affordable high-end turntable. Of course the definition of “affordable” is relative and might be different pending upon each person. For our VPI Player table, the product is still made here in America in Cliffwood New Jersey, hence why we have adopted the “Cliffwood” name for our entry level line of products. To demonstrate this we had building sessions of the Player at Capital Audiofest.

Mat explaining each part. Picture by Eric Shook.

Creating a workstation at Capital Audiofest was also a “challenge accepted” moment since we have recently transitioned our factory to using “lean manufacturing” processes. One of the processes is to have our workstations all on wheeled racks and bins with the idea of being able to move and produce from a station without a problem. During the build session VPI workers built and explained what each part was that was being installed and their function for the table. We are a transparent company and are open about our components and processes. For each part we also identified what part America it was originally made.

Tonearm calibration. Picture by Eric Shook

We also made sure to properly show all calibration methods that are used on all VPI Players for alignment and tracking force while also discussing best practices for your turntable. To concluded each demonstration to show there are no smoke and mirrors, we plugged the table in and let someone from the audience spin and listen to their record purchased from the show. As a company who is always trying improve ourselves this was an exciting and fulfilling demonstration for us to show the heart dedication we put into every VPI. During the show we set up shop and built 3 Player tables. That means there are now three Players that were not made in New Jersey, those were made in Capital Audiofest!