If I were to replace my VPI Airies1 with a 4k or so budget?

I would say ditch the flywheel which is the major space-eater and add a motor controller specifically the SOTA Eclipse if the vpi motor is ac synchronous. You’ll experience a major upgrade AND a reduction in size in one fell swoop. If the vpi motor is not ac synchronized then replace it with one that is.

I would say ditch the flywheel which is the major space-eater and add a motor controller specifically the SOTA Eclipse if the vpi motor is ac synchronous. You’ll experience a major upgrade AND a reduction in size in one fell swoop. If the vpi motor is not ac synchronized then replace it with one that is.

Tone arms can always be upgraded, and to just about any arm, only depending on how willing you are to do (or pay for) the work, and modify the existing table. Which depending on the arm in question might be surprisingly easy or near impossibly hard. So that's the real question: which arm? Origin Live are highly recommended and greatly simplify things as they all use the standard Rega cutouts.

That being said you're messing with the source, arguably the most important component and one you sure seem to like and one you and it seems everyone else thinks will be hard to equal or better, so I would counsel extreme caution. 

If space really is tight I think your integrated amp idea makes a lot more sense. Only drop the inboard phono stage idea, there's just no way you're gonna get good sound and why when something like the Herron is so reasonably priced? 

You already have experience with Prima Luna. Seems to me you could sell that, and the Pass amps, buy a Prima Luna integrated and Herron phono stage, get a nice bump in sound quality and maybe even have money left over to put towards a nice Origin Live arm for the VPI.

Thanks for all this- very interesting.  I should have added to all of this that . I also the VPI SDS- so unless the Sota controller is so much better I'd probably stick with the SDS, no?

@ millercarbon
You raise an interesting point re the phono.  I assumed that I phono board addition to an integrated might be more cost effective that a whole new separate box and that that would imply that for the same price it might be a little better.  Sounds like I have it backwards.  That said I have afriend who owns an Aesthetix Janus preamp and he suggests it is in most cases superior external phono's within the same general price range.  I have much less experience with phono's than with other equipment but I will say his vinyl system sounds amazing.  Anyway, thank for raising the point- maybe Aesthetix is an exception considering who Jim White is and should porbably rethink some of my assumptions.

Also, I think that if I am going to go integrated I am going to look for something that has a higher quality volume control than the Blue Velvet- as good as this potentiometer is I have heard in a head to head comparison what a better volume control can do.

You can use a variac instead of an SDS or other controller.  Start the platter with full voltage, then dial back to 65% of "wall voltage" after the platter gets up to speed.  Does the same thing as an SDS at less than $100.