Vintage DD turntables. Are we living dangerously?

I wish I have a Sirius III, but no such luck yet! My Rockport 6000 arm is a simplified version of the Sirius III arm, and it is on a Capella II TT.

However, I am also in the process of setting up a Sirius II, so it would be interesting nevertheless to compare it to the SP10MK3 and Exclusive P3A in coming months :-)

You didn't buy the SP10/3 and P3a that were just listed on HiFiDo....did you Thekong..?

No, the P3a was from a friend in Hong Kong, and the SP10MK3 from Yahoo Japan. Actually, a local Sony PS X9 slipped through my fingers just a couple on months ago!

Griff,
I don't usually speak against VPI, but their answer to your inquiry, "I was told by a return email that they no longer provide arm boards for the Aries", doesn't seem open to future possibilities. Perhaps their answer was worded differently, or that's not exactly what they meant?

If some part or material has become unobtainable, there's not much they can do, but VPI now seems to have a take the money and run philosophy. They sell out their parts for discontinued tables (HW19, TNT, Traveler) and abandon their product and customer. You could take the first Sota ever made, send it to Sota for refurb and they'll give you options. It would probably make more sense to buy a new table, but they don't leave the customer hanging. Rant over.

I can fix everything on the 7045, except I'm not sure about the VTA adjuster lock. It seems frozen in the open position. Does the arm need to be mounted for it to lock?
Not too late to cancel the charge. BTW, I was surprised to see the counterweight fixing bolt is 4mm thread. Heavy duty arm.
Regards,

Henry,
"How does the cartridge know the mass of the platter....❓👀"

You mean "know" in the biblical sense? When cart suspension collapses?

I think you would agree that platter and mat, supporting surface, does make a difference. Some platters are designed to use w/o mat and your experimentation with mats indicates agreement.
IMO, these things can not be considered in isolation. Consider an extremely lightweight platter, would tend to be more easily affected by extraneous vibrations despite stability of supporting structure. What about sound pressure waves? Maximum thickness of a mat is 5-7mm? Just enough to turn the shortcomings of a light platter, to mush.

Before you get reactionary, I'm not saying your Victors have extremely light platters, but platter mass can make a difference IMO. Consider the older Goldmund Reference - servo belt drive w/35lb platter. TT101 might have better pitch stability, but better sound is a matter of opinion. I wonder what you'd think of a Reference with one of your arms mounted.
Regards,