Help me pick a phono, pre and cart

@sbank and @jetson 

My opinion....

(I was the one making the suggestion on the "other forum."))

I have that early version of the JMW-12.  Nothing at all wrong with it from either a performance or maintenance perspective.  Even have two arm wands.  My Ariea Extended is in the original configuration except for the feet (now three Stillpoint cones instead of the VPI sandals) and placing it on a maple butcher block board.  It's an easy table to set up and when it's set up correctly, on those Stillpoint cones, it is a spectacular performer.  

More opinion....

Without hearing the EXACT table under consideration, I would suggest that at $3500, it is the single best bargain in turntables currently available.  Even if it is not a textbook Hot Rod, it's still a great table priced maybe $1500 below similar models.

And yet another boring opinion....

@sbank   I hear very clearly your concerns.  If the table is kept in its current configuration, it's my opinion that it will be a great performer.  Even if it is converted to balanced outputs from the tonearm, that's a matter of a small box swap-out.  Not sure how Mat / Harry suggests making that change.  

@bpoletti Yes, you'd think "a small box swap-out" is a simple thing, but the problem is that to change it out you need to remove the entire tonearm. The pieces that make up the base two pieces of the "dog leg", the VTA tower, etc. all separate. After swapping the rectangle box, when you then align the base pieces they need to be at the exact same angle as before, but there is no way to guarantee the correct geometry. And guessing or going by sight alone will cause serious detriment to the ability of the cartridge to track correctly and do its job.
When I called Harry after buying the XLR "little box" asking for direction on how to reassemble the arm and pointing out the lack of markings etc. to him, he wowed me by telling me to send back the arm and that he would replace it with the then-new 12.7 at zero cost! He even told me to keep the old arm-wand and use it as a spare. That was great service. That VPI is no more. 
A friend of mine is a professional musician for one of the top 5 orchestras in the US. He bought a Prime directly from VPI and for months knowing exactly what he should be hearing on most classical recordings, he had a strange polarity problem that resulted in weird soundstage effects like instruments in the wrong place and no depth. After checking & rechecking his cabling, turntable setup etc. and having a couple of friends do the same, they all concluded that the table was hooked up right. He called VPI's service mgr., (Mark?), and then Mat. They both blamed his mis-wiring the cartridge connections which was triple-checked, then the phono stage. So he sent that in for service, which of course wasn't needed.
After waiting for phono stage return, at the end of his rope with no solution in sight, I brought another whole analog setup over and switched out everything one at a time to debug it all. At the end of the day 3 of us concluded that the "little Din-RCA box" on his VPI arm was improperly wired inside the box. Mat laughed at the suggestion, but eventually agreed to have it sent back. Weeks later, a correctly wired box showed up and everything finally worked as it should. After that whole fiasco, I can't recommend VPI to anyone anymore. There are too many great products & great companies with stellar support to accept anything else. Yes, VPI has it's fans, but all is not wine & song. At least no one is suggesting that @jetson order one from advertised "#1 VPI dealer" Soundstage Direct. Cheers,
Spencer

@sbank 

My opinion....

Wow!!  What a GREAT reason to use single-ended / unbalanced wiring!   And a great reason to enjoy the superior performance of single ended electronics!!  YOMV.

@bpoletti the story about my friend was with a single-ended Prime, lol. I am happy you haven't had any trouble and suggest that if you or others ever need to disassemble just be sure to measure every angle & take a bunch of pics before doing so. 
YouI had enough of this thread. Good luck, @jetson, whatever you decide. Cheers,
Spencer 

@sbank 
Thanks for all your insight, I’d go on but be superfluous. Really appreciate it. 
@bpoletti 
Thanks to you as well, I don’t disagree that that TT isn’t a great deal, but not for me, 
Cheers,
Jim