UPGRADE FROM VPI SCOUTMASTER

My first serious table was a Thorens TD-125 Mk.2, and back then (in the early-mid 70's) no one bought one with the arm Thorens offered for it. I had an SME 3009 Mk.2 Improved mounted on mine, as did many others.

@fsonicsmith You know when a person starts a personal attack on the other it is usually to cover up statements that have no substance.

I have owned an SME tonearm on an ariston and my opinion is that the VPI unipivot betters it or the Ittok or about half a dozen other gimbal arms I have owned.  Again this is my OPINION just as your argument is no more than YOUR opinion.  Give us something besides an opinion.

Unipivot arms don't. They are a cheap and easy way to build a tonearm. No bearings to adjust no tolerances to meet. Too many degrees of freedom when you only want two. Even Graham has to resort to an array of magnets to stabilize his. A stiff arm tube is not good with a sloppy bearing. 
Atmasphere, IMHO I do not think speed stability is an issue with most modern turntables. I think isolation is significantly more important along with mechanical stability under the conditions that most of these units operate. Flash idea! As you know I am fond of suspended turntables like SOTA and SME. Why don't we engineer a turntable suspension that is tunable and can be modded for use with most unsuspended turntables. I do not know of an effective one and I am sure there has to be a patent in there somewhere.

VPI lost me with Unipivots, no anti skating, idler wheels and looks over performance. I do not want to spend money on jewelry. I want performance. Having said that they are coming around. Their new Direct drive table is handsome and you can get it with a gimbaled arm. Bravo. Now engineer it with an effective suspension, give it a dust cover and you are getting me interested. 

Atmasphere, IMHO I do not think speed stability is an issue with most modern turntables. I think isolation is significantly more important along with mechanical stability under the conditions that most of these units operate

Get a Sutherland Time Line and place it on the turntable in question, then see how long the dots stay put. Place record with some bass impact- watch what happens with the dots when you set the arm on the LP.

The dots should not drift.

All radial tracking arms have some skating forces. As the speed varies so does the skating force. This causes the arm to oscillate slightly over the stylus, altering its left to right tracking force slightly. You certainly can't hear the variance in pitch, but you can hear the stability of the sound stage when the speed is locked in.