How does the VPI Aries II stand up to current mid priced tables?

@melm: Yeah, a lot of people (including reviewers, some of whom are people ;-) think all plastic platters are Acrylic. Not so! If the "plastic" part of a VPI platter is black, it is Delrin, not Acrylic. Go ahead, ask VPI ;-) .

The "plinth" of the TNT tables is indeed black Acrylic, but not the black platters. Remember how shiny the TNT black plinth is, and how "matte" finish is the platter? That's because the plinth is Acrylic, the platter Delrin. You can go to any good plastics shop and compare the two, which I have done. By the way, the machinist in San Jose, Ca who offers those excellent replacement parts for the Rega tables offers both Acrylic and Delrin versions of his Rega platter. They sound different. Delrin is much denser, harder, and more non-resonant than Acrylic. VPI switched to Acrylic to save money, and soon regretted it.

I bought an original HW-19 ("Mk.1") with the original aluminum platter (with a layer of cork-covered lead bonded to its' bottom side) from Brooks Berdan (he preferred the VPI over the Oracle Delphi for the Eminent Technology arm he at the time favoured), and bought the aluminum/lead/Delrin Mk.2 platter when it was introduced in the HW-19 Mk.2. The HW-19 Mk.3 used the same platter, and the final Mk..4 version of the HW-19 had the same solid Delrin platter as the original TNT (and the Aries Black Knight). The Aries 1 platter is the same as that found on the TNT-3 and -4 (7/8" bottom of aluminum with cork-covered lead bonded to it, 3/8" top layer of Delrin). I don't know if the TNT-2 also had that platter, or the same as that of the TNT-1 and Aries Black Knight (solid Delrin).

The TNT-1 through TNT-5 all have a standard bearing, as does the Aries 1. VPI switched to an inverted bearing (and frosted translucent white Acrylic platter) for the Aries 2 and the TNT-6. Confusing, ain't it?  

Confusing, yes!

Thanks for all the replies and info. It looks like a Classic platter/bearing are in my future. Unless a used SDS pops up, that might be as far as I go.

 "Unless a used SDS pops up, that might be as far as I go."

ozzy62-if you do get the bug, look for a used  ADS(latest iteration)

Jump on a Phoenix  setup if you ever see one listed-rare.

You can buy the tach alone, to verify how stable/unstable your setup is. Might be good to NOT know, and simply enjoy it.

@bdp24
I don’t think the finish is determinative of the plastic content. What you acknowledge to be a clear acrylic platter also had a matte finish. The finish on the platters was likely due to the machining of them. They were machined for precision. They had to be more precise than the plinth. I also think that what you refer to as the "solid delrin" platter was acrylic with a lead insert at the bottom. HW commented on some of these reviews (especially on the superiority of the original acrylic-lead platter) and likely would have corrected the review if it were really Delrin, as that is a more expensive plastic, I think.

Finally, in an exchange on the Asylum HW wrote, "Changed to acrylic because I fell for the BS that the acrylic would work well with the vinyl as the impedence is similar and the vibrations would be grounded faster, quicker, and more effectively. Must admit it worked with the lead in the acrylic platter and we produced it. Made it for 18 years." and

"It is a series of compromises when making anything today. In an ideal world I would make lead filled acrylic platters from acrylic made by US manufacturers. Sadfully that is not the case and never will be again."

This is not to deny that VPI continues to make excellent products and support them as few other companies do. It does, however explain why I would not exchange my platter for anything that came later. And that’s why I made the platter recommendation to the OP.

@melm: When I used the term "solid Delrin" platter, it was in reference to not having a 2-layer construction (aluminum and Delrin, for instance). I’ve never seen the thick (2"?) black platter in person, and have suspected (but did not know for a fact) that THAT platter may have had the lead layer bonded onto its’ bottom.

The HW-19 Mk.4, Aries Black Knight, and and original TNT had that thick black platter, made of---sorry to insist---Delrin. I know Harry and lots of others used the term Acrylic interchangeably with Delrin, but I assure you the black platter material is in fact Delrin, not Acrylic.

At a big commercial plastics warehouse/machining facility in Portland Oregon I took my Aries 1 arm mounting plate into to have duplicated, and took along my aluminum/lead/Delrin platter. They confirmed that the black material was indeed Delrin. They brought out both black Acrylic and Delrin for me to look at, and the Delrin looked and sounded just like the Delrin on my Aries platter. Even raw Delrin has a completely different mass consistency and resonant sonic characteristic than Acrylic, which is inherently glossy and lower in mass. Delrin looks almost like stone, Acrylic obviously man-made.

All the long-time posters on the VPI Forum refer to the black VPI platter as Delrin, which is where I learned of the term. I really like the Delrin-topped VPI platters for their PVC/Delrin interface characteristics, and wouldn’t have a VPI without one. But there are lots of happy VPI owners with the current solid aluminum platters.