Best Cartridge for VPI Aries orig + JMW 10.5 ?

Dynavector Karat! taste of the high end for $750

That's the combo I have.

Dear Twl: This is not a fight. The issue here is only: low compliance cartridges with an unipivot tonearms:
I have some experience with unipivot tonearms ( I own five of these ) and I try with low compliance cartridges: Denon, Shelter, Koetsu, Victor,.. .... ( that I own too ) and I never have any problem with this combo-combination: " no rock and roll " ( like you say ). I think that the problem is in the design an execution of that design. The Graham is not an original design ( is a bad copy of the Audiocraft tonearm.), tha's why to much up-grades every " month " and the JMW is not, too, Mr. Weisfeld take some things from the Audiocraft and SAEC tonearms ( he speak about this in the early times of his tonearm ). So if anyone has problems with a cartridge in those tonearms is because the tonearms have problems and not because they are unipivot tonearms. Twl, the theory about it not always is true in the real world because there are many parameters out of control.
Till today, many of the best unipivot tonearms are of Japanese design ( the Morch is a very good copy of the Japanese Highphonic tonearm ). In the time where the Dl 103 or the Black Koetsu born the unipivot tonearm ( like the tubes ) has a very strong force between the Japanese audiophiles and that people live " happy " with those combos ( I have some japanese music-lover friends that still lives in Japan ) still today. So, the problem is not the unipivot way. Now, if you like or not the sound of a low compliance cartridge in an unipivot tonearm, this is another issue and has many " roads " to talk about it.
The other issue is compliance in front of tonearm mass, but this one in some other time.
Best regards and always enjoy the music, not your audio system.
Raul.

Rauliruegas, thank you for your comments. My contention is that many unipivot tonearms show evidence of instability in the azimuth plane, when cartridges which feed large amounts of energy into the tonearm are used. This is less problematic when medium compliance cartridges(which feed lower amounts of energy into the arm) are used. This is why I recommend what I do. I agree that this is a tonearm design related issue, and many unipivot tonearm makers are showing a trend towards stabilizing features on their arms. I'd say that this is directly related to this issue. All tonearm types have their deficiencies, and this is one that happens to many unipivots, with certain cartridge types.

However, I do accept that many people find these matchups to be listenable in their systems. When making recommendations, I try to show people things to consider when they make their choices. I am in no way trying to tell them what they must do. They can do as they please. But it would be remiss to ignore the things that commonly happen with these combinations. So, I make my recommendations from my experience, and the experience of others that I know, and hope to help them in their quest for better sound. In my experience, tonearm stability considerations(in all planes) are as important for the cartridge matching as the mass/resonance is, when high-energy low compliance cartridges enter the equation.

Not everyone would agree with me, but that is my opinion.

Hi Twl: I agree with you in that all tonearm types have their deficiencies ( all in this life have a trade-off ) and I agree, too, that the tonearm stability is an important parameter for the cartridge matching.
My experiencies tell me that if you have a good design and a good execution of that design you can have a good tonearm it does not matter if is unipivot or gimbal/knife/ball type bearing, and that that tonearm can handle low compliance cartridges.
I give you an example: Mr. Sugano ( Koetsu ) designed a tonearm for his low compliance MC cartridges and guess what?, the Koetsu tonearm is an unipivot type.
Best regards and always enjoy the music.
Raul.
Ra

Thanks to TWL for his insight and help in my own set up regarding compliance and compatability in my Aries/JMW 10!