Basis Vector vs...

What is it you dislike about your Vector I? I thought it was a pretty good arm when I heard it, and a very good arm for the money.

- No easy VTA adjustment, but Chris's VTA adaptor would solve that for just a few hundred dollars.

- No fine VTF adjustment, but slipping a few O-rings on/off the end stub solves that for free. That's how I tune VTF on my TriPlanar VII and it works flawlessly.

The strongest competitor I can think of for under $4K (new) is a Schroeder Model Two, which is a stupendous arm for around $2500. Of course there's a long lead time. The Model Two might give you a lower noise floor, but I'd wager the Vector is more dynamic and punchy. It might be a lateral move with a different flavor more than an upgrade.

A TriPlanar VII or Schroeder Ref would probably better it, as they should for the money, but you do have a great value arm.

Perhaps the best course of action would be to contact A.J. Conti @ Basis, and see if he would offer you some sort of trade-in value, so you can upgrade to the latest model Vector.

A.J. is a pretty nice guy, and he might do it.

My two cents worth.

I also own a Vector rev I tonearm; an excellent tonearm with superior tracking, etc. The current version of the Vector is an upgrade sonically relative to our rev 1's. I don't know all of the differences between the 2 arms, though I know the current arm uses the new Basis interconnect cable (yep, Basis is now in the cable business) which in itself would make a large & beneficial sonic difference. If there is a way to demo the current rev, it might float your boat & be an easy upgrade if you decided to acquire it.

I have a Vector I arm; I am pleased with its performance. My primary beef with the design is with the inability to adjust VTA easily. I have resorted to making a series of spacers (PVC pipe) to fit between the base of the arm and the armboard, each spacer being about .3 millimeters different in height. I have been told that I am better off selling my current arm and buying a new one than to retrofit the old arm, particularly because the most signficant upgrade is actually the tonearm wiring.

I have heard, though not in my system, Schroeder arms (reference), and that is a very nice arm too. I got to see the US distributor set the arm up; that is a task I would not want to do myself (threading the monofilament "bearing" and setting the gap between the magnets is a bit tricky). Also, the friend getting the Schroeder waited for more than a year to get his arm. It is my understanding that arthritis, or some such ailment, makes it difficult for Mr. Shroeder to turn out many arms and so a backlog has developed.

By the way, I have heard the Basis interconnect and speaker cables. In the system I heard the speaker cables in, they really sounded good -- very dynamic and gutsy. I was surprised how much louder the speakers sounded when the Basis cable replaced either XLO limited or NBS (Omega II, I believe).

Try the Dynavector 505 MKII arm. It is extraordinary and certainly matches well with your cart.

As a dealer I have tried many arms. I cannot speak of the Vector from personal experience, but I have had the Graham, Tri-Planar, Moerch, Schroeder and quite a few others. The build qality of the Dynavector and design is truly outstanding.