VPI Super Platter

If you have the older Aries 1 platter than you should stay with it I think your fine. You have a fine deck leave it be, make the best upgrade and work with your room acoustics and you will find even a larger improvement.

I researched this lot. While I have not heard he Aries 1 platter on my aries II, I get the idea that sonically there may not be much difference as stand alone platters. Different materials are used so I assume there would be a slight diff? But I have the impression that the aries I plater is better in many/most systems over the aries II platter.

The new heavy platter does weigh a few pounds more...and it fits the outer ring which is another 10 lbs or so and helps flatten and couple the disk to the platter.

I have done two things that have made clear improvements to my aries II. first was to put about 150lbs of stone under the table. Second was the heavy platter. In between I bought the outer ring clamp. Its nice and I use it all the time. But it was not a game changer like the other two.

Hope that can help.

TD

I think you have lead in your platter and therefore VPI was forced to change. That platter sounds very good though - don't put it in your mouth. The inverted bearing does make a difference..the thing that I would be interested in is the ring clamp. When an LP is flat, the cartridge glides across the record..it doesn't have to contend with an obstacle course. Even though the ring clamp doesn't change the sound in a quick A/B comparison, you can see and ultimately hear the ease that is provided to the cartridge.