The Better Table?

I prefer the aesthetics of the Aries but I'm not sure you will hear a huge difference in sound between the two.

Call VPI. They are intimately familiar with both of them, have heard them with a variety of cartridges, and are the best people to know the differences. I always found them very reliable in their assessments. I have a Superscout with rim drive and love it.

Can't go wrong with either but I would skip the rim drive for now, it needs work as reports are surfacing on vibrations being pick up by the chartridges. Could be a problem specific to MC's but wait until it shakes out. I have the Aries.

Buconero117, I have not personally heard about vibration feedback problems with the rim drive mechanism. I have been using the rim drive on my VPI TNT-6 in my SET system for about four months now. The tonearm and cartridge are the SME IV and a low output MC (Benz L2), and I have not experienced any vibration problems. I would be interested in any further information you might have about the problem some are apparently experiencing.