VPI Aries - either or question, please comment

now i hear that the black acrylic platter on the black knight is NOT the same as the platter on the Aries-2. In other words, it seems that if you don't like the look of the 'clear' acrylic platter on the aries-2 you have no choice but to downgrade to the black knight platter or upgrade to the TNT platter.

i've decided to hell with it...whatever platter shows up on the tt when i open the box i'm keeping.

now if i can only get a straight answer from someone about the validity of NOT using a shelter cart on a unipivot arm i'll be on my way to hearing music again.

You can try to use a Shelter on it, and I understand that Harry has supposedly done something to the arm that he claims will make it handle a Shelter.

If it were me, I'd use a different cartridge on that arm.

The technical reasons are that unipivots, with some exceptions, notably Graham, WB, and Nottingham which have stabilizers, are inherently unstable platforms due to the nature of the single pivot design. When using higher compliance cartridges, this is not much of a problem, if any. When using lower compliance cartridges, such as Shelter or Koetsu, there is significantly higher energy fed back into the arm by the stiff cartridge suspension. This causes the arm to move about in ways that is not good for retrieving the sound. Of course, the cartridge will work in this system, but it loses much more than a similar quality gimbal arm would. Some people don't care about this, and do it anyway, and seem to be satisfied with it. If that is the case then I'm happy for them. I am just pointing out the fine details of proper cartridge matching that goes beyond mass/resonance. Maybe Harry has come up with something that will work with the Shelter. If you want to use a Shelter in a JMW arm, then I'd recommend that you call VPI and ask them directly if the JMW-9 you are getting is an ideal match for a Shelter 501 or 901, or not. If they say it is, then it is on their heads if it doesn't work right. I'm just trying to look out for your best interest by pointing out a possible problem before it becomes a problem for you. I know that they commonly recommend, and even sometimes package Dynavector cartridges in their tonearms. It seems they think that a Dynavector is an ideal match for their arms. A Shelter and a Dynavector are worlds apart in terms of compliance. If VPI says it's ok, then go ahead. If not, stay away.

Here's the final word on the difference between the black acrylic platter found on the black knight and the clear found on the aries-2 from VPI:

"You can get an Aries 2 with either the black or clear platter. The black platter is conventional size (11.56" diameter) and works like all VPI platters. The clear platter is 3/4" larger in diameter and is made just like the HR-X platter so it can accept the periphery record clamp at a later date. If you are never going to get the periphery record clamp you can order the black platter and enjoy the aesthetics of the table. If at a future date you think you may want to use the HR-X periphery clamp you should get the clear platter with the Aries 2. Bpth sound the same when not using the clamp and both share the same inverted bearing design."

Now all i have to do is ask them what a periphery clamp is and i'm all set!

Dennis, a periphery clamp is a large ring-shaped weight that goes on the outer edge of the record, to hold the edges down during play. It helps to "iron out" some warps, and to better couple the record to the platter, as well as possibly damping out some unwanted resonances and adding additional rotational stability to the system by adding weight to the outer edge of the platter. It has some merit, but adds difficulty in changing records, because you have to take it off, and put it back on with each record you play.