Aries 1 JWM 10 Tonearm replacement or upgrades?

@taj2 - That's a VERY GOOD reason to call VPI to verify EVERYTHING.

You can also order the VPI feet of the HRX version as I did with my Aries 1, very nice improvement.

Just my opinion, but feet like VPI's aren't very effective at providing isolation. For the price of them you can get a set of Townshend Audio Seismic Pods, VERY effective isolators.

Just a couple of points of clarification to a few of the above posts. The original JMW 10 with the threaded counter weight is shorter than the new JMW 3D tonearm, therefore, it will have a different spindle to pivot mounting distance. Although the original JMW 10 VTA tower does have an adjustable dog leg platform to accommodate and fine tune spindle to pivot distances, the azimuth side weights of the newer 3D tonearms will not clear the older VTA tower.

@brf may be correct; he usually is.

My own experience is a substitution of the 12" 3D arm for an original on a very original 12" base. As I wrote above, I did need to change the original lower bearing for the "spike" now used. At its closest point (which is just after leaving the rest position) the larger azimuth side weight clears the tower by about 1/2 inch. While on the record the distance is far larger.

On the pictures of the arms at the VPI site though, the azimuth side weights of the 10" arms seem quite a bit smaller than those of the 12" arms.

So who knows, but best to figure it out before purchase.