You can get about 90% of the performance of the JMW 10.5 by making a couple of judicious improvements onto the basic JMW 10 arm ($1299 from Music Direct, Elusive Disc, etc.). The first is to buy the upgraded, sunk counterweight for $100 from one these vendors. The second is to buy the VPI tonearm cable. The last (which I haven't done yet) is to buy the VPI anti-skate device. For about $1650, this is nothing short of a true bargain. Add on an air isolation stand (buy used from Ebay for around $400) and you have a major improvement over your current setup.
Tonearm for VPI HW MkIII
Hi, I'm contemplating a step up from my current (very forgettable) tonearm. The choices are between an Origin Live modified RB300, ET2 (although I hear it's a realy pain in the upkeep department) and the JMW arm from VPI. Is the VPI arm really that much better than anything else in that price range? Thanks for the response