Upgrade Opinions, Thorens vs VPI

The Classic 1 would obliterate a Thorens regardless of arm......
I've owned both, currently have a VPI HR-X

Currently, the greatest bang for buck in the VPI line would be the Prime....which for very little $ over the C1 would give you:
3D Arm (same as Classic Signature)
VTA Adjustment (which would required C2 to achieve)

Honing a person's woodworking skills should not be spent on a turntable.......leave that for the custom rack.....

Noone can build a prime, nor something that would compete head to head with a 3D tonearm, and be that the fact, the whole pride of ownership thing because someone built something sort of goes out the window.....

The Prime obliterates anything south of 6K in my opnion....especially when you factor in that you can get a significant discount on one......

The pride of ownership will be there......even though you didn't manufacture it in your garage.....

Raymond,

What I am saying is that if someone has said they have a 3K budget, and some of the potential solutions is to throw money at an old table, in hopes of making it a better table, then who am I to say they can't???

I'm noone.......

But:

If someone is going to throw a lot of money, and a lot of time and effort into a "creative" effort to improve on a design that obviously needs a lot of improving on, and they get to the end and the result is only a fraction as successful overall as going and purchasing a current state of the art high value product that will absolutely KILL!!!! the creative exercise.....

then in my case, I'd buy the new and find creative release somewhere else, because in my 30 year history as an audiofool, the end result is the important thing, that I get the absolute highest level of performance I can possibly achieve and that the sound transports me to a live performance, or brings a live performance to me......

Will a Prime get him there better than a home modified Thorens?

I say it will......and I also say the comparison will not be even close.....

I've owned Thorens, Dual and several VPI tables including Scout, Classic 1, Classic 3, TNT 2nd generation and recently an HR-X.  

I am now going to try the suspended world with a new Oracle Delphi MK VI 2nd Gen and an Oracle SME V arm/Transig Proteus cartridge.......

Which I will immediately start trying to improve upon in my garage.....
LOL

Harry modded the arm, Michael Fremer introduced it right after his Prime review, then yesterday on Facebook, Mat said that there’s no way they are going to offer the mod, because drilling the 3D arm carries too much risk of damage......general consensus is the sound was about the same.....introduced mostly to negate the criticism of the unipivot being wobbly when cueing a record.....

I used a high output benz S on my Classic 1 that I sold several years back.....

VPI tables, both with 3D as well as the metal JMW Arms are very agreeable with Ortofon carts.....

I think you would find the color you're after with the 2M black, but I wouldn't buy any cart used..........all VPI dealers can get Ortofon thru VPI...and you should be able to get a new one w/ support in the 5s, as you've said......if you decide to move beyond that, I'd look @ Soundsmith, but you're not going to improve on the 2M Black by much....

I would pick this outstanding MM cart over any HOMC