Gimbal vs unipivot tonearms

Both can be done well it is not going to make or break the table but what it more important is how the table as a whole sounds with the entire phono system cartridge, phono stage, and preamplifier, and amplifier involved on complex music. That is when you have found your correct analog rig.

I lived with both gimballed and unipivot.  Own very good VPI JMW-12 arm, two arm tubes.  They are quite difficult to get "just right."  And I still found the sound a bit lacking.  The arm is on a VPI Aries Extended table.  No particular difference between the arm tubes.

Just for fun, I built an experimental table from early VPI TNT parts (platter, spindle, bearing, clamp, motor) and a Jelco TK-850L tonearm.  Paid attention to the details.  Using the same cartridge (Soundsmith rebuilt Clavis D.C), the difference was dramatic.  Better performance in every aspect of performance.  Setup was a breeze.  Thought it might be an anomaly, so I picked out a cartridge from "the drawer" (AT OC9/II). Same results.  

I can't say for sure it was ONLY the arm, but the performance with the table using the Jelco was  much better, particularly in bass control and depth, soundstage, image and subtle instrument nuance.   Mids and treble were very natural compared to the slightly etched JMW-12.  

I have subsequently migrated to a Lyra Skala on the home built table and Jelco arm,  There is no reason to consider an upgrade nor any performance deficiency I can detect.   

I might add that different arms behave differently.  Not all gimballed arms will be as good as the latest (last) Jelco, probable some better.  The JMW-12 arm is an early VPI design, much improved over the years but still better than many.

At the end of the day a tonearm and cartridge in combination is ideally a pure vibration receiver. Every movement of the cantilever caused by its travel through the grooves is ideally converted to electrical signal unimpeded by the tonearm or any limitations of the cartridge. What happens when a cantilever is pushed laterally in one direction and another only damped by the underhung counterbalances employed by a typical unipivot? The answer is simple-vibrations are no longer being received intact and instead are compromised. And the grooves in which bass sounds are embedded cause the most lateral travel and are the most compromised. But then everything is likely compromised more than they have to be. The VPI unipivot design was very poor. So why be surprised that VPI is now slowly but surely converting to gimbal designs?

@rauliruegas , that is an insane video! What a great set up. He jury rigged the whole thing.
 It was not a unipivot arm but it was very interesting to see the torsional deflection when he skipped grooves.