I think around $1700 - but this also included a second arm tube. I had a JMW 10.5 with two arm tubes (one for my stereo cartridge and the other for my mono cartridge). VPI took this in trade for a 10.5i with two arm tubes. They wouldn't take my Aries 1 chassis in on trade, but I easily sold that on Audiogon for a fair price. This was about 5-6 years ago, so I can't say if VPI will still take 10.5 arms in on trade, but it can't hurt to ask.
As mentioned previously, this was a huge upgrade. I credit the Valhalla wiring in the 10.5i plus the more rigid mounting of the 10.5i for much of this, but certainly the chassis/plinth helped too. Dynamics became more explosive, PRAT improved SIGNIFICANTLY, as both were being smeared with the original Aries plus 10.5. Resolution improved too, and with this soundstaging and imaging improved too. Clarity and tonality improved as well. The overall improvement was so dramatic I was left thinking that the original Aries wasn't that good of a table. The upgrade was well worth the dollars I spent.
I should point out that the same platter and bearing were used, so my observations remove that as a factor. The platter in use back then was the TNT V platter. I subsequently switched to the clear acrylic plus outer ring and center weight. Later this year I will likely swap in the Classic platter.
